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Residents press council to scrap town-center proposal; affordable-housing committee urges majority-affordable plan
Summary
Public commenters and the Affordable Housing Committee urged the Town Council to abandon the current Middletown Center development proposal and replace it with a plan that centers affordable housing and preserves public parkland. Council received the committee recommendation and discussed legal constraints on canceling a development agreement.
Residents and volunteer board members pressed the Town of Middletown Town Council on Tuesday to abandon the current Town Center (Middletown Commons) development proposal and instead pursue a plan that prioritizes affordable housing and preserves parkland, including the Veteran Memorial/POTC field.
The council formally received a recommendation from the volunteer Affordable Housing Committee urging the town to “walk away from the current town center proposal” and to replace it “with one that includes housing with a majority of affordable, low and moderate income units and a public park to serve all Middletown residents,” committee chair Lawrence Frank told the council in a prepared statement he read at the meeting.
Dozens of residents who signed up for the public forum reiterated that theme: speakers including Joanne Thornton, Marilyn Levesque, Gina Orzulak, Christopher Rowe and others told the council they oppose hotels, additional banks and market-rate retail on the 15-acre town-owned parcel on West Main Road. Several speakers asked the council…
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