Key Points
- The Water Pollution Control Authority will draft a resolution approving sewer access for Baywing‘s proposed 70-unit apartment project after losing its appeal in court.
- Both Superior Court and Appellate Court judges ruled that the sewer authority improperly denied the developer’s application.
- Baywing has previously indicated it would pursue an 8-30g application even if the project is approved by Wilton’s other local land-use boards.
Why It Matters: The court ruling removes a significant obstacle for one of Wilton’s most closely watched development proposals and could shape future discussions about housing growth, affordable housing requirements and local land-use authority.
Wilton’s Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) will prepare a resolution approving a sewer main extension and allocation for Baywing LLC‘s proposed 70-unit apartment building at 19 Cannon Rd. in Cannondale after a Connecticut appeals court overturned the sewer authority’s rejection of the application last month.
The court determined that WPCA improperly denied Baywing’s sewer allocation application, and the WPCA has accepted the ruling.
Following the decision, Baywing submitted a request for the WPCA’s approval resolution and asked that the request be included as an agenda item for WPCA’s Wednesday, Jun. 10 meeting.
The authority voted in 2023 to deny Baywing’s sewer allocation request, prompting the developer to challenge the decision in court. Both the Superior Court and the Connecticut Appellate Court ultimately ruled in Baywing’s favor.
At Baywing’s request, the resolution will be drafted by WPCA counsel Peter Gelderman — who defended WPCA in the initial lower court case and the appeal — and presented to Wilton’s sewer authority at its July 8 meeting for a vote of approval.
An approval in July would clear another hurdle for the proposed apartment development as it continues through Wilton’s land-use approval process.
Should the project be approved by the town’s other land use boards, including the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), Baywing has said in the past it plans to invoke 8-30g, Connecticut’s affordable housing statute, which would allow it to sidestep Wilton’s zoning regulations because Wilton has not met the state’s 10% affordable housing threshold.
Boucher: Town Prepared for Court Defeat
“When we had the original discussion on this, there was a fairly thorough discussion of which way this court case might go, and so we prepared for this negative outcome for the town or the WPCA,” First Selectman and WPCA Chair Toni Boucher said Wednesday evening. “And as such, the decision of the board at that time was not to take it any further after this particular decision was made by the courts.”
Although Baywing representatives were in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting, Boucher suggested that comments be reserved for the July 8 meeting.
Boucher also pointed out that the estimated sewer capacity for the project has already been reserved and set aside.
“We actually put it in a contingency in the event that the decision resulted in this outcome,” Boucher said. “So that would be a vote in the next meeting, but right now we just wanted to make sure everybody was aware of it.”
