P&Z Passes Controversial MX Zone Changes

The Planning & Zoning Commission passed extensive changes to the code governing the MX zone, opening the door for a planned development on Washington Street and perhaps much more throughout the city.

The Council Chamber was packed with people, many sitting on the floor or watching and listening as best they could on the TV in the City Hall lobby.

The Commission voted 6-0 in favor of text changes championed by the Centerplan Corporation, the Mayor and the Chamber of Commerce, but opposed by neighbors of the planned development and many other citizens.

The Middletown Press says the vote "end[s] weeks of debate", despite the fact that Ed McKeon, leader of the opposition, says neighbors will mount legal challenges to the change. But then, the Press didn't interview him or any of the other scores of concerned citizens who packed the Chamber.

The Patch and Wesleying blogs also covered the meeting, as did TV stations Fox 61 and Channel 3.

More to come later today on The Eye.

Solar Power Plan Supported By Council

The Common Council authorized Mayor Drew to negotiate and sign an agreement with Greenskies, Inc, to build solar systems on City property and sell the electricity to the City at a rate of 6¢ per kilowatt hour. This is less than half of the cost that the City is currently paying.

Rite Aid Asks Again

Our downtown has sprouted another Zoning notice, this time on the new building going up on the corner of Union and Main. The site of the former Middletown Press building is under construction as a 2-story building that will reportedly house a re-located Rite Aid pharmacy, an unnamed retail or restaurant tenant, and upper floor office space for the developer, Centerplan.

This is not the first time that this property has sought relief from zoning regulations -- prior to construction, they had to get approval for their plans to add a drive-thru window to the back of the pharmacy space, and a variance because they only had 40 ft. for the drive-thru lane instead of the required 200 ft. In the B-1 zone of downtown, drive-thru windows are currently restricted, unless allowed by Special Exception of the Planning and Zoning Commission. This restriction came about in the 1990's, during a round of zoning reforms that were intended to help the downtown capitalize on its assets -- as a walkable, commercial neighborhood of mainly historic buildings. This was controversial at the time, as it meant that we were basically saying no to any new chain restaurants (remember Burger King on Main Street?) and the concern was that downtown could not afford to turn away any potential new tenants. But Main Street has in fact thrived under these regulations, and it can hardly be denied that the zoning restriction within downtown has pushed much of the car-oriented fast food and donut shop development to other areas of town -- with its resulting acres of asphalt and short-term architectural values.

But I digress.

Their upcoming application regards signage. They are applying to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a variance -- I understand that they would like to add additional signs on the sidewalk, which are not allowed. They are currently scheduled to make their appeal at the August 7th meeting of the ZBA.