Wilton architectural board and village design committee to split, become own enitities
WILTON — The Architectural Review Board and Village District Design Advisory Committee are currently comprised of the same members, but likely not for long.
Five members currently comprise both boards, but Town Planner Michael Wrinn told the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday that the governing bodies are better off being split, likely with exclusive members, as not all of their responsibilities overlap.
In addition to the two entities having independent members, the town will also be nixing the sunset provision for both groups.
A “sunset provision” is a statute that sets a date that an agency, entity, law or group expires. Prior to this year, the ARB and Village Design Advisory Committee were subject to that statute and both would have dissolved on Nov. 5.
Wrinn explained that is set to change and each board will work year-round. Each member would serve typical twoyear terms, as other municipal workers do, going forward.
Per the town’s regulations, the members must be approved by the Board of Selectmen. Once the zoning commission members have made recommendations to the board, the selectmen will make the final decisions on who will serve on each.
Initially, Wrinn explained, the town felt it was “smartest” to have overlap between both governing bodies. The Village District Design Advisory Committee is tasked with handling proposals within the village districts of Wilton Center and Cannondale.
After numerous development proposals came in to the Planning and Zoning Commission over the past year, with several of those outside of the village district, Wrinn explained there was reconsideration.
The Village District Design Advisory Committee will continue to deal with those issues within the village district parameters, while the ARB deals with numerous proposals outside of that area. Recently, the ARB has supplemented the P&Z Commission during the pre-application process for multifamily housing development proposals along Danbury Road.
This alleviates some responsibility from the P&Z, which can focus on the scope of a project and the effect it will have on the community and its residents, while the
A “sunset provision” is a statute that sets a date that an agency, entity, law or group expires.
ARB can help dive into technical minutia of the proposal’s architecture and material choices.
Until individuals are brought to the selectmen for recommendation by the zoning board, the current five-person board will continue to act as both parties.