Middletown council tables noise ordinance after residents raise Harbor Park and amphitheater concerns

The Middletown Common Council on July 1 tabled and voted to remand a proposed revision to the city’s noise ordinance after several residents described repeated, disruptive noise and lighting from waterfront venues and the earlier Harbor Park tenant.

During public comment, Virginia Duclos said the Harbor Park area has generated loud music that woke her and made television unwatchable. "It kept me up till 2 a.m., many nights during the week," Duclos said, adding that police visits typically lowered volume only temporarily. She urged higher fines and continuous monitoring.

Janet Ellsworth, a resident on the river, said her house physically vibrated from past live music at Harbor Park and urged the council to orient any new amphitheater so sound does not travel across the river. "The longer the music went, the more people drank," Ellsworth said, adding concerns about boat safety on the river.

Councilwoman Jeanette Blackwell, who moved to take the previously tabled ordinance back up, said the public comments indicated the ordinance needed additional review. She highlighted a provision—added in the draft as paragraph u—to exempt refuse and recycling collection between 4 a.m. and 8 p.m., which the director of public works had described as a union-approved pickup time. Blackwell said she would remand the ordinance for further edits and review.

The council first voted to table the ordinance (a nondebatable motion) and later moved for reconsideration so the item would go to the Public Safety committee and then to general counsel. The procedural motion to remand passed on a second motion.

What happens next: Council members said staff and committee review will follow; Public Safety and general counsel will review proposed language, union implications for collection times, and the draft’s exemptions for specified waterfront properties before the ordinance returns to the council.