WILTON — The Wilton Board of Appeals will convene on Thursday, July 27, to hear the case of Richard and Tammy Supernor, the owners of 109 Lake Road, over the height variance of their proposed new dwelling.
The owners recently had their application to build a new residence at the address denied by the Planning Board on Thursday, July 6, due to zoning ordinance regarding height variance.
Wilton Code Enforcement Officer Gary Judkins says this is the first time the appeals board has been summoned since he took over as CEO in 2022. He estimates the last time they had convened was either 2020 or 2021.
The project first came to the Wilton Planning Board on Thursday, June 15, when Supernor and James Butler, a consultant of JB Third Party Inspections & Consulting, presented the plans to tear down and rebuild the property at 109 Lake Road. According to the Butler, the original plan was to build the property to 30 ft. in height.
However, according to Chapter 1000 of the Department of Environmental Protection, dwellings within 100 ft. of a body of water must not exceed 20 ft. Wilton’s ordinance allows for 35 ft., but according to Judkins, the DEP’s ordinance takes priority.
“Even though that meets Wilton’s ordinance, it does not meet DEP regulations,” Judkins said in a phone interview with the Livermore Falls Advertiser. “And you have to go by the more restrictive of the two when there’s two separate ordinances.”
Butler and Supernor took this into account when re-drafting their plans and are now seeking a height variance of five feet to allow for the structure to be 25 ft. At the June 15 meeting, Butler stated that it was his intent to go directly to the appeals board over the height variance and only went to the Planning Board first at the recommendation of Judkins.
Supernor said at the June 15 meeting that he and his wife wished to have a bedroom with a cathedral ceiling, which is the reason they are seeking a height variance.
An application was filed at the June 15 meeting, and the Planning Board voted to table the application until Thursday, July 6, so that a site visit could be held to see the exact square footage staked out on the property. The application was ultimately denied by the Planning Board following the site visit with the height variance being the factor for the denial.
The appeals board will convene at the Wilton Town Office, located at 158 Weld Rd, at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 27, to review the height variance and make a decision. The board will be comprised of Richard Caton, Jack Mills, Adam Cote, Barry Hathaway, and Peter Robichaud, with Robichaud serving as chairperson and Cote as vice chairperson.
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