Middletown Planning & Zoning approves escape room, removes voided 'active adult' zoning text and OKs Russell Street abandonment

The Middletown Planning & Zoning Commission on July 18 approved three agenda items: a special-exception permit for an escape room at 725 Main Street, a text amendment to remove voided "active adult" provisions from the zoning code, and an affirmative report recommending partial abandonment of the Russell Street right-of-way.

Mary Kosikowski, director of land use, presented the special-exception request for Unit 30 at 725 Main Street, filed with applicant agent Anthony Luxe of No Time to Lose LLC. Kosikowski described the plan as an interior conversion of a roughly 2,604-square-foot vacant tenant space into an escape-room operation with three challenge rooms, a waiting area and back-of-house space. She told the commission the use would not serve food or beverages and estimated the parking demand at nine spaces; the site has a shared off-street lot with 67 spaces and an adjacent city lot with about 41 spaces accessible to patrons.

"It's a fairly simple proposal," Kosikowski said, noting there would be no exterior changes or signage. Commissioner Elizabeth Emery raised concerns about a lack of striped handicapped parking in the adjacent gravel lot; Kosikowski said staff would pass that concern along. Vice Chair Tyler Ekstrom said he supported the proposal because it reuses a vacant space and aligns with Main Street's historic character. A motion to approve the special exception was made, seconded and the commission recorded the ayes; the motion passed.

On item 6.2 the commission approved a zoning-text amendment (Z2026-1) proposed by the Department of Land Use to remove language that had been added in 2018 permitting "attached" housing as part of active-adult developments. Kosikowski told the commission a court settlement found the 2018 amendment had failed a procedural posting requirement (a copy of the proposal was not posted with the city clerk at least 10 days before the hearing), and the settled outcome voided the earlier code language. She said the amendment before the commission would delete the added "attached" language from the definition in section 1.15 and remove related changes to the special-exception criteria in section 5.6.

"It was determined, through a court settlement, that the process by which this text amendment was approved was wrong," Kosikowski said, urging correction. No public comment was offered; the commission moved to close the hearing, voted and approved the text amendment.

The commission also approved an affirmative report recommending partial abandonment of the Russell Street right-of-way affecting properties at 334 and 344 Russell Street (G8-24-2026-1). Kosikowski said a title review showed the city does not own the fee simple in that portion of the right-of-way and that residents had long experienced people cutting across their lawns. Staff proposed discontinuing just over 4,000 square feet while maintaining a buffer line of no closer than 10 feet from the curb so the curb, snow shelf and sidewalk would remain under city control; the proposed line also preserves a minimum 50-foot right-of-way measured from the center line to allow for future sidewalk extension.

Commissioners raised safety and future sidewalk questions; staff and the city engineer recommended the adjustment. The commission moved, seconded and voted to approve the report. Kosikowski said the matter would continue to Common Council for final abandonment action.

Votes at a glance: motions to approve the escape-room special exception (item 6.1), the zoning-text amendment to remove voided active-adult language (item 6.2), and the affirmative report for partial abandonment of Russell Street (item 8.1) were each moved, seconded and passed by the commission during the meeting.

Next steps: the Russell Street abandonment will proceed to Common Council for review; the zoning-code corrections will be processed by staff so the voided language is removed from the municipal code. The escape-room applicant may proceed under the special-exception approval, subject to any standard permitting or operational conditions the city requires.