Early in the year, the Wilton Select Board approved a new parking rule and developed a restriction limiting which streets commercial trucks can use when traveling through town.
Parking Rule and Through-Trucking Restriction
The board added rules about parking at the Garwin Falls trailhead on Isaac Frye Highway. The area has been a trouble spot for roadside parking in the past, and the town already has a prohibited parking zone on both sides of Isaac Frye Highway from Sand Hill Road to 910 Isaac Frye Highway.
The added language states that authorized parking for the Garwin Falls trailhead “shall be limited to the spaces directly in front of the gated trailhead on Isaac Frye Highway. Vehicles shall be parked between the authorized parking signs, within the cleared portion of the shoulder, entirely off the paved roadway.”
The other ordinance approved by the board added Gregg Street to the list including Main Street where commercial vehicles are prohibited.
Select Board Chair Kermit Williams said there had been issues with trucks trying to avoid Main Street, with their GPS sending them down Gregg Street, where vehicles get stuck and collide with stone walls.
Bill Keefe, a representative of Souhegan Wood Products, asked for the ordinance to be amended to make explicit that side roads off Gregg and Main, some of which have no other entrance, be included in the exemptions to normal business traffic. In particular, he mentioned Souhegan and Howard streets, which dead-end off Main.
The motion passed in August.
Wilton Falls Building
The Select Board remains split on the future of the Wilton Falls building, which has been offered as a gift to the town.
At the Aug. 25 Select Board meeting, Town Administrator Nick Germain asked whether the town was willing to accept the building after the review of an initial environmental report on the property.
The report, completed by the Nashua Regional Planning Commission through a grant, identified known and potential contamination on the property, Germain said. The board requested that the report be done before continuing discussions on whether the town would accept the building.
Germain said among the hazards and potential hazards were metal contamination related to its past uses and fuel tanks possibly buried on the property.
A portion of the property is occupied by the Main Street Association, and it has been used by the community food pantry recently. The property also has about 40 parking spots, which the town has an interest in preserving for use by people driving downtown.
Germain said if the town is interested in accepting the building as a gift, it would require a public hearing with input from the Planning Board and Conservation Commission.
Selectman Tom Schultz said he made clear when he ran that he was against accepting the building, and that was a stance he still held after reading the environmental report.
Schultz said even if the ultimate fate of the building was to be sold for a profit for the town, he was concerned with the liabilities the report showed, and that the town would be on the hook for mitigation before selling the building.
Jennifer Beck, speaking as a member of the Conservation Commission, agreed that the potential and identified contamination concerns were typical of historic mills in New Hampshire, which she said still get renovated and redeveloped on a regular basis. She said she was seeking information about how big a stumbling block those hazards might be through the Department of Environmental Services and NeighborWorks, which tried to develop affordable housing options.
Beck also said that having identified potential hazards does not necessarily put the town on the hook for the clean-up, noting that Wilton could still sell the property as-is, with perhaps a price mitigation to offset clean-up costs.
The matter is ongoing.
Town Survey
A survey conducted by the Wilton Planning Board and Economic Development Team was presented to the Select Board at its Oct. 6 meeting. It showed residents want to preserve Wilton’s rural, small-town nature while also addressing the need for new tax revenue.
The survey, part of an update to the Economic Development chapter of the town’s Master Plan, included 15 questions and generated 273 responses.
Results showed that the residents who responded most value Wilton’s quiet, rural character and open space, with a majority opposing large-scale growth or development. Many supported repurposing existing industrial buildings for residential use.
About half of the respondents have lived in Wilton for more than 15 years, while 14% moved there within the past three years. Half said they chose Wilton because they wanted to live in a small town, and 48% said it was because they found a home they could afford.
Property taxes topped the list of challenges, with 68% of respondents citing the tax rate and property taxes as their biggest concern.
Just over half of residents said Wilton is affordable, while 25% said it is not, and 22% were unsure.
Residents said the Economic Development Team’s top priorities should be attracting new businesses and supporting existing ones. Repurposing vacant buildings and diversifying the tax base also ranked highly.
Cost of Living Adjustments
The Wilton Select Board approved cost-of-living adjustments for town employees of 2.8% for the upcoming 2026-27 budget, with the possibility of additional merit raises.
After some discussion, the board settled on a 2.8% cost-of-living increase for all employees, with the possibility of up to a 1.2% increase for merit raises.
View the original articles here:
Parking Rules and Through-Trucking Restrictions:
https://ledgertranscript.com/2025/08/14/wilton-select-board-parking-ordinance/
Wilton Falls Building:
https://ledgertranscript.com/2025/09/01/wilton-falls-building-hazards/
Town Survey:
https://ledgertranscript.com/2025/10/01/wilton-residents-survey-priorities/
Cost of Living Adjustments:
https://ledgertranscript.com/2025/10/08/wilton-economic-development-update/