Residents Gather to Discuss City's Plan of Development

Jen Alexander addresses the COPD gathering.

Every ten years, by law, the city must update its Plan of Conservation and Development.  This plan then becomes the guiding document for economic development, business growth, conservation and housing.

Wednesday night, another in a series of public discussions on the topic was held at Council Chambers in City Hall at a meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission.

A modest-sized, but interested group of residents gathered to hear what planning consultants Joe Guszkowski of CME Engineering and Courtney Hendricson of CERC had heard and compiled from residents at previous design charrettes on the topic.  Wednesday's meeting goal was to refine discussions about what should be included in the new plan when it is written.  Those earlier sessions were held in April at Middletown High School and Woodrow Wilson Middle School.

Since the process began in the Spring, the city has lost its only certified planner in the Planning Office when Mark Devoe left the position after a brief tenure.

The consultants provided a brief overview of resident responses at the previous charrettes, and to a comprehensive online survey developed for the process.

They opened the discussion to the floor, but aimed the discussion to the topics which surfaced in the survey and at the previous meetings.  Those topics included parking, improvements on Route 9, revitalization of the riverfront and business development, particularly on Main Street.

Several candidates for office were in attendance, including mayoral candidates Seb Giuliano, Mary Bartolotta, Ben Florsheim, and Common Council candidates Linda Salafia, Gerry Daley, Bobbye Knoll Peterson, Bob Santangelo, Gene Nocera,  Ed McKeon, Grady Faulkner, Phil Pessina, Steve Dicarlo and Bishop Vance Cotten.  While parking and improvements to roads and parks were among the major topics discussed, neither mayoral candidates, Public Works Director Bill Russo, nor Parking Director Geen Thazhampallath, were in attendance. Also in attendance were Main Street retailers Pamela Steele, Diane Gervais, and Dmitri D'Allessandro.

Frustrations surfaced early as residents complained that public charrettes conducted by nationally-known consultants Project for Public Spaces, and a plan which came out of those meetings, have been largely ignored.  That project began eight years ago, and the plan was released in 2013, and the recommendations in the plan have not been implemented.

Resident, Steve Banks expressed disappointment that the first in a series of projects in that plan, a new boathouse on the riverfront, had been scuttled because the committee charged with pushing the plan forward developed a plan for a grandiose boathouse with a public event space that would have cost more than $60 million, and demanded extensive parking.

Suggestions Wednesday for reconnecting to the riverfront included improving access along the current routes to the river, inviting private developers to submit RFP's, bike and walking paths and the need to address boat traffic and the harbor.

Council member, and mayoral candidate Mary Bartolotta revealed that a pedestrian bridge over Route 9 was already in engineering phase according to a radio interview Bartolotta heard conducted with Mayor Dan Drew.   That announcement drew surprise from those in attendance since the state DOT has promised to return to the city with a comprehensive plan for Route 9 before any individual items in that plan are initiated.

Council member and mayoral candidate Seb Giuliano said that planning could never be truly effective until the city new what the state DOT planned to do about the Route 9 corridor.

The other hot topic of the evening was parking, and the current lack of convenient and adequate parking.  Several attendees had parking suggestions including creating new parking garages, including one that might be a part of a riverfront "city center," and a suggestion by Common Council candidate Steve DiCarlo that the way to solve the problem was to institute valet parking downtown.

Downtown resident, Kid City founder, member of the Downtown Business District and longtime downtown advocate, Jen Alexander urged the Planning and Zoning Commission, and consultants to make sure that all suggestions and plans are carefully considered before the plan is written because, as she said, the plan becomes the guide for development for a decade.  Among her suggestions was an increase in market rate downtown housing and control of retail development on Main Street, including avoiding chain stores.  Alexander noted that an increase in attractive market rate housing downtown was needed to attract young residents.  Alexander also said that Middletown is the envy of many cities because of its diversity and strong central core, and that the city needed to remain vigilant so as not to lose that distinction.