The Town of Middletown Planning Board on a 5-1 vote approved combined preliminary and final plan review for the adaptive reuse of the commercial building at 499 East Main Road into an eight-unit multifamily dwelling, subject to a condition that the East Main Road driveway be closed and traffic access limited to Aquidneck Avenue.

The requirement to close the East Main Road access was added after a multi-hour discussion about traffic and safety in the area and an amendment to the original motion was accepted before the vote.

Todd Brayton, traffic engineer with Bryant Associates, summarized a traffic report the applicant submitted, saying the eight new units would generate "between 3 and 4 new trips in the peak hours" and that combined with 14 previously proposed units would total "between 9 and 11 new trips" during peak periods. Brayton said sight distances at both driveways meet the design criteria used in the report and that coordinated traffic signals and existing speed bumps on the internal driveway would limit the attractiveness of the site as a cut-through.

Board members asked whether the analysis considered cumulative traffic from other planned development. Brayton said his review did not consider full-area cumulative buildout and focused on traffic attributable to this site. Several board members noted a past 2019 buildout study by Rossman Engineering that addressed townwide traffic and watershed impacts and suggested that study be consulted for broader context.

Planning Board member Valancourt argued that closing the East Main Road driveway "would 100% eliminate cut-through traffic" and proposed the condition. Other members, including a dissenting member who later voted no, said they preferred to rely on the applicants' and the town's traffic engineering review. The motion to approve the application as amended — with access limited to Aquidneck Avenue — passed 5-1, with one board member, Charlie, voting no.

The board recorded the action as combined preliminary and final approval under Middletown zoning ordinance section 7.28 and required the driveway closure as a condition before issuing final plan approval.

The applicant's representative and the town's engineering reviewer (Crossman Engineers) had provided reports and comments during the public hearing; Crossman confirmed receipt of the applicant's responses. The public hearing had been opened and closed during the meeting, and the board did not receive additional public testimony before voting.

The approval includes standard findings required for combined preliminary and final approvals; no additional conditions beyond the driveway closure were recorded in the board's motion.

The board instructed staff to record the condition and to include the required documentation about driveway modification in the final plan set submitted for signature.