Open Letter to the Middletown Planning Board, Middletown Town Council, and Middletown Residents
While driving south on West Main Road recently. I counted 8 hotels within spitting distance of the proposed new Middletown Center.
The developer of the Middletown Center is proposing yet one more, a 5 story, 144 room hotel, plus a bank, drive thru’s, 150 apartments, some retail space, and very little open space, unless one includes, parking spaces and sidewalks. How is this anyone’s idea of a Town Center?
Why was the library, council chambers, town offices, school district administration, theater, amphitheater, and senior center/daycare all removed? Was is to make room for a hotel?
The developer is asking the town to:
- Amend the Comprehensive Plan to show future zoning of the 15 acres as General Business instead of Institutional.
- Amend the current land zoning from PA (Public/Traffic Sensitive) to GBA (General Business/ Traffic Sensitive) and
- Create an Overlay Zoning to allow broader uses in the entire area.
Making the changes requested by the developer is a slippery slope. The developer works for us, we do not work for the developer. If the developer cannot come up with a plan without a hotel and bank, then with all due respect, clearly this is not the right project for this developer.
In the strongest terms possible I am asking the town council and planning board to go back to the original plans proposed by the Middletown Citizens.
In my humble opinion this has gotten way out of hand, and focus has been lost on what the town’s people want and expect this project to be. We do not want or need another hotel or bank. It’s time to cater to the town’s people and not tourists and developers.
As town officials you all have a responsibility to do the right thing and vote a resounding NO on this request.
Wake up, Middletowners, and demand better. We deserve better.
Sincerely yours,
Jo-Ann Thornton, Middletown
