Print
Share page with AddThis

April 2023 Update-Cell Tower Hearing Date-Town Meeting and Voting Info-Development and State Legislation Updates

Posted on: May 1, 2023 - 5:57pm

Hearing Date-Verizon Application for a Cell Tower at the Bus Barn

The CT Siting Council hearing on the application for the Verizon cell town at the bus barn is Thursday, June 29th.   Information on public comment options is available here.

  • Evidentiary session begins at 2:00 p.m.
  • Public Comment begins at 6:30 p.m.
  • You must sign up for remote or in-person public comment by June 28th.

The complete hearing file is available here.

Annual Town Meeting Information

  • May 2nd Annual Town Meeting:  In-person at the Clune Center beginning at 7:00 p.m.  The agenda is here.  The Town Meeting procedural rules to be voted on and other procedural information are here.  Ballot voting follows the meeting.
  • May 6th Ballot vote:  Clune Center from 8:00 a.m. to 6 p.m.  You must be in the building by 6:00 p.m. to vote.   A sample ballot is available here.
  • Absentee ballot voting:  Applications for absentee ballots are available on Wednesday, May 3rd and must be received by the Town Clerk no later than 6:00 p.m. on May 6th.  Ballots may be placed in the Official Drop Box outside the back door of Town Hall up until 6:00 p.m. on May 6th.  If you choose to return your ballot by mail, please note a May 6th postmark is not receipt.  The special application is available here.
  • Individuals wanting to witness the results of the vote in-person must be in the Clune Center by 6:00 p.m.  Please sit on the stairs off to the left.  Do not hover or disrupt those working at the polls. 
  • The calculation of the Board of Finance recommended FY2024 mill rate with prior year comparisons is here.
  • BOF Chair Michael Kaelin’s presentation is here.
  • My presentation of the BOS budget request is here.
  • My presentation of the bonding referendums is here.
  • BOE Chair Ruth Deluca’s presentation of the BOE budget request is here.

Moody’s Assigned Aaa Bond Rating

This past month, Moody’s once again assigned their highest Aaa rating to Wilton.  Since last year, Moody’s adopted a new methodology for municipal ratings, which makes achieving the Aaa rating more difficult for most Connecticut municipalities.  As an example, in February another Connecticut municipality lost their Aaa rating.  We’ll discuss the change at Board of Selectmen and Finance meetings. Moody’s credit opinion for Wilton is available here.

Development Update

  • ASML held a pre-application meeting with the Planning and Zoning Commission to discuss their proposed expansion at 77 Danbury Road.  This and their recent purchase of 20 Westport Road are part of their announced plan to invest $200 million in Wilton and add 1,000 jobs in Wilton.  It's worth noting, since their purchase of 20 Westport Road, Wilton’s overall commercial office vacancy rate declined from almost 50% to 34% as of the end of March.  Their submitted materials are available here, here and here.
  • As promised, the owners/developers of 12 Godfrey Place filed an 8-30 (g) application with the Planning and Zoning Commission following the withdrawal of their previous application for the same location.   The new application is for a five-story apartment building with 42 units, 30% of which are affordable, with 42 parking spaces on the first floor and across the street.  This is an increase of 10 units with no increase in parking.  The application is available here, here and here.
  • An application has been submitted for a 120-room hotel at One Cannondale Way within i.Park.  The application is here, here, and here.
  • Many of you have asked about 378 Danbury Road, the former site of Taylor Rental, and 380 Danbury Road now that the properties have common ownership with 372 Danbury Road.  An application has been submitted to the Planning and Zoning Commission to expand parking to allow for the conversion of commercial office space to medical at 372 Danbury Road. 
  • The owners of 88 Danbury Road are also seeking to convert commercial office space to medical.

Danbury Road has certainly become the medical corridor we envisioned back in 2015/2016.

Legislation Update-Bills We Are Still Watching

  • Several housing proposals are still being considered:
    • The Governor’s bill, which provides incentives to municipalities that create a “housing growth zone”, with streamline processing that by-passes the current P&Z and Inland Wetland application processes.   Monies to support the bill are in the proposed budget.
    • The Fair Share Bill, which is supported by the Majority Leader of the House State Representative Jason Rojas, would require municipalities ensure construction of an allotted number of new housing units or be sued.  The estimate for Wilton would be approximately 1,000 new units.
    • Desegregate CT’s Live Ride Work bill, which requires municipalities adopt a high-density transit-oriented district or lose the ability to receive discretionary grants.  The types of discretionary grants have been reduced versus the original bill. 
    • A Senate bill, which provides various programs to support affordable housing.
    • The bill to require Wilton to establish a Fair Rent Commission did not move forward.  The population threshold remains at 25,000 or more for a mandated commission.
  • The proposed budget and bonding packages increase funding for several municipal discretionary grants. (Wilton has been awarded over $25 million of these grants in the last 3+ years.)  
  • The bill related to commercial blight, as was requested by Wilton, remains active.
  • A bill to allow a one-year delay of last year's adopted change in valuation method for motor vehicles remains active.  The Office of Legislative Research determined the statewide impact would be a 20% decrease in assessed values.  Motor vehicles account for approximately 6% of Wilton’s grand list.  A 20% loss in motor vehicle assessments or $53.7 million would mean an approximate 1.2% decrease in our grand list.  
  • The bill to eliminate the Norwalk Transit District is not moving forward.

Please email me at lynne.vanderslice@wiltonct.org with any questions.  Please, no questions over Facebook or Messenger.

Lynne A Vanderslice

First Selectwoman