Middletown holds comprehensive-plan visioning workshop; consultants present housing, demographic and flood-risk findings

Town of Middletown held a comprehensive-plan visioning workshop where planning consultants outlined draft findings on housing, population trends, open space and flood risk, and asked residents to identify five shared priorities to guide a 10-year plan that will inform future zoning and implementation steps.

Melissa Welch, chair of the comprehensive plan update committee, opened the workshop by thanking volunteers and committee members and asking residents to participate in shaping the town’s vision. "We're doing this because we care a lot about our town and its future direction," Welch said.

Consultants from Stantec and Community Scale presented the existing-conditions analysis that will underpin the update. Phil, Stantec’s project manager, summarized population findings, saying that after a dip around 2010 the town’s population has largely rebounded and "likely the population is going to keep growing," a trend consultants tied to activity at the naval station and projects involving NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard. Phil said the plan will look about 10 years ahead and that the vision and goals developed from public input will drive policies and an implementation action plan.

The team highlighted several data points meant to shape planning choices: the share of residents aged 65 and older is increasing while the share of people 19 and under has fallen; average household size has been increasing; about one-third of Middletown households are single-person households, often older residents; and the share of households paying more than 30% of income on housing has grown. Consultants noted the town has more jobs than residents and that most workers drive alone to jobs generally within a 20-minute radius. Phil noted a rise in telework: about 8% of workers report working from home, a figure that alters travel patterns and peak-period traffic.

On land and conservation, presenters said roughly one-third of Middletown is open space, much of it agricultural land. Consultants said that farmland and open-space preservation are central to the town’s character and will be a focus of discussion about future land use. "Farming is increasingly challenging," the presentation noted, and decisions about preserving open space and the future of farm properties will inform the land-use map and any later zoning changes.

Sarah Brent McCoy of Community Scale presented the resiliency and flood-risk findings. "There are upwards of 300 structures within the flood hazard area today," she said, adding that roughly 100 of those structures are housing. She said sea-level rise will increase overall flood risk and enlarge the area at risk, with higher chances of future flooding around areas such as Valley Road and near two town reservoirs. Consultants observed that much of the near-term inundation risk is concentrated in open-space areas but warned that reservoirs and some built areas could be affected. McCoy also noted nearby Newport has projects in design to fortify its Eastern Reservoir.

Consultants described next steps in the planning process: the vision and goals from public input will inform strategies and policies, a draft plan will be prepared for community review (with another open house in late spring or early summer), and the town anticipates an adoption phase in the fall followed by required state review. Steve, a Stantec consultant, reminded attendees that the comprehensive plan is the highest-level plan that guides land-use regulation in Rhode Island and that the plan update is required by state practice.

Workshop participants worked at tables on two exercises: (1) writing short “headline” vision statements to spur discussion and (2) marking maps to identify places residents want preserved, areas needing change, and opportunities. Each table was asked to produce five shared priorities and select a spokesperson for a brief report-back at the end of the session. Steve and Stantec staff said all written materials, presentation slides and a survey will be posted on the town website so those who could not attend can provide input.

No formal votes or decisions were taken during the workshop; it was a public engagement and data-presentation session intended to gather community input that will shape the draft comprehensive plan.