The Wilton Zoning Board approved a plan to construct five new housing units in the former church and rectory buildings on Maple Street, using language almost identical to the approval of a similar plan from 2017 that expired before the project was completed.
The plan includes two three-bedroom apartments in the former rectory and three apartments, with either two or three bedrooms, in the church itself, along with an office.
The applicant, Willreign Properties, applied for a variance to allow the apartments, as the district only allows a single dwelling unit per lot, or commercial uses. The hearing Tuesday was a continuation of a ZBA hearing last month, and came after a site walk of the property Saturday.
The original plan, as approved in 2017, included a workshop and office in the upstairs of the church, which would be for the personal use of the owner, who was not planning to live in any of the units. After hearing some concerns from neighbors about how the workshop would be used, and whether it would create ongoing noise in the neighborhood, the applicants appeared before the board on Tuesday with an amended plan that removed the workshop from the proposal.
ZBA Chair Neil Faiman, after clarifying the removal of the workshop from the plan, told the board he was prepared to grant the variance, and said the conditions attached to the approval in 2017 could be applied to the current application.
“I would be happy to use almost the same language. That’s where I am at this point,” Faiman said.
Christina Rubio-Sprague, who owns the building, told the board the apartments in the rectory have been constructed, but the work on the church has yet to begin.
While the workshop was no longer on the table, board members discussed the proposed office in the church building and what would be allowed to happen in that space.
While Rubio-Sprague had proposed the office would be for the personal use of the owner of the property, Faiman said “office” was a vague descriptor, saying it could be a single person doing paperwork, or a doctor’s office with multiple employees and patients coming and going.
“Before we are done, I want something clearer,” Faiman said.
The board discussed the language around conditions to allow the office, and ultimately made one of the few changes to the conditions adopted in 2017 by allowing the office for the “personal, non-commercial” use of the owner, with the understanding that “non-commercial” precluded regular client visits.
The board was satisfied with a proposed parking plan that showed the parking lot could fit as many as 17 spaces, but ultimately, as they did in 2017, left the configuration and amount of spaces required to the applicant and the Planning Board. The board also attached conditions that there be no signage, except parking indicators, and that the exterior lighting be limited to what currently exists on the site.
The board voted 4-0, with one abstention, to approve the plan with the conditions. Judith Klinghoffer, a board alternate who was sitting as a voting member during Tuesday’s meeting for absent member Andy Hoar, abstained, as she had not been present during the first hearing on the case in September.
In a separate case decided on Tuesday, the board voted to grant a request for a rehearing for an application that was denied in August.
Susan M. Latham had requested variances to allow construction of a detached garage with an accessory dwelling unit built above it on Clark Court. The Wilton Zoning Ordinance allows accessory dwelling units only in the same dwelling as the primary dwelling on the property. The board denied the variance during its Aug. 9 meeting, on the grounds the majority of the board did not believe Latham had met the standard of proving hardship.
Latham, in her application for a rehearing, argued that the board had applied an “unreasonably narrow standard” of hardship, and had not given adequate weight to the arguments that building an addition on her home, rather than rebuilding an existing garage, would encroach on the undersized lot’s open space.
Faiman and board member Peter Howd said their stance on proving the issue of hardship had not changed, and voted to deny the request for rehearing, while voting members Jeff Stone, Joanna Eckstrom and Paul Levesque voted in favor of the rehearing. A rehearing will be scheduled and abutters renoticed at the town’s expense.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.