The debate over the development of Old 2 Rod Highway will proceed in front of the Inland Wetlands Commission.
A developer seeking to build homes on property abutting the 18th-Century roadway has filed an application to build a driveway along the road.
At Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting, First Selectman Bill Brennan and his fellow board members were required to give administrative approval for the application because the town of Wilton is the landowner of Old 2 Rod Highway.
“There’s no issue with this application from our point of view,” Mr. Brennan said at the meeting. “We’re not necessarily giving approval, but we are allowing it to go to Inland Wetlands for review.”
Trackside
Mark Ketley, the director of Wilton’s Trackside Teen Center, came in front of the Board of Selectmen on Monday to give an annual review of the center’s performance.
Overall, he said, use of the facility by Wilton students from grades six to 12 has increased over the past year.
High school student attendance was up 47%, from 680 to about 1,000 visits during the year.
Middle school attendance was up 74%, thanks to strong attendance from sixth graders.
There are two kinds of young visitors to the teen center, Mr. Ketley said, drop-ins and those who come for specific events. Most of the drop-ins are between sixth and 10th grades.
“Juniors and seniors in high school are only coming in for a special event, they’re not going to drop in. So we’re not going to waste our funds on that,” he said.
Rather than relying on drop-in students for participation, Mr. Ketley said, he and Brett Beatty, the program coordinator, have spent the last year “increasing offerings to increase participation.”
They’ve added new courses and programs in study skills, baking, teen yoga, and culinary arts, and continue to support Wilton Parks & Recreation summer camps, Relay for Life, ABC of Wilton, and the Wilton Youth Council.
The Trackside building also serves as headquarters for Wilton’s Safe Rides program, which began last year.
Recognizing that the school district wasn’t initially convinced a Safe Rides program would be good for Wilton students, Mr. Ketley was happy to announce there are now more than 100 volunteers in the program, and the program was awarded a community service award by the high school administration.