WILTON — Planning Board members met Thursday, July 1, to review the application for Wilson Lake Marina, LLP.
The Planning Board conducted an initial site plan review of the application after a site visit to the marina’s property, 10 Rowell Street, a week prior. It was the first time the planning board formally reviewed the application, which was submitted in March. The site plan review application was tabled after the board partially completed a form on the findings of fact.
Since the application was submitted, the Planning Board requested a moratorium on commercial development on Wilson Lake (which the Select Board denied), the town approved zoning ordinance amendments that directly impact the project, and a lawsuit was filed against the town of Wilton on behalf of Wilson Lake Marina.
Various concerns about the application and plans for the marina were raised during the review. There were concerns about storage of the docks in the wintertime, expanding the parking lot, and the feasibility of fitting large boats at the marina.
Chairperson Mike LeClair asked about potential oil leaks and Planning Board member Lisa Small asked owner James Butler to “consider educating renters on lake care and oil spills.”
Butler acknowledged that this has been a “pretty contentious” issue and said he is working with Friends of Wilson Lake to have training to take care of the lake. He said that there will also be criteria in rental contracts to ensure care of the lake.
“We want this to be a model facility because we understand how sensitive the pond is,” Butler said. “If Wilson Lake becomes a problem because of something we’ve done, that hurts us as much as it hurts anybody. We have stake in the lake as well and we want to do this well and we want to do it right.”
Small raised concerns about the renters also having “a stake in the lake” if they are not from the area.
Butler responded that his “target audience isn’t people three to four hours away, it’s people that live in the town of Wilton that don’t live on the lake.” He plans to eject renters who don’t follow his rules, take care of the lake, or cause problems with authorities.
The board unanimously approved a motion to find the application complete, however multiple members said they were not pleased to do so. Planning Board Member Michael Parker has recused himself from overseeing the application because he was named in the lawsuit as being biased against Wilson Lake Marina.
The board then moved on to the findings of fact, a process to review the facts surrounding an application, such as the dates it was reviewed and its compliance with local and state law.
The board used a new form for the findings of fact instead of their regular checklist. The new form was written by town attorney Sally Daggett to ensure that whatever decisions made can stand in court. Tom Dubois of Main-Land Development Consultants spoke on behalf of Butler and raised concerns about the findings of fact form when an application had been approved earlier in the meeting only using the check list. Daggett said this form will be used by the town for all applications moving forward.
Dubois also raised concerns that the town was reviewing the application based on ordinances that have not yet been approved by the Department of Environmental Protections. Furthermore, he said it was unfair that the town had instituted retroactive ordinance amendments when the application was submitted before it would have faced any limits.
“We’re just saying we want to be treated fairly and we haven’t really felt that,” Dubois said.
In response, Planning Board member Kyle Fletcher asked “is there any way other than approval that you would think it was fair?”
“If there are some findings of fact that you find against the project, give us an opportunity to fix that,” Dubois responded.
When the board reviewed whether the applicant’s property and plans would be harmonious to existing structures in town, a resident said that “(the marina’s) relationship to the public boat ramp is not harmonious.”
The board voted 5-1 to say on the form that the marina’s “relationship to the environment is not harmonious, in addition to the orientation of the docking system.”
The site plan review came to an end when Dubois and Butler again accused the town of judging the application on ordinances that are not yet enacted.
Daggett said that the Department of Environmental Protection has 45 days to “act on what’s been submitted” and suggested the board table the application until that time, which they acted to do.
Dubois said “once again you’ve kept us from due process.”
The Planning Board will continue with the findings of fact for Wilson Lake Marina’s application once the Department of Environmental Protections has acted on the ordinances.
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