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Middletown council refers contested ARPA-funded 428 Main Street project back to task force
Summary
After council members raised questions that an ARPA-funded redevelopment at 428 Main Street was shifted from a proposed grocery store to a cannabis dispensary without body approval, the Common Council voted unanimously to refer the project back to the ARPA task force for review and a formal vote.
Councilwoman Janet Blackwell raised concerns April 7 that a $2.5 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) award to DFC Middletown LLC, originally presented to the ARPA task force and Common Council as part of a package of downtown rehabilitation projects including a grocery store at 428 Main Street, now appears to have a different proposed use. "When this project was pitched, it was pitched because it was about a grocery store, and it was about hiring at least 125 people," Blackwell said, pressing that she and others had not approved a grocery-store-to-cannabis change in scope.
Mayor Benjamin D. Florsheim and other members said there was no recorded council approval of any such change. Florsheim told the council he did not believe an official change had been approved and pointed members to the ARPA task force records for clarification. "I don't believe there's been any such change, other than the meeting to which you referred, where that was spoken to at the ARPA committee," he said.
Council members noted the ARPA task force awarded roughly $2.5 million on June 2, 2022, for three projects presented by DFC Middletown LLC and that the council later approved those projects. Blackwell and Councilman Lefredo said planning and zoning documents and later petitions suggested a shift toward permitting cannabis retail as a special exception in the B1 zone; Lefredo stressed that if the developer changed the project scope, it required task force and council approvals.
After procedural consultation with the parliamentarian, the council amended the agenda and voted to "refer the DFC Middletown LLC project at 428 Main Street back to the ARPA task force for review and a vote for the change of scope of work from a grocery store to a cannabis dispensary." Councilwoman Blackwell made the motion, it was seconded and the referral passed unanimously by voice vote.
What happens next: the matter will return to the ARPA task force for consideration and any action there would be expected to come back to the Common Council for final approval. Planning and Zoning also had a public hearing scheduled (extended) and council members said materials discussed at that agency would be transmitted to the council as appropriate.
Why it matters: Council members said the original award emphasized a grocery store and the creation of jobs in a lower-income area described as a food desert; a change to a cannabis retail use raises questions about the city’s redevelopment objectives, public expectations tied to ARPA funding and the need for clear approvals at each step.
Provenance: Discussion and motions appear in the meeting record from the council’s remarks introducing the ARPA item through the later agenda amendment and referral vote (timeline entries covering the ARPA discussion and the agenda amendment).
