City Meetings, 9/1 to 9/8

Tuesday, September 2nd, 6:00 PM Special Common Council Meeting, Council Chambers, City Hall

• Workshop, Plan of Development (AVAILABLE HERE)
  

Tuesday, September 2nd, 7:00 PM Common Council Meeting, Council Chambers, City Hall
Council has a very full agenda (AVAILABLE HERE). Here are the highlights:

• Vote on Bond Ordinance
  The Council will vote on whether to grant a request by Water and Sewer for an Ordinance appropriating $4.5 million for the following improvements: 1) Westfield service area water pressure enhancement, 2)Route 66 Water and Sewer installation, 3)Well field planning, and 4)Equipment and material purchase.
  
• 11-1 Resolution. Approving the $4,500,000 Water and Sewer Bond Ordinance referendum question, approved at this meeting and to be submitted to the electors at the November 4, 2008 General Election.
• 11-2 Resolution. Approving closing the Council’s investigation regarding the Middletown Police Department.
• 11-6 Resolution. Approving the Parking and Traffic Study prepared by VHB, Inc (AVAILABLE HERE), and taking a number of steps to implement its recommendations.
  
• 11-7 Resolution. Approving the Middletown Base Realignment and Closure Local Redevelopment Authority Reuse Plan for 499 Mile Lane. This plan (AVAILABLE HERE) is to create a public safety facility that will include a new fire station, a regional fire training school, a regional animal shelter, and operations dispatch center. If the plan is approved on Tuesday, the city would then submit an application to the Army Corps of Engineers for the Army to give the Mile Lane land to the city at no cost. The Army approval would be after their decision on what land to use for the new military training facility.
  

Wednesday, September 3rd, 7:00 PM Inland Wetlands And Watercourses Agency Meeting, Council Chambers, City Hall
There will be a public hearing on two applications

• Application for grading and drainage improvements in the southern portion of 1153 Newfield Street.
• Application to fill 1,927 sq. ft. of wetlands and to work within the 100’ upland review area to construct a 10,036 sq. ft. church and required infrastructure to be located at 693 Saybrook Road.

Thursday, September 4th, 5:30 PM Zoning Board Of Appeals Meeting
There will be a public hearing on one application:

• Proposed variance to Section 40.03.05 with regard to the driveway width located in the TD zone at 13 West Silver Street.

Monday, September 8th, 6:30 PM Economic Development Commission Meeting

The week ahead: 8/25 to 9/1

Welcome new Wesleyan students!

Tuesday, all over town

Dazed and confused 18 year olds, accompanied by wistful parents, descend on our city.  The former will begin their transformation into confident Middletown residents, the latter will head back home with tears of relief and sadness in their eyes.  

There are two public meetings this week. Both are about land use in Middletown, and both are happening on Wednesday at 7:00 PM. The P&Z meeting has been scheduled for months, and includes a public hearing that could not be rescheduled on short notice.  Thus, the Planning and Zoning elected commissioners and the Planning and Zoning city staff will not be able to attend the Army hearing. 

Planning and Zoning Commission
Wednesday, August 27, 2008- 7:00pm - Council Chambers

• Public Hearing- Proposed four (4) lot resubdivision of the property of Stephen G. and Barbara Borrelli located on Fairchild Road at the end of the cul-de-sac and adjacent to the Cavalry Cemetery to be known as Borrelli Acres.
• Public Hearing- Proposed Special Exception to construct fifteen (15) multi-family dwellings on the east side of Jackson Street adjacent to Newfield Street (Rt. 3) to be known as Acheson Woods II.
• Request for reduction of the cash bond for the Arbutus Estates Subdivision located at 1111 Arbutus Street.
• Request for reduction of the cash bond for the Liberty Hill Subdivision located off Plumb Road.
• Request for G.S. 8-24 Review for the purchase of 131 and 155 Wadsworth Street by the city from the State of CT Department of Children and Families.

Armed Forces Reserve Training Facility

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - 7:00

Mercy High School Auditorium, 1740 Randolph Road

This meeting will be moderated by State Legislator Ray Kalinowski. It will be a public hearing, members of the public are invited to speak regarding the proposed training facility.

The Weeks Events, 8/17 to 8/24

Here are the Public Meetings this week.  Additionally, there will be more tours of the New Middletown High School on 

Tues, Aug. 19:  9 - 11:30 am & 6 - 7:30 pm
Thurs, Aug. 21: 9 - 11:30 am & 6 - 7:30 pm

Monday, August 18, 2008 - 5:30pm- Room 208
Middletown Redevelopment Authority for 499 Mile Lane

• Presentation on possible reuse proposals
• Public Hearing on reuse and disposition of 499 Mile Lane
• Possible Final Recommendation by Authority

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 –5:30 pm – Room 208
Redevelopment Agency - Agenda Summary

• Broad Park/Nehemiah North End Homeownership Update
• Miller-Bridge Update

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 - 6:30pm - Council Chambers
Boardman Lane Informational Meeting- US Army Corp Hosted Event

Col. Keith Landry, District Commander US Army Corps of Engineers; David Dale, Deputy District Engineer and Diane McCartin, Program Manager will be in town to answer questions, explain project and process for the location of the Army Training facility on Boardman Lane.

Thursday, August 21, 2008 –7:00 pm – Room 208
Conservation Commission - Agenda Summary

• Farm Viability Study
• Public Relations – Conservation Corner
• Open Space Status
• POCD
• Community Garden
• Army Base Reserve Center
• Updating the Trail Guide
• Trail Signs
• CVH
• Vet’s Park
• Grecco Estate Proposal
• Millane Nurseries Land Replacement
• Open Space Donation – River Road
• Kleen Energy

The week's events 8/3/2008

Common Council Meeting, Monday August 4 - 6:00 pm Council Chamber
Presentation of findings on the Middletown Parking Study
Regular Common Council Meeting - Monday August 4 - 7:30 pm Council Chambers
On the agenda are the resolution opposing the construction of an Army Reserve Training Center on Boardman Lane, and a resolution to define the referendum question, and date of referendum for completion of the High School project.

Common Council Workshop, Tuesday August 5 - 6:30 pm Council Chambers
To consider the water service area West of I-91, which figures prominently in the proposed development of an Army Reserve Training Center.

Roy Zimmerman in Concert - Tuesday August 5, 7:30 pm - Wilde Auditorium University of Hartford
Produced by Middletown resident Ed McKeon to honor free speech at independent radio stations WWUH, WESU and WHUS. Roy Zimmerman is a singer-songwriter, political satirist touring the lower 48 prior to the presidential election in November. The author of this blog does not profit in any way from this concert.



Inland Wetlands and Water Course Commission Meeting - Wednesday August 6, Council Chambers
During which the use of pervious concrete will be discussed.

Zoning Board of Appeals - Thursday August 7, Council Chambers
The posted agenda is frightfully uniformative, but among the topics to be considered is an additional exception for the Rite Aid store being constructed across from the South Green on Main Street. The store wants to have an exception made for signage. An initial exception was granted for a drive-in window, which is the reason for the severe grading, and tall concrete wall and elevated parking lot along Union Street (see photo above - or better yet, walk down Union Street - the wall is gargantuan).

Recruiting citizen reporters

One of the ways this blog can be most effective is if we can get citizen/reporters to attend each of the important municipal meetings which happen every month, and report back to us, through the blog, what happened.

If your civic duty gnawing at your conscience, this is a great way to learn about city government, and help your neighbors and fellow Middletown residents.

The only way to ensure that government is doing what it's supposed to do, is to have eyes and ears trained on it at all times. Don't take this as a general dismissal of the good work done by most of our public servants, but you can take it as a dose of healthy skepticism by someone who has seen isolated public servants do the worse when they think no one is watching.

It's actually a relatively easy assignment, although sometimes these meetings are godawful boring, particularly when commission members feel they need to poster with obtuse and repetitive speeches just because they enjoy the sounds of their own voices.

If you volunteered, you would have to commit to a couple of hours a month (or if you teamed with someone else, a couple hours every other month). You would attend the meeting, and take notes about the decisions that are made, and if you are ambitious, you might even report on what is said by the general public and commission members on certain topics. Then you would write a few paragraphs (preferably the same evening, but at least by the next day), that would give us the lowdown on the meeting. And if you have a digital camera, even the most pedestrian of meeting photos is helpful.

One of the great things about attending the same meeting every month is that you begin to know the commission members, who is active, who not, and to understand the issues that come before that commission. And we as blog readers get the advantage of that consistent knowledge.

This week there are a few meetings of note (and several others not noted here):

Common Council Meeting, 7 pm, Monday July 7, Council Chambers (this one is also televised on the Comcast Educational Access Channel) Of note tonight will be the discussion of whether to provide a loan for an exploratory committee to ornamentally light the Arrigoni Bridge (for which, apparently, there are federal funds available). The rest of the agenda is available here.

Board of Education, 7 pm, Tuesday July 8, Board of Ed Building Meeting agenda to be posted here.

Wednesday July 9 is busy with these meetings listed:
Preservation and Design Review, 5:30 pm, Room 208, City Hall
Public Works, 5:00 pm, Public Works office
Resource Recycling, 7 pm, Russell Library
Planning and Zoning, 7 pm, Council Chambers (meeting agenda to be posted here)

Conservation Commission, Thursday July 10, Room 208, City Hall (agenda here)

Hope you take this invitation to participate seriously. We could use your help. If you're interested, email me mieyeed@gmail.com.

Before I end this blog, allow me to step on my soap box for a moment.

The effort to inform Middletown residents of meetings, agendas and meeting minutes is shameful in this day and age. Just to assemble the above list, I had to click on several websites (departments are allowed to have their own sites), each of which uses a different format for listing the information. There is no consistency, no order, and in the case of meeting minutes, no sense of urgency.

It is entirely possible to remedy the situation, and I'd suggest the following:

- Redesign the website so the monthly meeting calendar is featured prominently on the home page.
- Design the meeting calendar so access to meeting agendas and minutes are available in a single mouse click
- Make all town websites adhere to a consistent format
- Make all public documents appropriate to the meeting and resolutions up for discussion (letters, charts, statutes, graphs,) available as PDF documents on line
- Have meeting minutes available on line prior to the following meeting
- Televise all public meeting
- Archive all video/audio recordings of meetings so they are available online immediately following the meeting

Ed McKeon is a writer and filmmaker who lives in the Village District.