Commission continues Advent Hill hearing to Nov. 5

Planning and Zoning · Meeting of October 1, 2026

MADISON — The Madison Planning and Zoning Commission continued a contested hearing on a two-lot subdivision off Advent Hill Road to November 5. Agent Tony Bolduc presented plans for Lot 4 of the 1969 Advent Hill Subdivision, a 108,758-square-foot parcel already approved by the Health Department and the Inland Wetlands Agency. Town Planner Erin Mannix said the driveway's grade exceeded the zoning code's 15 percent maximum and needs town engineer Rob Russo's sign-off before action.

Neighbors Dr. Wendell Williams and Susan Kennedy warned of blasting, clearing and stormwater impacts, with Kennedy saying the project will "impact our investments greatly," while longtime abutter Charlie Corso voiced support. Mannix told residents "most of the boxes are checked here," leaving the commission little room to deny the application on its merits.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 1,735 words

Source: the Planning and Zoning meeting of October 1, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.

The Full Article

Call to Order and New Commissioner

The October 1, 2026 meeting of the Madison Planning and Zoning Commission opened with the introduction of Alex Brody, a new commissioner who told the board he lives on Neck Road and wanted "to take part in our local government and get back to being part of the community." Chair Carol Snow welcomed him before moving to the night's business. The roll call named members present as Alex Brody, Mike Bugda, Max Corroon, Jeff Downes, Vice Chair John Dusza, Secretary John Morgan, Bob O'Connor, Janet Peckinpaugh and Snow, with alternate Michelle Clark also seated. Town Planner Erin Mannix served as staff.

Before the evening's single public hearing began, Mannix told the commission that an application for a standalone redemption center at 128 Samson Rock Drive, filed by applicant Rebecca Craft of Titan Services LLC on behalf of owner Sherwood Island 44 LLC, had been withdrawn earlier that day, reducing the night's agenda from two hearings to one.

Public Hearing: Advent Hill Road Re-Subdivision (Application 26-34+)

Background and stakes: The application sought to re-subdivide Lot 4 of the Advent Hill Subdivision, a 2.5-acre, 108,758-square-foot parcel created in 1969 and located in the R1 zone, into two new building lots. The lot sits adjacent to the Lantern Hill neighborhood, a roughly 50-year-old subdivision governed by a private homeowners association with its own minimum house-size requirements. The hearing drew the evening's only extended public comment, largely from Lantern Hill residents concerned about how the new construction would affect their neighborhood.

The question before the body: whether the proposed lot layout, access and grading met the town's subdivision and zoning bulk standards sufficiently to approve the re-subdivision, a process the commission's own staff repeatedly described as largely administrative rather than discretionary.

Substantive content: Agent Tony Bolduc, representing the applicant through Double B Design, told the commission the original parcel had received Health Department approval on June 3, 2026 and an Inland Wetlands Agency referral approval on August 3, 2026. He said the two resulting parcels would have ample buildable area: by his on-the-fly calculation during the meeting, Parcel A could support a footprint up to 4,208 square feet and Parcel B up to 5,825 square feet, though the preliminary plans shown were closer to 2,200 square feet, intended to represent "something average size for the area" rather than a guaranteed final footprint.

Mannix flagged one unresolved technical issue in her staff comments: zoning regulations require any driveway exceeding 100 feet in length to be built to a maximum grade of 15 percent, but the original submission showed a 25 percent grade along the access way. Bolduc's office submitted a revised plan, but Mannix said she had referred the plan to the town's engineer, Rob Russo, because she is "not an engineer" and could not independently confirm the regrading was feasible. Bolduc said he personally re-walked the site and confirmed the cut area is ledge, meaning the driveway could potentially be excavated using a hammer attachment on an excavator rather than blasting, which he said would be slower and louder but less disruptive to the closest neighbor. Mannix noted that zoning regulations also limit retaining wall heights near property lines, meaning the project could still run into compliance problems if the material underlying the cut proved to be unstable soil rather than solid ledge.

Also unresolved: an open space obligation. Bolduc said the current owners are not keeping the land in the family and asked whether a fee-in-lieu of dedicated open space, similar to one paid previously by neighbor Charlie Corso for his own subdivision, would be acceptable; Mannix said she needed to research a comparable past case, citing a property on Pleasant View Avenue, before advising the commission further.

The deliberation: Three residents spoke at length. Dr. Wendell Williams, who said he has lived at 68 Winter Hill Road for 20 years, raised three concerns: loss of wooded buffer and aesthetics, blasting impacts on ledge abutting his property, and a disparity between Lantern Hill's homeowners-association-mandated minimum house size and what the new lots could be built to under town zoning alone. Charlie Corso, who said he has owned property at 20 Advent Hill Road since 1974 and owns 660 feet of frontage along the affected boundary, took a different view, saying the Lantern Hill community itself was built on former wetlands after a town-approved rezoning from two-acre to one-acre lots decades earlier and that he does not object to new construction near his own home. Susan Kennedy, speaking for Lantern Hill Association members and citing her husband Richard Kennedy as the association's president, argued the lots were long considered unbuildable, said the owner does not live in Madison, and framed the application as primarily a money-making endeavor with no regard for environmental or community impact.

Williams pressed staff repeatedly on process, asking why abutting residents were not notified earlier, since the Inland Wetlands Agency's referral review of the subdivision did not trigger a public-hearing or sign-posting requirement the way the Planning and Zoning Commission's own process does.

"That process is opaque. And so the question is, where does input that is relevant, reasonable, and well thought get heard and then, you know, resolved?" — Dr. Wendell Williams, resident

Mannix responded that the commission's authority in a subdivision or re-subdivision review is narrow: Connecticut statute requires action within 65 days or the application is automatically approved, and if a lot complies with the zoning map's lot-size, width and access requirements, "it shall be approved." She distinguished this from the Lantern Hill homeowners association's private minimum-square-footage rule, which she said the commission has no authority to enforce since it is a civil matter outside the zoning code. She added that Parcel B, the rear lot, must still separately return to the Inland Wetlands Agency for a regulated activity permit before any site disturbance, since most of that lot lies within the 100-foot wetland upland review area.

Procedural steps and outcome: With no additional commissioner questions and no Zoom attendees raising hands, Snow asked for a motion to continue the hearing. The motion, seconded by Commissioner Janet Peckinpaugh, continued the hearing to the commission's November 5, 2026 meeting, to allow Town Engineer Rob Russo to review the driveway grading and blasting feasibility and for the open space fee-in-lieu question to be resolved. The vote was approved unanimously by voice vote. Mannix noted the coastal site plan component of the application still awaits review from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which had not yet submitted comments.

Implications and what is next: The November 5 hearing will likely turn on whether Russo confirms the driveway can be built to the required 15 percent grade without blasting that could affect neighboring foundations, and whether the applicant pays a fee in lieu of the standard 10 percent open-space set-aside. Even if the commission approves the re-subdivision, both resulting lots will still face separate downstream reviews, including health department septic approval, Inland Wetlands Agency permitting for Parcel B, and final sign-off from the town's Zoning Enforcement Officer before construction, according to Mannix.

Approval of Minutes

Secretary John Morgan asked that the September 17, 2026 minutes be amended to cite the specific regulation, Section 9.4 governing off-street parking, discussed during that meeting's parking and driveway questions, rather than leaving the citation unspecified. With that addition, the commission approved the minutes unanimously by voice vote.

WHO WAS THERE

Carol Snow, Chair, presided over the meeting. John Dusza, Vice Chair, participated and seconded the motion to adjourn the September 17 business. John Morgan, Secretary, proposed the amendment to the September 17 minutes. Janet Peckinpaugh, member, questioned the applicant about public water access and seconded the motion to continue the Advent Hill hearing. Bob O'Connor, member, seconded the motion to open the public hearing. Mike Bugda, member, participated in discussion before the continuance vote. Alex Brody, newly introduced member, attended his first meeting. Michelle Clark, alternate, was seated. Max Corroon and Jeff Downes, members, were listed as seated in the meeting's roll call. Erin Mannix, Town Planner, served as lead staff presenter, addressing zoning compliance, driveway grading, open space and process questions. Tony Bolduc, agent for the applicant with Double B Design, presented the Advent Hill application (the transcript alternately renders his name "Balbuck"; spelling unconfirmed by any supplied document). Dr. Wendell Williams, resident of 68 Winter Hill Road, raised concerns about clearing, blasting and homeowners-association house-size disparities. Charlie Corso, resident of 20 Advent Hill Road, spoke in support of the application and provided neighborhood history. Susan Kennedy, resident and Lantern Hill Association member, raised environmental and investment concerns; referenced her husband Richard Kennedy, the association's president, and her sister Laura Brinkerhoff, an environmental scientist who had previously considered purchasing the land. Charlie Ponzo and Theresa P. Ponzo, trustees, were named as owners and applicants in the public notice but did not speak at the hearing. Rebecca Craft of Titan Services LLC was named as the applicant for the withdrawn 128 Samson Rock Drive application. Rob Russo, identified as the town engineer, was referenced but did not appear at this meeting; his review was deferred to the next hearing. A staff member referred to only as "Jared" was mentioned once regarding referral procedures for Parcel B; no surname or title appears in any supplied source.

ORGANIZATIONS AND DOCUMENTS REFERENCED

Inland Wetlands Agency — provided a favorable referral recommendation for the Advent Hill lots on August 3, 2026, with a condition that Parcel B return for a regulated activity permit before site work. Madison Health Department — approved preliminary septic and house designs for both lots on June 3, 2026. State Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) — review of the coastal site plan component was pending as of the meeting, with no comments yet received. Madison Land Conservation Trust — referenced by Mannix as a historical recipient of open-space set-asides from past Lantern Hill-area subdivisions. Lantern Hill Homeowners Association — cited by residents as the source of private minimum house-size requirements that the commission said it has no authority to enforce. Madison zoning regulations, driveway grade standard — cited by staff as requiring a maximum 15 percent grade for driveways exceeding 100 feet, the central compliance issue in the hearing. September 17, 2026 Planning and Zoning Commission minutes — amended at this meeting to cite Section 9.4 on off-street parking.