Town To Sell Original Wilton Schoolhouse Land

What's a .12 acre plot of land going for along Route 7 these days? Ask the Town of Wilton; they just sold one.

Or, at least they're about to sell one. Wilton has arranged to sell a small parcel of town-owned land to Wilton Retirement Housing LLC for $55,000. The initiative has already been passed by the Planning and Zoning Commission and all that remains is finalizing some sewer and utilities issues.

"We basically saw this small, less than 1/8th of an acre, property as really having only two realistic options - one was to sell it to a contiguous property owner, or to sell it to Wilton Retirement Housing LLC," said First Selectman Bill Brennan at the last Board of Selectmen's meeting. "In itself, it's not a build-able piece of property."

Brennan said the contiguous property owner had no interest but the retirement housing company did. Both the town and the company had professional appraisals done on the plot that once housed the original Wilton Schoolhouse, which was subsequently moved to Cannondale.

"Our appraiser came in at $75,000 and theirs came in at $16,000," said Town Planner Bob Nerney. "So we negotiated a middle ground."

Nerney said that as a stand-alone parcel, the .12 acres of land had "very little utility" to the town. It behooved Wilton to sell it and receive fair market value for it, as well as ensure that it would end up in the hands of a nearby, careful property owner.

"There was a concern that it potentially could create problems if it were to end up in a third party's hands because it's very small," Nerney said.