The city's planning and zoning commission will hold a public hearing this evening on a proposal to regulate two specific areas of town as residential zones instead of commercial.
The amendment is made by resident and board of education secretary Ed McKeon, who spearheaded the No Strip Mall No Wrecking Ball Facebook group against Centerplan Company's plan to build a drive-through retail-restaurant complex on an historic stretch of Washington Street in Middletown.
The controversial amendment passed unanimously at last month's packed PZC meeting. Since then, a Freedom of Information request was filed in the town clerk's office March 14 by High Street resident and lawyer Jared Proto, seeking ex-parte communications between PZC members and city officials and developers, special interest and land use attorneys.
"I submitted the ID application because I wanted to give neighbors some protection from developers who want to change their residential zone into a commercial zone," McKeon says. He proposed the change as a reaction to the expansion of a commercial impact of the mixed-use zone.
According to a post on the Middletown Eye blog,"It would prevent most properties immediately adjacent to Wesleyan from being used for anything except residential in the future. It would also impact land immediately adjacent to Middlesex Hospital and Connecticut Valley Hospital."
At risk, McKeon says, is "the character of Middletown, the character of our neighborhoods, the lives of our core-city and nearby residents, and the value that significant, unique architecture brings to this, or any town."
For this very complicated issue, it's important to understand that the institutional development zone is a very small area created years ago, partly by people at Wesleyan University, as a way to not develop certain areas, including the area around Middlesex Hospital.
A problem arises in the ID zoning code, McKeon says. "If the institution is in control of the building and the lot, it's governed by the ID zone. Once an institution sells that property for medical or education purposes, then it is governed under the mixed-use zone."
That's the rub, McKeon says.
So, for instance, right now, two Mt. Vernon Street homes owned by private citizens, who happen to be Wesleyan professors, he explains, if they wanted to sell and put in a used car lot or an ambulance garage, they could do so under current zoning regulations if a special PZC exception is approved.
Eight properties on Washington Street are, or could be, affected in the future by the March 13 PZC ruling.
McKeon remains positive his arguments will be heard this evening. "I'm hoping the planning and zoning commission is willing to listen to logical arguments. I'm calling neighbors as witnesses so they can talk about things like evaluation and historical significance [of the area]," then the hearing will be open to the public.
He expects both Wesleyan and and Middlesex Hospital representatives will speak against his proposal.
A legal defense fund has been set up to appeal the city's mixed-use zoning change ruling. Organizers are for the rights of homeowners, traffic and pedestrian safety, the health of residents and transparent government. Checks should be sent to Jared and Jennifer Proto at 390 High Street, Middletown CT 06457, and labeled on the memo line as "donation for legal appeal."
The Planning and Zoning Commisison meets at 7 p.m. in city hall council chambers. A public hearing will be held and the membership could vote this evening in the amendment.
Catch up on the issue with our story roundup here.
Related stories