Town Council - Special Meeting

Okay, folks. Good evening. We're going to we're going to get started. Um, we typically start with the roll call. So Wendy, if you please call the roll Council President Paul M. Roderick here.

Vice President Thomas the Welch. The third Here. Councilor Peter D. Connaughton, Sr. Here. Councilor Christopher M. Logan. Here. Councilor Charles R. Roberts. Here. Councilor Dennis B. Terrano. Here. Councilor Barbara A. Von Villis. Here. We have a quorum, Mr. President.

Thank you, Wendy. Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Okay, thank you. We have three items. We're going to read all three of them in because the public hearing remained open the last time. So I'll read them. Tom will make his motions. I'll turn it over to the solicitors so they can update everybody. And then we'll get started. Okay. So number one is public hearings advertised. ABUT has been notified. This is a continuation of the public hearing opened on September 16, 2025, which remains open. In honor to the Town of Middletown, this is the second reading. In order to revision to the Middletown Comprehensive Community Plan, proposed amendment to the town's Comprehensive Community Plan, MAP L4, as amended in February 2024 for future land use, to change the destination of subject property from institutional to limited in office business, an area located on West Main Road and designated as lots 4567 on Texas's Platte 102. SUBJECT PARCELS ARE IDENTIFIED ON ATTACHED MAP. PLANNING BOARD RECOMMENDATION IS ON FILE.

MOTION TO OPEN THE PUBLIC HEARING. SECOND.

IT REMAINS OPEN. PUBLIC HEARING REMAINS OPEN.

PUBLIC HEARING REMAINS OPEN.

OKAY. SO I'LL READ THE SECOND ONE AND WE'LL DO THE SAME THING. number two public hearing advertised but has been notified this is a continuation of the public hearing open on september 16th 2025 which remains open in order to the town of middletown again second reading an ordinance amendment to the town code of Town of Middletown official zoning map, the zoning designation of that certain lot or possible land presently identified as lots 456 and 7 on Middletown Tax Assessors Plat 102, which is presently designated as public, shall be changed to LBA, limited business, traffic-sensitive, and shown on the attached plan, which is the planning board recommendation on file.

Motion for the public hearing to remain open. Second. Okay.

It remains open. Okay. We're not motioning to do that. It just remains open. Okay.

Okay. I got one more chance.

You get another shot. You do. Number three, the public hearing has been advertised, but has been notified. This is a continuation of the public hearing open on September 16, 2025, which remains open. Announce to the Town of Middletown, second reading. Announce an amendment to the Town Code, Town Code, Town of Middletown, rather, Town Code, Title 15, Chapter 152, entitled Zoning Code. is amended by adding new Article 31, West Main-Coddington Overlay District, adding a new column and other revisions to Section 602 regarding uses allowed in the West Main-Coddington Overlay District, adding new lines to Section 603 regarding dimensional requirements and amendment to the Town of Middletown Official Zoning Map indicating zoning overlay district designation of that certain lot or parcel of land presently identified as lots three, four, five, six, and seven, Middletown Tax Assessors Platte 102 as the West Main Coddington Overlay District shown on the attached map. And again, the planning board recommendation is on file.

Public hearing remains open.

There you go. Okay. At this point, we'll turn it over to the solicitor so we can update you from where we left off on September 16th and what's transpired. So, Mr. Regan.

Thank you, Mr. President. So, a lot of what I'm going to mention, if you've been following this matter closely, you may already know, but a lot of this information is for the benefit of some of those folks who may not have been following this quite as closely. But based on opinions that were expressed by residents at the previous public hearings asking that the recreation complex including potsy field remain where it is. The council made the decision not to relocate the field to the north end of the property, but rather to keep that 3.8 acre recreation complex where it is. So that is the current plan. And as a result of that that resulted in the town and the developer engaging in discussions that led to a revised development agreement, because if you recall, we started with one larger parcel that was going to be developed as one project. Because the field remains where it is, we have two parcels that as a practical matter have to be developed separately that revised development agreement. is now limited to the 3.24-acre parcel at the corner of West Main Road and Coddington, which was the site of the former Navy Lodge Hotel. The town purchased that site from the Navy back in 2018 specifically for economic development. Under the revised development agreement, that site's limited to a 144-room hotel. will include a landscape park of at least 3,000 square feet at the corner of West Main Road in Coddington as previously requested by the planning board. And the bank that had been previously slated for that area is no longer part of the plan. And as you will see when we get into the details of the zoning overlay, banks are no longer allowed anywhere within this proposed zoning district. The town expects that this hotel development will provide significant revenue to the town, including ground rent, room tax, meal and beverage taxes, as well as real estate taxes. And in that regard, of the three components that were part of the original plan, hotel, housing, and retail, it is the hotel that provides the most revenue for the town. projections of that revenue. The town expects that once the project is completed, it would begin producing approximately $785,000 of revenue for the town inclusive of real estate taxes, tangible tax, room and beverage tax, and ground rent. In terms of the ground rent, I'm pointing out that while this site is 24% of the original overall site, the ground rent for this parcel is actually 45% of the rent that would have been paid for the entire site. That rent will increase 12.5% every five years, which is a rate of 2.5% per year. As I mentioned, keeping the rec complex in the current location necessarily divides this property into two separate development parcels. That raises the question of what will happen to the other parcel where the current library and JFK are located. and the town is beginning a planning process to determine the use of that property, but it is expected that that development would lean very heavily towards housing. But that will be a separate process that the town will begin. And the zoning overlay, which is the subject of the hearing tonight, has been revised to take these changes into account rather than one large combined development. We have two development parcels. We have built in some changes, which Mr. Galvin will walk through when he does his presentation. In addition to the removal of the banks, there's no longer any drive-throughs allowed in this district. And in addition, there have been some changes in terms of an increase in the percentage of affordable housing required for any housing development on the remainder of the site. So with that, I will turn things back over to the president.

Okay. So Gerard, do you want to make a presentation next?

Can you hear me? Is it on?

It is.

Thank you, Gerard Galvin, for the development team here. Yes, very briefly, Peter covered most of the substance that I was going to get into. And I'll just give a very brief follow up to that. We were all here on September 16. We heard all of the concerns that were raised by both the public and the questions from the council. And coming out of that meeting, we we fairly quickly engaged in discussion with the administration about how do we achieve some of those goals that were discussed at that meeting. So, as Peter said, the result of that has been the revised development agreement, along with what we hope will be this approved revised overlay. Significantly, the preservation of potsy field and the recreational complex, where it is as it is, was The focus of the revision, that is the big piece that we're presenting to you. Additionally, as Peter mentioned, the affordable housing minimums called for the northern parcels, those numbers moved from 12% of a minimum for affordable housing to 20%. The banks, the bank is removed. The drive-throughs are removed. And importantly, though, the overlay provides the framework for the town to then move to the next level, to plan the development for these northern parcels, primarily focused on the housing, but also allowing for some retail development. So we feel that we have, as we have through this process, tried to be collaborative or you know take cues from the town and from the public and we think we've made very substantial revisions to the proposal here we hope you'll find them satisfactory with that i don't want to take any more time i know we're here to hear from the public tonight and of course we're ready to answer any questions from you about the revisions okay

Any councilors have any questions of Mr. Galvin and what he just presented? Okay. So we'll start taking public comment. I'll do the best I can as hands go up and as many people as we can to get a chance to say how they feel. Okay. So public hearings open. Who wants? Yes, sir. When you come up, just state your name and address for the record, please.

hi my name is Michael lopes I live in 41 pink one place in middletown. i'm here as I have many generations of my family, I lived on this island of newport middletown and portsmouth. And we've seen things grow things change, I know things do change but. Unfortunately, it's only changing for the rich people. It ain't changing for the people that actually live here on fixed income and things like that. We voted for you people to represent our best interest, right? And this is not our best interest. You can ask, you'll probably hear from quite a few people. So we're wondering who you represent. You represent the people of Middletown or you represent hired lawyers? That's the answer. I mean, I'm not here to blast you. Be in my place and things will be happening to you, right? And a lot of you people are well off. You don't care either way. You're just doing your job, trying to, satisfy the money that's coming in. We notice it. We don't like it. I don't like it. I'm a Vietnam veteran. And this has been my town to come home. And I love this town. We used to play in this town. It was a fun place when you were a kid. running through yards. Now it's no trespassing. You can't be on the shoreline. You can't go fishing. You can't go on the beach without paying. My God, you can't do anything anymore. We live here. We should be able to go to the fucking beach.

Mike, you've got to keep it clean. I know you're emotional. You were emotional last time. I asked you to tone it down last time, so if you could just be... And I get it. I understand. We just need to be respectful.

But I would love to go to the beach, but I only would go a couple times a year.

Yeah, so the beach... I know this isn't to do with the beach. Just so you know about the beach, so while people hear, they understand that. All right, back to the hotel. I just want to give you a point about the beach. The reason we have to charge for the beach is because in 73, when the beach got wiped out, They borrowed money from the federal government to redo the parking lot. When they did that, there's a stipulation in that that they can't charge non-residents any more double than they charge a resident. So if we let the residents go free, we'd have to let the non-residents go free. And, you know, we have payroll down there, and people we have to, you know, cover for that. So that's why we do that. If we could let the people from Middletown go free, I'd have my hand up tomorrow, and actually we are working on that, believe it or not.

What happened to Third Beach?

I don't know.

Third Beach was free, and you people took it away from us, another one.

Yeah.

What's the answer to that?

I don't have an answer, but I can get you one.

All right, I appreciate it. It should be free for Middletown residents. Free to park.

Understood. Yes, sir.

And that was terrible. That was a smack in everybody that lives in Middletown's face. Because usually everybody forgets that beach. So only Middletown people did go there. But as far as the hotel has to be concerned, who in the hell needs another hotel? You know what I mean? Right now, right now, we're in a drought situation. Everybody's, you know, running water through the pipes can only exist with so many buildings. Thirsty island. So I don't think any more buildings at the moment should be built, especially that large with hundreds of rooms or whatever the rooms are. And it's just going to use a lot of water. And at the times, it's the worst. It's the summer. Wintertime, you know, we can slide by. There's nobody here, nobody using water, utilities, whatnot. But in the summertime, you're going to find out you're going to be hurt. You'll be hurting back. That's all I have to say.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Okay.

Okay. Yes, I'll get you next, sir. Yes, sir.

Good afternoon, sir. Good afternoon. Gents and ladies, thank you so much for giving us some time to present our views on this most important aspect of Milton.

I just need your name and address, please.

I really don't understand This is the only one central place left for us. When you are on West Main Road and you feel the open space, you feel like breathing. You know, you like it. You feel openness. You want to build a 145 rooms hotel and the banks and other restaurants we have already 13 hotels in that vicinity and also we have probably 10 banks i fail to understand why this the central piece of middle town you want to give away to please a couple of people we have presented to you over 2,000 signatures saying that we don't want another hotel. Full stop. You are for us, not for those two people. And please remember, Your children, your grandchildren, next generations will never ever forgive you if you sell this precious land. Thank you so much.

Sure. Okay. Can we just get your name and address for the record, please? I'm sorry? Can we just get your name and address for the record?

Yes. My name is Ram Nehra, 24. J.H. Dwyer Drive, Middletown.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Okay.

Yes, sir.

My name's Thomas Brown, 64 Pequot Lane, Middletown. Two comments. One about the development itself. It seems like the whole reason for this development is a hotel, and the way you're producing it is a terrible streetscape. You're going to have a hotel, and if you put buildings where the library is, you're going to have two buildings with the potsy field in the middle. That's sort of stupid in my opinion. Keep the corner as a park. So you have a park in Potsy Field that looks like a nice open space. And where the library is, you can put there, if you want to put a hotel there, which we don't really need, or housing, then the streetscape looks like, oh, I know what happened. This is like in Manhattan where somebody didn't want to sell their property, so they built the skyscraper around a little building. So that's what it looks like is that it doesn't make any sense. Now, with respect to the rent, I heard you say there's a 2.5 escalator on the ground rent. Inflation is 3.81% today. That's a bad deal. You should have. You're going to make a 2.5.

If you're going to make a 2.5, have that be the floor.

And therefore, whatever the inflation rate above that that gets paid, if you've got a floor. You're losing 1.3% right today, and who knows what inflation will be in the future when this is built. So you really haven't done a good business deal, in my opinion. That's my two comments.

Thank you, Tom. Sheila, and I'll get you next, ma'am.

Sheila Maloney, 27 Forest Avenue. Thanks for having this hearing tonight. Thanks for letting me speak. I worked at the Newport Daily News for 17 years, so I remember the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission and the West Main Side studies. I have looked at, once again, all of the studies that were done for this parcel in the West Main Corridor. Not one of them, not even your own RFI called for a hotel. Economic development, yes. Do we need revenue? Yes. Do we need affordable housing? Yes. Does a hotel fix any of these issues? No. What also I find lacking in this, not only just the dividing into the parcels, which people have already talked about, so now it's not a complete plan, but it doesn't include any of the words that were, Paul?

Sorry.

It doesn't include anything that looks like and this is citing from previous studies, a main street, a community center, a town center, a gateway, a unique destination, town commons. This these are all things that a lot of people put a lot of time and money into creating. dreaming what could be the best highest use for this very valuable parcel of property that as already has been described is a gateway into Middletown. There's no vision here. And that's why after 10 years after leaving the Newport Daily News, I'm coming to my first public hearing to please ask you to stop this and create a better plan for the entire parcel. Thank you.

Good evening, counselors. My name is Debbie Stoker and I live at 20 Debbie Road in Middletown. And I just want to show you an AI rendering of what a town center could be. I can show it to you now or later. It's up to you.

If you want to give it to the, we can get it to the clerk and make it part of the record if that's what you'd like to do.

Yeah. Sure. Okay. It's a short thing. Anyways, I posted a while ago on the residence page and a lot of people really, really liked the idea. So I thought it was worth some investigation. And I also thought, I don't know if Newport's willing or still looking for a home for their carousel. That would be like the perfect area to put it in a town center if they were willing. But anyways, Middletown residents could enjoy some landscaped walking paths. A gazebo where you could rent it out for wedding ceremonies, generate some extra revenue with that. I used to work for Parks and Rec in Newport, so I kind of know what we could get some revenue from. And then we had to do a nice skating rink in the winter with fire pits, seating around it, stuff like that. Maybe a general store. The possibilities are totally endless. They could also be a beautiful park-like atmosphere with children's playground, potential for huge craft fairs, just like Broadway Street Fair. They generate a lot of revenue, too, with the vendors. They have to pay for their tents, I think. They could do that spring, summer, fall, and generate revenue that way. But this green space, This gathering space can improve surrounding neighborhoods more sustainably. Please listen to the residents of Middletown who just want a more peaceful style of living without the daily traffic nightmare. And I know you've all heard arguments against the hotel project. So this is just another alternative for this idea. And then thank you for your time. And can I get this drawing and copy on the public record?

Sure, Debbie. Just really quick, going back to the carousel, when I heard that, Newport was potentially looking for a home for it. It did call the mayor. And it was a possibility, but I think somebody privately in Newport, a private person, yeah, it's being stored in Connecticut. And they're paying for that. So I thought, hey, well, maybe at some point we could, I thought it'd be pretty cool to have out there. But yeah, but that's kind of off the table.

Well, that was just one idea, but there's so many different things they could do there. So can I go to the county clerk and give her the idea? Sure. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Debbie.

Mr. President? Yes. Can we have people speak into the microphone a little better so that we can hear in the back? Sure. Thank you.

Okay. Wendy.

Good evening. Wendy Real, 48 Swan Drive. I want to remind everyone how this process began. The town created a request for information by gathering public input and identifying what level of development the people of Middletown would support in exchange for developing some of their precious public land. Land was the number one response on a questionnaire given to residents on what they valued most in Middletown. The purpose of the request for information was not to simply invite development at any cost. It was to define development as envisioned by the public. There were three respondents to the request for information providing different ideas about how to deliver what the residents wanted. Two of the three respondents' ideas included a hotel component, and one of those was ultimately chosen. Throughout the request for information discussions, South County Commons was repeatedly referenced as a model worth striving for. South County Commons does include a hotel. The hotel is located on the far edge of the property all by itself, so no one sees that subtle three-story hotel except for those with the hotel as their destination. The request for information respondent chosen, now James Karam and Rocky Kempinar, submitted visual depictions of their ideas to the town council and the public in June of 2022. I've put copies of that presentation on these boards to remind you that from the start, a hotel as well as a library was part of the proposal as soon as a hotel was proposed it generated public displeasure and concern especially with its front and center positioning the planning board's public hearing comments were formally reported back to the town council in may of 2022 it was memo documenting many of those concerns from both the public and the planning board Please note, I said displeasure from both, public and the planning board. As the memo listed many concerns, including that the planning board believed that the submitted details did not meet the stated goals of the request for information. There is not much support for the hotel among residents. the west main coddington intersection as the gateway to middletown should present the appearance of a town center the new library should be designed to be state-of-the-art facility that meets the needs of the residents of middletown with adequate space for community activities and preferably more than 10 of residential units should qualify under the state's definition of affordable housing I have also put on the board a visual of the proposal in front of us today. The developer proposal today is just a front and center hotel. Nothing else. No retail, no residential, no amphitheater, no dog park, no patio, no walking path, and no library. Today's proposal no longer reflects the intent or criteria of the original request for information. In fact, if what is being proposed today had originally been submitted in response to the request for information, it likely would have been rejected outright by both the administration and the town council, and rightfully so. The project has drifted so far from what the public was told and what the public discussed that it no longer resembles the vision that people were asked to support. This is becoming very close to an example of bait and switch. The town has asked the public what they want and are now disregarding residents' input. For many residents, this feels like a betrayal of public trust. The people participated in good faith. They attended hearings, reviewed plans, shared concerns, and helped define what they are willing and unwilling to accept in exchange for the use of some of the residents' land. Middletown residents are not asking for something unreasonable. One hotel is not going to solve the town's financial woes. Proof of great financial gain has yet to be provided by the town to residents asking for details. The people simply want what they themselves outlined for their precious land. This proposal is not and is no longer even close to what they asked for. The request for information process and every public hearing since then have made one thing clear. The community has consistently communicated what it wants and what it doesn't want. the writing is on the wall this is not the right proposal this is not the right time to move forward the council should not even consider approving the developers three requests what the council What the council should consider is a reset, a new request for information or even a request for proposal, one that truly incorporates the public's input received over the last several years and seeks proposals that align with the community's vision. The people of Middletown deserve a process that honors their input, shows transparency, respects their land and produces a proposal that reflects the values and expectations of the community. Thank you and please make this part of the public record and a footnote. I would like to personally just thank Charlie Roberts and Dennis Toronto on several local issues that popped up at meetings. and always working very hard to support things that benefit the residents of Middletown.

Carol.

My name is Carol Cummings, and I live at 738 Indian Avenue, Middletown.

Can you talk louder, Carol? They can't hear you in the back.

You can. I can't hear you. My hearing is really bad.

Just talk in your mad voice.

Can you hear me now? Yes?

Okay.

Well, I'll keep doing the best. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. There's a statement that says, from compromise and things half done, keep me with a stern and stubborn pride. Until at last the fight is won, keep me still unsatisfied. Let me apply that to Potsy Field. You have stated that you are not going to leave it the way that it is. And I absolutely believe that you must re-record the initial deed with all your signatures with directions from our attorney to keep it the way that it is forever more. It cannot be changed, ever. Additionally, going down the street on the West Main Road, I had written a couple of things which are published in various places in Newport, Middletown, Newport. Initially, let's talk about the Kennedy School, which is magnificently built all on one floor, which can be very easily made into low-income housing projects. It is, requires, it can be built up as well. It's beautifully built. Additionally, the existing library with some structure improvement could easily and beautifully be made into the senior citizen center. It's all on one floor. There are no stairs to climb. And there are areas that have already been cut off that they can use for selling whatever people choose to give to them. And there's plenty of room to put a magnificent kitchen and entertain people without tearing it down and giving the property to somebody else at all. It should be stayed with our town, with our people 100%. And as far as holding the deed for future construction. It's a little dangerous to do that. And I think you need to really think about it. Additionally, I wonder how many of you have looked at the deeds for each and every property that is about to be leased? Any of you looked at the deeds at all? Anybody? Yes. Which ones?

We had to go through every single one of them, Mrs. Thomas.

Have you looked at the Kennedy School, the deed for that? Have you looked at the library, the deed for that?

We have been briefed on all of the parcels and the differences between the two and how we got here, yes, many times for a while now.

Well, do you find there may be a problem with selling any of them, leasing them?

We're not selling them.

No, I know about leasing them.

There's legal work that needs to be done all the time.

Or what their use would be. You need to go back and take a look at these. Okay? Okay. And I really feel that you people were voted by these people and you are not doing anything that is appropriate for our community. Nothing. You're doing as you please. What's behind it all? Not the citizens of Middletown. There's another portion which some of us know about. Good night.

Good night, Carol. Bill, you were next. I'm sorry, I haven't looked over there. Oh, okay, Karen. No, go ahead, Bill. We'll get Karen next. I apologize, Karen.

Okay, now I got to put my eyes in. Okay, my name is Bill Weikert. I live at 156 Ridgewood Road. And I'm here this evening to point out the developer proposed zoning overlay. Speaking because it's coming back at me. Okay, I'm Bill Weikert 156 Ridgewood Road. I'm here this evening to point point out that the developer proposed zoning overlay is over public space. not just any public space, but the public land that is deeded from the federal government for open space and recreation in perpetuity. The public land is Patsy Field. Technically, it is plat 102, lot three, and it has been included in the developer's proposed zoning overlay. With my statement, I will be submitting a letter dated March 31st, 2025 from the United States Department of the Interior National Park Service that states,

That's okay.

Yeah. I'm used to using a megaphone. Oh, okay. Anyway, I would ask that the planning board and the town council avoid changes to the zoning through an overlay zone until the forest legacy program and the land and water conservation fund compliance is resolved, unquote. Not that any zoning overlay is needed, given the development now only details a single lot, but certainly Platte 102, Lot 3, Potsie Field, should not be included in any zoning change without first going through the processes of relief and permission from the National Park Service, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, or any other governmental agencies involved. And I thank you tonight to allow me to speak.

Thank you, Bill. That's okay Karen, take your time. We have all night.

I don't.

Okay.

My leg is swelling up like a sausage. Head surgery, that's what it was. Karen Rourke, 26 Renfrew Avenue, Middletown. Can you, can the gentleman hear me, can you hear me? Okay. I will try. Is this better?

Yes.

Okay. I'm not going to reiterate any of the things that I've always said, that I've already said all the times. You can read past minutes. Sheila Maloney, Who can top that it really just gets to the crystal. essence of everything. Many people worked on wanting a town center, and I know this has been long and bumpy I remember when our committee gave our modifications to the plan. all six that were current. Barbara, you weren't there, but you all liked the idea that we could try to compromise and have the hotel and have the town center elements, and that's not here anymore. It really isn't. It's basically we're replacing the Navy Lodge with a new, taller hotel. I know that this is a public hearing about three proposals and I want to state that I am against them because Right now, we don't know what we are going to do going back to the drawing board for the parcels that are on the northern end. So I don't understand why we don't keep it P, because that gives us the ability to have more input. I also, don't want to change the comp plan because I still think that we all do want some pee there. And even though Potsy Field is going to stay, we don't know what else, you know, there were other ideas that people want in that section of town in the old comp plan that we kind of liked. So we're not really, I'm not in favor of changing that. And then the overlay district, the whole overlay district was trying to make the parcels, trying to make the development that wanted to happen fit within our design. They were, they were not fitting within our design regulations. They weren't, they weren't for our mixed use development. There were many things like a hotel and banks and drive throughs. I'm delighted that there were no drive throughs anymore. I'm delighted that there's no banks being considered, but I like our design regulations. So I am not in favor of any more overlay. I would like it to fit. And the last thing I need to ask is solicitor Regan, you mentioned property tax revenue, but if it's our town property, there is no property tax revenue coming in, correct?

There's property tax on the building.

The building itself.

The structure and then any tangible property there. So that's what I was referring to.

Thank you. Because one of the other things that came to my mind and I just share with you, because I know you have the best interest of the town at heart. I know that. I do. And you're trying your best to figure out ways to bring in revenue for our town. But things keep changing. Things have changed in our country and in our town so much since this plan, the RFIs first went out. I think there's a real longing for wanting some of those elements back. But if you feel, I know that Councilor Welch has often, I often think of him when I'm sitting in traffic on West Main Road because you used to say you hate driving by there and seeing empty fields because it's waiting for commercial development. It could be making the town money. It could be, like I understand that and I respect that. If this has to go through, which I'm not sure it does, but why aren't we, why are we keeping it as town land? If you just want, if you, if you feel that we need to have a hotel on that corner, the busiest, one of the busiest corners in our town, if you want that, why don't we zone it general business and, and sell it? Why are we owning it? I don't understand anymore. Okay. So these are the things that I'm saying. I guess that's my whole point is I feel that the piece, no matter what you do with that hotel, that corner parcel, I would, you need to keep the P where we still supposedly are gonna have a plan. And I do endorse Sheila's text about, I think it's time we reset and we can do something great, but I'm not sure we're there yet. I know I'm not comfortable with it and thank you.

Thank you, Karen. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

Good evening, I'll use my outside voice. I hope you can hear me in the back.

Loud and clear.

Okay, thank you. I'm Susan 80, 43 Willow Avenue. Excuse me while I read. I appreciate the opportunity to address the town council and everyone in the room this evening. I recently wrote a letter to the editor and sent each council member a copy that I hope you had a chance to read. Tom, I'm sorry we didn't get to follow up chat on that conversation. I would like to submit that and what I'm carrying tonight also for the public record. I frequently hear, and I'm hearing it again this evening, that there's much confusion regarding the council's ability to act with transparency and honesty. I say that with deep regret because I believe that you are all good people who are genuinely here for the good of the town and the best interest of the residents. With that said, I just have a few comments about the comp plan. In the developers agreement, it states on page four, section 1.10.1, that the developer shall submit for approval a developer proposed zoning overlay, which developer expects will be required for the development of the project. This is quite confusing to me. THE COMP PLAN IS THE GUIDING FRAMEWORK FOR THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE NEEDS AND WISHES OF THE COMMUNITY. IN THE LAND USE CHAPTER THERE IS A SECTION FOR WEST MAINE CODDINGTON THAT GIVES SPECIFIC GUIDANCE REGARDING OVERLAY ZONING WHICH STATES OVERLAY ZONING SHOULD BE DRAFTED AND ADOPTED TO ENSURE THE TOWN'S VISION FOR THE SPECIAL AREA IS IMPLEMENTED WHEN PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT TAKES PLACE. SO THIS IS THE TOWN'S VISION, NOT THE PRIVATE DEVELOPER'S VISION. This suggests the purpose of a zoning overlay for special areas is intended to protect the town and interest of the wishes of the community, not to serve a private developer. Based on the language in the comp plan, it seems generally inconsistent with the comp plan for a developer to be requesting a zoning overlay for the area. This also seems to be inconsistent with the comp plan for the town to have entered into a contractual obligation allowing that. The developer is asking for the land zoning to be changed from public to limited business along with the zoning overlay that allows for uses not allowed within limited business zoning according to Middletown Zoning Code Section 501. Specifically, a hotel will be allowed by right in the overlay zoning. A hotel does not align with the vision outlined in this area in the 2014 comp plan. A hotel is designed for tourists and visitors. It does not belong near densely populated residential areas. It does not create town centered gathering place and vision for community members. I believe it will only contribute to our concerns, which are increased traffic, greater demand on fresh water and other resources, and no meaningful addition of safe walking areas or community gathering spaces. Another concern I have regarding the developer's request is that the requested zoning overlays covers five parcels of land, including Potsie's Field. I thought you had told us Potsie's Field would not be touched and would not be changed. Since the developer's plans involve only one parcel, not only does it seem inappropriate for the developer to request zoning of any kind for any other parcel in the area, but the developer has significantly reduced the proposal to a single parcel, making an overlay district totally unnecessary. I hope you can understand why this raises questions within the community and contributes to confusions and misunderstandings that some residents have regarding the council's decisions and motivations. back to the comp plan on page four the result of an exercise that identifies in very beautiful color and display what residents who contributed their feelings value most about middletown it is the beaches the open space the safe roads safe sidewalks and farmland the proposal before us tonight does not help achieve those goals I imagine most of the town council members are lifelong Middletown residents. I am not. I'm just here 20 years. But perhaps you are even second and third generation. Your experience in this rural seaside community has been watching that change and watching it grow. You know exactly why people like me move here. It's beautiful here. And you now have an opportunity to leave a legacy that demonstrates your commitment to preserving what makes this town special and to serve all of its residents, not just developers. Safe streets, locally owned small businesses, more crosswalks, safer roads for cyclists, and places where people can gather for recreation, community events, or simply conversation. I have seen communities like this across the country. I've seen them work, and they're beautiful. And they have the opportunity to do exactly what the comp plan has laid out for you to do. I feel Middletown can achieve this if we prioritize people over profit. My hope is that tonight you will choose to embrace the wishes of what is stated in the comp plan by Middletown residents and that you will choose to leave a legacy that reflects the value of the community that you have helped to create and you now serve. Thank you very much for allowing me to speak tonight.

Thank you, Susan. Karen.

Good evening. My name is Karen Biastri, 207 Maple Avenue. Before I read my statement, I want to point out that at 615 this evening, Attorney Galvin did say WE'VE MADE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES. I'D LIKE TO KEEP THAT IN MIND AS I READ MY STATEMENT. THE PROPOSAL BEFORE THE PUBLIC TODAY IS MATERIALLY DIFFERENT FROM THE PROPOSAL ORIGINALLY PRESENTED TO RESIDENTS THROUGH THE 2021 RESIDENT DRIVEN REQUEST FOR INFORMATION PROCESS AND THE SUBSEQUENT PUBLIC HEARINGS THAT BEGAN IN 2022. The developers earlier mixed use proposal included residential, commercial and retail uses. Residents expressed concerns not only about the relocation of Posse Field, but also about the limited affordable housing component and the addition of yet another hotel in an already hotel saturated area. TODAY THE PROPOSAL NO LONGER INCLUDES RETAIL MIXED COMMERCIAL USES, AFFORDABLE HOUSING OR THE COMMUNITY GATHERING SPACES IDENTIFIED IN THE 2021 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. What remains is primarily a hotel on 3.24 acres, a hotel that residents have repeatedly expressed displeasure with since it was first proposed in 2022. Despite this significant change, the developer is seeking comprehensive plan amendments and a zoning overlay affecting all 15 acres, while the future of the remaining acreage remains largely undefined. Residents should not be expected to support major major zoning and comprehensive plan changes without knowing what is ultimately planned for the rest of this publicly owned land. The town itself. The town itself referred to the hotel as a phase and it's April 6 2026 press release clearly indicating that additional phases are anticipated yet no details of those future plans have been officially disclosed. This is particularly concerning because affordable housing at the West main road property, one of middle towns most important Community issues is now unclear and undefined. UNDER RHODE ISLAND LAW AND MIDDLE TOWN'S LAND DEVELOPMENT REGULATIONS, SUBSTANTIAL REVISIONS, ATTORNEY GALVIN SAID WE'VE MADE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES, SUBSTANTIAL REVISIONS TO A DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL ARE GENERALLY CONSIDERED MAJOR CHANGES, NOT MINOR MODIFICATIONS. MAJOR CHANGES TYPICALLY REQUIRE REVIEW BY THE APPROPRIATE PERMITTING AUTHORITIES WITH RENEWED PUBLIC HEARINGS. A proposal that has shifted from a 15 acre mixed use concept with housing, retail and commercial components to a largely undefined project centered on a hotel is precisely the type of substantial change that warrants renewed planning board review and meaningful public input. It also warrants a clear explanation of why amendments to the comprehensive plan and a zoning overlay for all 15 acres are still being requested. This is not simply about supporting or opposing development. The 2021 request for information process demonstrated that residents were willing to consider development that provided community and recreational amenities in exchange for public land. The public deserves transparency and a clear understanding of what is actually being proposed before sweeping zoning changes and comprehensive plan amendments are approved. RESIDENTS CANNOT REASONABLY EVALUATE OR COMMENT ON THIS DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT KNOWING THE FULL PLAN FOR ALL 15 ACRES, AND NEITHER SHOULD THE COUNCIL. IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT CONCERN ABOUT THE HOTEL IS NOT NEW. IN ITS MAY 12, 2022 MEMORANDUM TO THE TOWN COUNCIL, THE PLANNING BOARD STATED THAT, QUOTE, THERE IS NOT MUCH SUPPORT FOR THE HOTEL AMONG RESIDENTS, END OF QUOTE. and that if a hotel were included, quote, it should not be the prominent structure of the development on end of quote. Yet the hotel is now the primary feature of the proposal, a true white elephant that will tower over everything in the area. Town Council is being asked to approve changes affecting all 15 acres based largely on a hotel occupying three point two four acres. Am I really supposed to believe that this hotel will be the one that finally generates meaningful revenue for residents and lowers our taxes? Middletown already has approximately 21 hotels and motels, and none have reduced our tax burden to date. This project is not bringing lodging to an underserved area. It is adding more rooms to the town's densest concentration of hotels and directly competing with numerous existing hotels and properties, including several owned by the same developer. I RESPECTFULLY ASK THE COUNCIL TO DENY THE DEVELOPERS REQUESTED ZONING AND COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENTS. AT THE VERY LEAST, I ASK YOU RETURN THIS REVISED PROPOSAL TO THE PLANNING BOARD FOR REVIEW AND ADDITIONAL PUBLIC HEARINGS WITH AN INFORMED PUBLIC. I WILL SUBMIT A PAPER COPY AND I HAVE ELECTRIC COPIES. THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Thank you, Karen. The gentleman in the back with the black shirt. Yes, sir. You had your hand up next. Go ahead. I'll get it. Okay, the lady with the green shirt. Whatever works.

I'm short. Can you hear me?

Okay.

I'll stand on tippy toes.

Hello.

I am reading the following letter for a fellow Middletown resident who is out of the country and asked if this could be read. And that's Philip Roberson, 1 South Drive, Middletown. To the Council, I am very sorry I am unable to attend this very important meeting today, but wanted to let my thoughts go on record with two comments made on my behalf. I attended the last public meeting and have spoken to many members of the community regarding the so-called town center before and since that meeting. It is clear to me that this development is not something residents want or need. In fact, at the last public meeting, only two citizens out of many actually spoke in favor of the proposed development, and both were sisters of sitting town councilors. Comment number one. Middletown does not need the proposed development on resident own land, the residents don't want it and any proposed tweaks and modifications will not make them want it. It isn't a question of how many beds are in the hotel or how much land is paved over. what the nature of the business is or what other land in the town could be traded for the deal. People do not want this precious open space and fields to be developed with a hotel, period. I imagine the current town council feels they are in a predicament because they worked hard on this business arrangement with other parties, making promises of cooperation, with business entities to give away town land for development and receive a few theoretical dollars in revenue in return. Council describes the revenue dollars as approximate and estimated, but no line item revenue projection has been provided to the residents to review. As a matter of fact, the projected revenue stream does not seem to be enticing enough for the public to give up their land in exchange for the type of development that is currently proposed. Council has also intimated that the residents simply don't want change, yet residents themselves created the request for information vision for development for the land back in 2020. The currently proposed development simply does not meet the criteria of the residents. Comment number two, the land zoning request from the developer does not make sense. The proposed development is for a single lot, yet the developer is requesting three other lots of public land Excuse me. Be zoned for business where there is no specific development proposal in place. That land is residence land and should stay zoned public until a detailed proposal is made that is presented to the residents at a public hearing. The zoning overlay proposal is also concerning. The council has announced that it has listened to the public and POTC field will not be moved. The developer is requesting a zoning overlay for all five lots, including POTC field, to be zoned for business, and this would be contrary to the council's announcement to the public. At some point in the future, none of you will be town councilors any longer, maybe after the next election, maybe after many more years of service. I really don't know. But as public servants, you should be looking towards what the current citizens of the towns want, And just maybe your legacy, that's what your legacy will be. Do you want the leaders, excuse me, do you want to be leaders who save some little remaining open space that is most accessible to the most densely populated part of town for future generations? Do you want to be the councils who continue to respect and honor Sergeant Christopher Potts and all the other military personnel that have served this town and the nation? Or do you want to be the ones? Or do you want to be the ones who sold out the town against the wishes of the citizens and lost yet another piece of land to development, never to be recovered again on the promise of a few dollars from a very few business interests? I believe the town council has had the best interests of the town at heart while working on this, and now they are likely looking for a way to save face and hopefully do the hopefully do the right thing for its citizens. It is clear that the only honorable thing to do at this point is to scrap the current proposal in its entirety. Not modify it, not scale it down, not change how many and what type is buildings will be put on the residents land, but just to vote no on this and any similar proposal. I urge you to do the right thing, even if you find it personally difficult to serve the greater interests of the residents for generations to come. Vote no on the proposal and stop this desecration of valuable town resources. One final point. This is a public hearing where the council is supposed to hear and be informed by the citizens of those citizens desires and needs. I hope after all the time spent by Middletown citizens to give back feedback. and make their voices heard that no counselor has the audacity to read from a pre-written statement declaring how they already decided to vote prior to walking into this hearing and listening to the advice and counsel of those concerned citizens as public servants your job is to vote no respectively Robert, excuse me, Phil Roberson. And please enter this as public record. Thank you.

Yeah. Yes, ma'am. Joanne, I'll get you next. Thank you.

Hi, I'm Gina Orzelak, 21 William Drive in Middletown. And what I'm going to say is going to be a repeat of what a lot of other people have said tonight, but I just want you guys to hear it again and again and again, since we're telling you how we feel. In regard to the Middletown Center, I have to say that I'm confused by the town council for several reasons. After much opposition from residents, the prior plan that included moving potsy field has been changed, but right now I'm not sure if it really has been. Now, it seems that each parcel of land on each side of Patsy Field is being addressed individually. Yet the developer is still asking for a zoning change over all 15 acres and significant changes to the Middletown Comprehensive Community Plan. This seems a little suspicious. It's sad that the town residents have to keep coming to meetings in order to get the plan that they the residents originally outlined. A real town center with amenities for residents. Why have a plan at all if it's being changed piece by piece? Where are the details for the rest of the land? Why does this all seem so piecemealed and rushed? Why can't the entire proposal be voted on by us, the residents? I think that the residents who can't make it to these meetings may be surprised that the town center for town residents is not for them at all, but is instead a hotel, housing, a moved library, and no mention of playing fields, an ice rink, a gazebo, or any of the other suggestions that the subcommittee gave the town council. And that lady with the red pocketbook, she did a really nice thing that she submitted. If you guys look at it, it's really very nice. Middletown needs open space and a place for its families to gather. I just don't see the town center as a town center for Middletown residents at all. It seems like the whole project should start over. I'm asking the town council to either issue a new request for information or request for proposal, especially now that you have had so much public input from all the public hearings. Please make the statement a part of the public record.

Thank you. Thank you, Gina. Joanne. We'll go with Joanne, Mike, and then Chris. Oh, John, I'm sorry. We'll go John after Joanne because you haven't had your hand up and I apologize. Okay, all right.

Good evening. Hi, Joanne. Am I loud enough for the folks in the back? A little louder. A little louder? Okay. All right. Joanne Thornton, 28 J.H. Dwyer Drive. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. A little background first. For those of you that don't know me, I spent 32 years working for NUIC and its predecessor organization, NUSC, in various administrative positions, retiring as a GS-13 administrative officer. During my career, I not only witnessed but worked on contracts totaling hundreds of millions of dollars for admin support to highly sophisticated technical systems. Never, ever in my career did I see a contract awarded based solely on a response to a request for information. In doing so, Newick would have lost their contracting authority. CONTRACTS ARE NEVER AWARDED DIRECTLY BASED ON A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. TO ACTUALLY WIN A CONTRACT, YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR THE RELEASE OF A FORMAL SOLICITATION, A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION SUBMISSIONS ARE NOT AND NEVER WILL BE PROPOSALS, AS MENTIONED IN THE LATEST AMENDED AND RESTATED DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT ON PAGE ONE, PARAGRAPH B. A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION COLLECTS INFORMATION IN ORDER TO EDUCATE. THE NEXT STEP IS A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, WHICH CALLS FOR BIDS, COMPARES AND EVALUATES OVERALL VALUE A VENDOR IS PROPOSING. THIS REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL STEP WAS IN BOTH THE REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION DOCUMENTS ISSUED BY THE TOWN. AND I QUOTE FROM SECTION 6 OF THE REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. THIS STEP IS NOT A FORMAL REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS RFP. and will not result in the selection of a developer for the property. A formal procurement process will follow any conversations that result from this RFI end quote. How the town went from a request for information ignoring the very important and crucial request for proposal step to awarding a no bid contract of this magnitude in private session in the form of a developers agreement not once but twice is highly unusual lacks transparency and risks best outcome options. A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION WAS APPROVED BY THE COUNCIL STATING A DEVELOPER WOULD NOT BE CHOSEN FROM THE REQUEST FOR INFORMATION. THE TOWN'S REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ALSO STATED THAT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL WOULD BE FOLLOWING. AT THE CLOSE OF THE 16TH SEPTEMBER MEETING, PAUL, YOU ASKED THE TOWN SOLICITOR TO CHECK INTO THE STATUS OF THE RFP AND ANSWER THE QUESTION I POSED. THAT'S TIMESTAMPED 4 HOURS, 2 MINUTES, 54 SECONDS, JUST SO YOU KNOW.

I'm glad you're on it.

Yeah, I'm on this.

All right.

I and the residents of Middletown have patiently waited for nine months for an answer to that question and expect the answer when I finish my statement. In closing, since this very important town project was not competed as outlined in the request for information, the town council should strongly reject the developer's requests for comp plan amendment, zoning changes, and the zoning overlay. The proposed plan does not reflect what was outlined by the public for the request for information, and the public's displeasure with this proposal has been on record and has not changed since April of 2022. Please make this statement part of the public record. I have attached reference page from the latest developer's agreement and the town's request for information as referenced in my statement. Thank you.

Thank you, Joanne. Peter. Peter, can you explain the process of the RFI, RFP, and what Joanne was just... Just briefly, and I can with Ron, but I disagree with the analysis, and this was... Because that's not what we were told. That's why we took that avenue. IT'S NOT LIKE WE WERE LOOKING TO DO SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS OR UNDERHANDED. NO, NO, NO. THAT'S WHY I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT THAT YOU EXPLAIN IT.

THIS PROCESS HAS BEEN THROUGH NUMEROUS INITIAL HEARINGS WITH THE PLANNING BOARD, NUMEROUS INITIAL HEARINGS WITH THE TOWN COUNCIL, FURTHER HEARINGS BEFORE THE PLANNING BOARD, AND NOW FURTHER HEARINGS WITH THE TOWN COUNCIL. SO... ANSWER THE QUESTION, I DISAGREE WITH HER ANALYSIS.

No, it does not answer my question. The question is, why was there no request for proposal issued?

Sir, we're going to remain orderly. If you want to come back up, you can raise your hand and we'll listen to what you have to say, please.

My question is, why was there no request for proposal as outlined in the request for information? That's my question. That hasn't been answered.

because the town council reviewed the proposals that were issued in response to the RFI and decided to proceed with one of those at that point in time, which was publicly stated at the time. So I know you disagree with me and that's fine, but I'm just telling you what happened, okay? responses to a request for information are simply that yeah i know you're working you work in the federal system which has different regulations than the state administration itself all right okay well i i don't listen i'm answering your question i know you don't like the answer but i don't like the answer because it's wrong okay that's fine thank you

Okay. Thank you, Joanne. John. John. You've been waiting patiently, sir.

John Garliano, 22 Wood Road. And before I start, okay, anybody that knows me knows I'm a stickler for honesty and the truth. I'd like to... in front of everybody to apologize to Sean Brown. I asked for some information, and I was careless. And I also, to be honest with you, I'm getting up there in age, I don't remember a conversation I had two days ago, so I have to be very careful. Okay?

Okay, John.

Sean, I sincerely apologize, and for what it's worth, he responded to my second question immediately, and he was correct. Okay? Yes. Second thing I'd like to say that's not on my schedule. I want everybody to know that, as Mr. Reagan said, they're giving us Patsy Field. That's not true. You know, I know. Bill Weickart, I hope he turned that in. You read that from the Department of Interior. You weren't going to move Patsy Field, not without a lot of money. in lawyers fees. I just want people to know that. Okay. I have a letter here. I mean, I'm sorry, a statement from a friend of mine who was coming tonight, but he got very sick. It's short, so I'm going to try to squeeze everything into my five minutes. Okay.

Okay.

From a gentleman named Gary Libby, Jr. He lives on seven Heart Street, Middletown. He's in a butter to this project. He's directly across the street. from Rocky Hotel. I am writing to convey my complete and absolute opposition to the development of these lots. I am on a butter to lot 1027 and thought of 144 room hotel across the street from my home frankly fills me with dread. I've been a Middletown resident for 33 years and live in a home my grandparents built in 1939. Over the years, I have watched the town steadily get more and more built up and overdeveloped, all the while seeing our open spaces steadily decline. The plan put forth is going to make traffic even more congested and the noise much worse. The whole strip is already an eyesore, something obvious to anyone driving along West Main Road. Removing what little open space remains for more commercial businesses is going to make it all that much more worse. How many hotels does this town need? I think enough is enough. I'd also like to know... Hopefully he's tuned in and can hear that. I'd also like to know why this was not put forth as a referendum for the residents to vote on. I'll close with this. I enjoy seeing and hearing them play ball at POTC in the summer. I love hearing the national anthem play for the Navy base each morning at 8am on the dot. The noise, the traffic and a hotel across the street from my home is going to ruin these kinds of things. Please put a stop to this respectfully. Gary Libby, Jr. This is me. honorable president and town council members. After years of conflict, dishonesty, a lack of transparency, and what appears to be favoritism toward questionable developers has come to this point. I understand this issue began long before 2022, but that is when I first became involved. At the initial presentation, the developers and the town described what sounded like a reasonable town center concept, including significant open space, improvements to Patsy Field, a new library funded largely from sources other than Middletown taxpayers, and a central gazebo for concerts and other public events. Even then, I spoke out. because I believe the project raised serious concerns about traffic and overdevelopment on the west side of town. I live there. Come try to get in my neighborhood some afternoon about 3, 3.30. Try it. That's off the record. The original concept changed significantly. What followed was a proposal for 14 acres of commercial development, including a hotel, bank, businesses, restaurants. For many residents, this felt like a classic, I know it's been said tonight, bait and switch. Public concern grew quickly, especially because the project involved town-owned land. Residents of Middletown and nearby communities have strongly opposed the hotel. The public process has also raised concerns. A council member was confronted by a developer after questioning the project and one developer later withdrew amid troubling issues reportedly connected to Florida. A letter addressing those concerns went to the council but was not released. Throughout this process, too many council members have appeared to support the developers rather than the residents who elected them and that they represent. None more than when they spent over $12 million to move the town library without even going through a referendum. This is an example of an administration that is out of control. The town has presented the project as a major source of revenue needed to cover expenses, but I have not seen a clear, detailed explanation how these projected revenues would be generated. I hear a figure. Before turning over public land, the town should fully explain the financial case and also examine whether expenses can be reduced instead. The town originally cited more than a million dollars in the projected income without providing any details. Middletown's budget, by the way, and I brought this up at another meeting, we are $20 million over Portsmouth. And they don't have any hotels to speak of. Middletown's debt expense alone is $15 million higher than Portsmouth's. Another serious concern is that the current plan differs substantially from the version originally presented to the planning board and at the first hearing in September. If the proposal has changed this much, it's reasonable to ask why does it not have to return to the planning board and then come back to the town council for a renewed public review process. This is a whole new thing. Bottom line is Rocky doesn't need another hotel. Got enough, he doesn't even live in Middletown anymore.

john we're gonna you're gonna i'm almost done i i understand but then you need to address us and not not not go after someone i understand his name is i understand but we just want to be orderly i don't bow to him like a lot anyhow although many residents do not want another hotel the revised plan simply moves the hotel to a different lot

In my view, that does not solve the underlying problem. I recognize that some members of the council may already support moving forward, but I still ask each of you to consider the long-term future of Middletown and the West Side carefully. This is town-owned land, and the public deserves a process that is transparent, accountable, and guided by the interests of residents. And again, I'm repeating, enough is enough. Thank you.

Thank you, John. Mike, I'll get to you in a minute. Dave.

My name is David Rushlow. I'm at 32 Ellery Avenue, Middletown, Rhode Island. We're a small town, but we're making one heck of a big decision with impact. I'm here to speak for my brothers and sisters I served with. They couldn't be here tonight because like Staff Sergeant Potter gave the ultimate sacrifice and that was their lives. What you're doing right now is to eliminate that where they have So when the lady had the setup right here of the carousel and all that, I think what we got to do is start all over again. Scrap this idea. Get rid of this idea. That's not doing anything for the town. What's happened in 1970 was when everything was going down about what was the property was going to be used for. It was going to be used for, and one of the things brought up was really something. Because they said, what's going to be really something is sometime Sergeant Potter's children played on that field with him. And that maybe someday that they can go over there and play the field and say, this is my dad's field because he died for this country. The most beautiful piece of cloth that there is. Right there. That's what Sergeant Potter died for. What's happening now is that all these people, what they're doing is, in other towns other than ours.

Dave, you've got to point that microphone towards you instead of away from you.

What they're doing right now is that they're eliminating a lot of this stuff. They're changing it. They're changing the rules. Basically, that property is not being used for the right thing. Sorry, guys. Going to have to go home. But that's the thing it is. It's the idea. It was meant for other reasons, other intentions, uses, and stuff like that. It's not being used like that. They're eliminating all this stuff. They're changing stuff. It's wrong. It's really wrong. This guy gave the ultimate sacrifice. When he walked into that bunker and everything like that, You don't realize that the idea that the fear, being scared, and everything else like that. And he, at that time, decided I have to do what I've got to do. And he gave his life. And that's what Potter's Field means to me. Every time I drive by, I don't have to see a fancy bank. I don't have to see a nice high rise. I see a field, and I see Sergeant Potter walking across the field. That's what I see. So what you're doing is you're taking all that away. What you're starting right here is the beginning of the cancer. You have a small town, but you can make a big decision to let it go. Put something in there that the kids can go down and play, the carousel. There's other options to have, but you're not doing the right thing. I'll tell you right now.

I care about this little piece of cloth right here.

But this is what we're after, the money. It's all about the money. All about the money. It should be about the kids, about Sergeant Potter. I don't know if I'm boring Mr. Welch here, but I don't know. Am I boring you? Sorry. No? Okay. I can hear you loud and clear. I'm done.

Okay.

I'm done. I'm just telling you. It's a major thing that what you're doing. It doesn't seem like it is big, but it is big. It could start. What are we going to do? Take the Washington Monument out of there and put in a McDonald's? You have to really think where it can go and what it can do for the kids. It could do a lot for the kids and families, and especially with vets that can go down there and put in a little park. And let the vets have a place to go and just sit and try to think things out. Get their lives back in line and everything. You don't realize they're all out there. They're all out there and they need help. They need help. Just remember, everything you're doing is for this.

For this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dave. Mike. I'll get you next, sir.

I'm Mike Flynn, 34 Warren Avenue. I was asked to read a statement from a gentleman who's not here, so I'm going to read his statement, and then I have a couple of comments of my own. It should all be under five minutes. But this statement's from Leon Amarant. My name is Leon Amarant and I live at 60 island drive in middletown I was unable to attend this meeting in person, so I have asked for my statement to be read into the record on my behalf. I previously served on the middletown planning board during the time when the zoning changes connected to the town center plan were presented and reviewed. During that process, I raised several concerns. My main concern was not simply with the concept of development itself, but with the process that led the town to this point. It is my opinion that the contract with the developer should never have been signed before the zoning change discussions took place. That decision compromised the process from the beginning. The zoning changes that were brought forward were not the result of a clean, public-driven discussion about what Middletown wanted for this area. They were changes requested by the developers in order to fit these parcels into their vision for the project. That placed the planning board in an extremely awkward position. Despite that unfortunate predicament created by decisions made before the planning board ever reviewed the zoning proposal, I believe the board did its best to protect the town's interest. The board placed roughly two dozen conditions on its recommendations for the proposed zoning changes. That point is very important. The planning board's recommendation was not a blank check. It was not unconditional support. The board's position was that if all the conditions were not met, then the planning board's recommendation should be viewed as negative and the board would not support the changes. At the first public hearing, it became clear that several of the planning board's conditions had not been accepted or met by the developers. Therefore, in my view, the planning board is not in support of the proposed changes at this time. BARING ACCEPTANCE OF 100% OF THE PLANNING BOARD'S RECOMMENDATIONS OR CONDITIONS, THE TOWN COUNCIL SHOULD VIEW THIS PROPOSAL AS NOT SUPPORTED BY THE PLANNING BOARD. I ALSO WANT TO NOTE THAT ALTHOUGH I APPLIED TO CONTINUE SERVING ON THE PLANNING BOARD, COUNCIL MEMBERS RODRIGUEZ, WELCH, CONNERTON, AND VON VILLIS CHOSE NOT TO REAPPOINT ME. AS A RESULT, I AM NO LONGER ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS MATTER FROM MY PRIOR ROLE ON THE BOARD, BUT I CONTINUE TO BELIEVE THIS PROCESS DESERVES PUBLIC SCRUTINY. Since the first public hearing, several major developments have occurred that significantly changed the landscape of this project. First, POTC Field is no longer under consideration for development because the federal government has established that it cannot be developed. Second, at least one of the three developers has withdrawn from the contract. Those changes alone should send this proposal back to square one. At this point, the existing contract should be nullified. The town should reconsider the zoning changes without outside influence from any developer. Those zoning changes should go back to the planning board for reconsideration through a clean and transparent public process. Once the zoning framework is properly reviewed, debated, and finalized, the town should issue a new RFP so the project can be bid properly, competitively, and in the best interest of the residents of Middletown. Middletown deserves a fair process, the public deserves a process that is not shaped around a preselected development team, and the town deserves the opportunity to find an appropriate development partner only after the zoning and planning questions have been answered. Thank you, Leon Amirant. So now I agree with everything Leon said, just for the record. Also, I would like to point out that if the intent of this is to get revenue for the town, as it appears to be, I would submit that this is not the way to do it. As the gentleman pointed out earlier, it's a bad deal for us, but it's a great sweetheart deal for the developer. And what I mean by that is it's a 2.5% rent increase per year, only actuated once every five years. It's a really good deal for them. I would further submit that the town does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem, and we should attack that side of the equation. I am opposed to the passing of the three ordinances that are the subject of tonight's meeting. I would like these inputs to be made part of the public record, and thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mike. Yes, sir.

Mr. President, members of the board and fellow citizens tonight, I came in here about a half an hour ago. We were at our son's baseball game at an off field. Great night for baseball. Just couldn't pass that up. He's eight. Before that, I had three adult children, they're now adults, who graduated from Middletown High School, like the former Karen Santos, who fortunately took me on as a wayward sailor back in the 80s. I've only been here about 17 years, so that makes me a relative newcomer, kind of a carpetbagger, but I've become very endeared to the place. I've fallen in love with Middletown and the island. And one of the things, first of all, I'll tell you that I didn't do a lot of preparation tonight because I think it's pretty self-evident what should happen, For the record, my recommendation is against all the ordinances for a couple of good reasons. It's not the highest and best use of the property. That's kind of code language. And the highest and best use for me is to keep it as it is. It is a sweetheart deal. It's a crown jewel piece of property on this island. It gets a tremendous amount of traffic. It's great commercial property, but it's also kind of smack dab in the middle of Middletown. Be a great place to expand for a school. But as I enjoyed the fields at Oliphant today, and as I drive by that property almost every day and see kids playing, that's just what it should continue to be. I haven't really kept track of what's going to happen with John F. Kennedy School or the small tract that's next to it. But I do know that there's a big piece of property behind the library that would be great for a hotel. Let's put it back there. I JUST THINK THAT WE NEED TO PAUSE. AND THE OTHER THING I WOULD NOTICE KIND OF PUT OUT THERE IS THAT AS I WRITE CONTRACT DOCUMENTS FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, PRIOR TO THAT IN CONSULTING ENGINEERING, THERE IS A PROCESS THAT'S FOLLOWED. AND WE KIND OF KID AROUND SOMETIMES IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THAT OUR PLANS AND SPECIFICATIONS WHICH ARE ACTUALLY CONTRACT DOCUMENTS SEEM TO TURN OUT TO BE LIKE MERE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE CONTRACTORS WHO SEEM TO GET AWAY WITH BLOODY MURDER HALF THE TIME. But the comprehensive plan is like that it's not just mere recommendations is to guide the town in the best interest of the town and i'd like to see my you know my eight year old son asher grow up play maybe some ball there. I want to thank whoever's taking care of the former navy lodge property because it looks great before someone started cutting the grass, it was just kind of kind of don't be looking now it's got good daffodils in the spring. It really is a piece of property that should be developed as a town center, as advertised, back at the beginning of this process. And that's what I recommend is we start the process all over again and figure out and shop that out to be a great town property in perpetuity.

Sir, I just need to get your name and address.

Sorry, it's David Dill, and I'm at 141 Busher Drive off the end of West Main Road. Thank you, David. Thank you.

Chris.

I'm going to start off, before I start my written official recorded statement, just a description, because this is now turned away from you. These two placards that are up here are part of your package. They're the last two pages that are stapled to it. The purpose of these is just so that while I'm talking, you as well as everyone can hear can have a mental picture in their head of what it is we're talking about between the two different things that are being discussed, either a hotel or a park. My name is Christopher Rowe, 177 Chases Lane. I am a member of the zoning board, but speaking tonight as a resident. And as you can see, I'm not hiding my dress blues under my jacket this time. No cape tonight, huh? No cape. All right. The town's 2011 master plan referred to the Middletown Center area as a town commons with the intent of being of it being a community focused town square. But Mr. Kempinar has also had his eye on this property for years for another privately owned hotel. Let's be honest and stop the charade. This appears to be more of a dog and pony show against an already made decision. That the intent for a town commons is dead. If you continue to push this hotel through this cannot be called a middle town center or town square any longer because it will not be that and hasn't been planned. And hasn't been being and hasn't been planned as being one for some time. The actual intent is for there to be no Middletown Center or Commons that is a community-oriented space for gatherings or events along with POTSY Field, which also happens to be the only lighted facility for nighttime use that we have. None of the things Wendy Riehl mentioned will ever exist here. So why is the council buying into this? The types of things originally talked about being included were what one might expect in a town commons area. New library, moved elsewhere. Preserved public green space as a large outdoor common area for residents to enjoy and hold public events or neighborhood gatherings, now intended on being gone. Possibly an amphitheater or bandstand to host live music or cultural events. Also, gone. Walking and bike paths designed to connect spaces and tie into other walking or bike paths to connect neighborhoods. Gone. Space set aside as community areas for seasonal events. Gone. Farmer's market events or town holiday celebrations. Gone. All those things, gone, because none of them are going to occur in the middle of a Mr. Kempinar, Mr. Karam luxury hotel parking lot, hotel lobby, or hotel dining room. The desecration and destruction of Potsy Field, a veteran memorial, was planned as part of this until residents discovered it's supposed to be protected in perpetuity, residents notified the National Park Service of this and fought for its salvation. A field that used to be used regularly was allowed to degrade through neglect, labeled as underutilized precisely due to its degraded condition, making it almost unusable instead of being maintained as it should have been for years. POTSE field is supposedly now safe, but for how long remains unclear since it's within the zoning overlay umbrella of business-related land. Is this so the overlay can ultimately be used to justify its destruction once again in the future? I will add, protected by federal deed restriction, which appears to possibly have been kept intentionally secret from the residents. I full well agree with the town council that new revenue streams are needed, but I adamantly feel this same council is intent for some unknown reason on giving Mr. Kempinar something he wants for his personal benefit over the wants of residents. What are the needs of the community, not this hotel? We, the town and residents, now own 58.2 acres of land whose original intent for replacing Potsy Field is no longer in play for that purpose. I understand the need and desire for income being produced. I really honestly do. I say give the two hotel developers 8.2 acres of Hoogendorm. That's almost three times THAT'S ALMOST THREE TIMES AS MUCH SPACE AS CURRENTLY PLANNED TO GIVE THEM. AND IT STILL LEAVES 50 ACRES FOR OTHER USES. THE DEVELOPERS CAN GET WHAT THEY WANT, A NEW HOTEL. THE COUNCIL CAN GET WHAT IT WANTS, A NEW REVENUE STREAM. The residents, not just the group showing up at council meetings, quote, always complaining, unquote, but the thousands who have signed the petition to stop this and those who haven't signed it yet. can get what they have always wanted and were promised, a true Middletown Center for the residents, not another hotel on West Main Road for two developers, one of whom already owns two hotels just a quarter of a mile away on West Main Road. Both lots, number three, Pottsy Field, and number seven, Navy Lodge Site, should be left with zoning unchanged as public space in all three proposals. Making the right decision now would give you a legacy in this town to be proud of beyond your years on this town council, instead of being blamed for something that will be hated and despised by the majority of residents in this town forevermore. Please make this part of the public record and include it in the meeting minutes.

Peter, Chris, some of that stuff you said wasn't right. I just want to make sure it's clear, at least in our opinion. I'm going to ask Peter for, can you explain the land covenant deal that the government had on that property in that process so that there's a clearer understanding of it and know it's not like we made that pretty public you will get over here and said we were we were trying to hide it from the residents which is the furthest thing from the truth so so I would like him to explain it because that's your version and I respect that I just don't agree with it we talked about that publicly and Peter if you would explain how that worked and how it works in in the past where they have moved it so we made that pretty public but I

Yeah. So that land where the recreational complex came was gifted essentially to the town through a land to parks program that is administered. The land came from the Navy, administered through the National Park Service with assistance from Rhode Island DEM. There is a process that can be gone through not to release the restrictions, but to relocate the restrictions elsewhere, which was what had been proposed here. And the development agreement was actually subject to that taking place. We had actually retained council who has experience in relocating these exact types of restrictions and had followed the process that they had followed on many other projects for that. Some residents, which they're free to do, had contacted National Park Service before us and said, by the way, the town's planning to violate all these restrictions and develop the property without your permission, which wasn't the case. We contacted National Park Service, made them aware of what the process was and that any rezoning of the property or any development approvals would be expressly subject to obtaining approval from National Park Service to relocate those recreational use covenants. And once they were informed of that, they were fine. That process has been sitting back pending the outcome of what was going to happen with the property. We're not going to go back to them at this point now because the intent is for those Property remain where it is, but that's exactly the process, it is, it is a process that has followed quite often and it's up to the federal government to approve that or not. but it's generally based on whether the recreational values and the amount of land and the value of the land that's being replaced is comparable to what's there now. So that was the process that was being followed, which is the standard process in this sort of a case.

I'm aware because I've looked into it and I am aware of how the process works and the purpose is why, and the reasons behind that. The National Park Service, they typically don't want to move deed restrictions like that unless there is a critical need for the town for development. If there's something that that land is needed for that's critical to the town, then they can go ahead and move that deed restriction to a different piece of property elsewhere. I understand all that process.

That's actually not the standard. I'm not going to argue it was going to be relocated 300 yards up the street, but the primary issue is where is it going to be located? Is it going to be serving the same general area of the same community that's using it now? What's the value of the land that is being used as the replacement compared to that? Because it has to be a comparable value. And then what is the plan of utilization for the new site versus the plan of utilization for the prior site? Those are the basic standards that they look at.

I'm gonna throw out and mention that how do you move a ball field? You can't pick that land up And it's never been possible to pick that ball field up and move it from here to here, this is kind of this is getting off on a on a side it's not being at this point so right it's kind of move right but. My my point about the. Whether it was kept secret from the residents or not was it wasn't disclosed. that there was any kind of a deed restriction on the field that needed to be cleared until after the residents found out about the deed restriction and then contacted National Park Service. And National Park Service said in that letter from 2025 that they hadn't been informed anything about this. So until that time period for a couple of years, the developers in this proposal were being worked on without even knowing whether that deed restriction was gonna be released. A contract was signed with the developer.

Which is the way it is typically done. The contract was signed with the developer expressly subject to that approval being obtained. We were following the process that a law firm that handles those sorts of relocations on a regular basis typically follows and follow their advices in terms of how it was done. Once we contacted the National Park Service and advise them that we were not playing, we were aware of the restrictions we were not planning on violating the restrictions as they had been advised by certain town residents, they were fine with the process that we were following, but once again it's mood at this point.

i agree it is mute at this point as long as it's not attempted to be done in the future because the land is now under an umbrella excuse me on an umbrella overlay for all five lots understood okay thank you thank you sir we're going to get to some folks that haven't spoke yet sheila then we'll well

That'll open that gate up, and I promise I will get back to you. Kim. Theresa, I'll get you, I'll get Antone next, because he's had his hand up, and then I'll get to Theresa.

My name is Kim Blass, I live at 111 Compton View Drive. Sorry, can you hear me? No, I don't wanna do that.

Kim, just, yeah, put it in there and just point it towards you.

Okay. Oh, thank you very much.

Okay, thank you. Thank you.

First, I would like to ask the council why we are here again tonight talking about the same land located at West Main Road, Coddington Highway. Residents have spoken to town council and the planning board in person at over 32 hearings over the past eight years. The residents elected you as our counselors to listen to what the residents have to say about their vision for this property. They have sent you emails and called you a number of times to tell you they do not want a hotel. You see it in the letters to newspapers, on social media, and on yard and car signs. Second, public dissatisfaction started when very first proposal presented a hotel. Through years of public meetings, the council negotiations with the developer continued to be different from what the residents want. The Council and Planning Board have not listened to the residents. whether by spoken or written presentation. For those and other reasons, a petition was executed from August 2025 and into December 2025 to document what people want town council and other governmental agencies to their representatives to do. And I quote, one, deny all request for zoning changes, zoning overlay, and comprehensive plan amendments. Two, don't move POTC field and stop spending any monies on proposals. Three, consider another option, a developer that can preserve existing open space and include community activities. And four, deny and and all request for relief, including the deed and or land covenant regardless the source, unquote. Over 2,000 signatures were collected and I have them all here tonight from Middletown to Washington DC. This was reported to Town Council last December and I will submit that report, the statement I am making tonight, a listing of public meetings on this issue, and copies of notarized signatures, petitions, and an affidavit of their authenticity. Third, petition signatures are still being collected and are here tonight for anyone who would like to add their voice. This land was bought in 1969 and there's no reason to rush its development. Middletown has waited this long and Middletown needs to do it right. I hope you ask yourselves if you are going to turn your back on the residents of Middletown who voted you in those seats and are your constituents. They have made their voices heard in many different ways, and your decision should reflect those voices. That alone should make your decision very easy. Thank you for the opportunity for speaking tonight.

Thank you, Kim. Okay. Yes, ma'am.

I'm an outlier. My name is Lois Vaughn Eberhard and I live in Newport on 9 Fowler Avenue in Newport.

Welcome to Middletown, Lois. Thank you.

I just wanted to tell you that I've lived in Newport for probably 44 years and probably 80 to 90 percent of my work My grocery shopping, my medical appointments, the YMCA membership is done in Middletown. Everything that's part of my life is very much entwined with Middletown. I'm also a major environmentalist and tree hugger. I was on the Newport Tree and Open Space Commission for several years in the early 2000s. Anyway, my husband and I, about six months ago, went onto the property and counted all the trees that are on the property. Now, not any of the trees that belong to either of the apartment complexes that border it. And we counted over 100 trees on the property, including some that are heritage trees. In other words, they're large. their large trees and I when people were talking about maybe putting the hotel in the back the back portion of behind the schools if you happen to walk behind there the area is absolutely beautiful with all kinds of trees and beautiful landscaping and it would be a shame to destroy a lot of that the same holds true for the trees that are alongside West Main Road and help to shade the property and provide beautification to the area which is it anyway so please don't make the mistakes in Middletown that we've made in Newport we are dealing with horrendous horrendous Two hotel developments that are just horrendous. One at Bellevue Gardens, which is right across from the Tennis Hall of Fame. They started construction two days ago. And the other one, Waits Wharf, down on Lower Thames Street. And then there's also the 525 Broadway development that destroyed a whole bunch of trees. And thank God, the Middletown people, you guys prevented it from being worse than it was. So I very much appreciate Middletown, and I hope that you can do the right thing.

Thank you, Mr. President. I understand the revised agreement development with the limit with will be limited to a 3.25 acre parcel which consists of a 144 room 55 foot hotel and a landscape park public park of at least 3 000 square feet components are not included in this phase of the development that statement reminds me of a family going on vacation And they packed their cars. And as his husband's driving down the driveway, he gets to the end of the driveway and he turns around to his wife and says, oh, honey, where are we going? Potty Field will remain in its current location thanks to the efforts of the Middletown Concerned Neighbors and the strong public support that it got against moving it. The town anticipates that the hotel development will generate significant new revenue to ground rent, room, meal, and beverage taxes, as well as real estate taxes from the current vacant properties. With the recreation complex remaining in place, the board of property will now be divided into two separate development areas. The north portion of the site will undergo a new planning process to determine its future use with affordable housing expected to be part of any redevelopment. Again, honey, where are we going? And in order to do this, you're going to change the zoning to satisfy the developers. Now, just in case members of the council would want to know what a functional town center looks like, community gathering space, design parks or plaza to event, market and social interaction. Local shops and restaurants includes a mix of boutique cafes and eateries to support local businesses, cultural and recreational facilities. Incorporate libraries, art galleries and recreational areas for diverse community engagement, accessibility transportation, ensure easy access via public transport, bike paths and pedestrian friendly walkways. Green spaces integrate landscape, trees, and gardens to enhance aesthetic and promote environmental sustainability. Public art installations feature murals and sculptures to reflect local, cultural, and historical adding character to the area. that you people have proposed in this development will do this. So I would strongly suggest that you go to AI and say, what does a functional town center look like? And maybe you'll get an idea.

Thank you. That was good, Anton. I like that. Alicia.

Good evening. Thank you for allowing me to speak tonight.

I'll try and be brief and try not to repeat anything that you've already heard. Alicia Reyes, 30 Bliss Mine Road. I am a member of the Town Zoning Board of Review, but tonight I'm speaking as a resident in opposition of the proposed zoning changes. So I want to make my statements part of public record. So I'm just going to read what I've written. Zoning ordinances exist in part to promote public safety, infrastructure management, community character, and to ensure orderly growth and development. The proposed amendment to the zoning ordinance, along with the revised development agreement that's already been approved, put the interests of the developer above those of the community. The amendment has been designed to meet developer interest, meet the needs and desires for a hotel, vice promoting the needs of the community. The proposed overlay allows development of this hotel by right, while it is not permitted by right in any other district in town, it is only by special use. And it contains Language throughout the overlay generally adheres to the provisions of local ordinances, except where they conflict with the following provisions, in which case this section shall prevail. In my opinion, what that does is it limits opportunity going forward for the requirement for public input. When you can do something by right, as long as you meet specific guidelines in that ordinance, we don't have any say. And within the overlay, a lot of those dimensional requirements uses They are what is allowed is calculated based on aggregate area of the entire overlay. So without proposing a plan for the remaining development lots, how can you calculate what's permitted on this one lot seven? How can you calculate that? Because you've got 13 plus acres, I think minus the roughly four for the recreational area. So you can calculate land coverage based on that entire area for what the hotel can, you know, the size of the hotel. Just a question. The Rhode Island Zoning Enabling Act mandates that all municipal zoning ordinances align with the Comprehensive Community Plan and are designed to promote the general purposes outlined in General Law 452430. Have we demonstrated that we've met the criteria and that's general law? I've looked at it and what I see is that the overlay zoning districts fails to promote a balance of housing choices for all income levels and groups They do this by omitting groups and prohibiting specific types of housing where it's obviously needed in our community. There's no provision for housing suitable for seniors and multifamily dwelling structures and community residences are prohibited. That's in the overlay. I mean, you know my opinions on zoning. This is the perfect place to meet family housing needs with multifamily dwelling units with up to six units. That would meet some family needs, family housing needs. Provision of the proposed ordinance permitting the development of this hotel by right without consideration of the remaining development parcels for community needs fails to provide for orderly growth and development, provide protection of public investments in transportation, water, stormwater management, and to provide for procedures for the administration of zoning ordinances as required. The town's decision to prioritize the development of the hotel on this specific lot could jeopardize the community center envisioned from the onset of this project. True Village style town centers, as once proposed, are built around small scale public infrastructure, community gathering areas and local retail, whereas an oversized hotel prioritizes tourists over the long term needs of Middletown families.

Thank you.

Teresa Spangler, 132 Peckham Lane. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I am a lifelong resident of Middletown and have seen so many changes throughout our community. Many great, many not so great. We are a tourist community, being so close to Newport and having a beautiful beach, beaches. So hotels and restaurants are an important part of our community for jobs and revenue. However, this property is not the right place for another hotel. This proposal was generated to create a town center. Yes, the hotel was included in that as part of the process. I think the community could swallow that a bit better when there was other aspects to this original proposal. However, the way this is designed now, this is not a benefit to our town as a whole. It's more of a benefit to the developers. It should have establishments for different age groups to enjoy. Shopping, eating restaurants, eating places to socialize, coffee shops. A place for people of all ages to enjoy the beauty of some of the open space. This property could be used for a teen center, which is so needed for our children in this community. We no longer have... We no longer have bowling alleys, movie theaters, or any place for our students to socialize safely. This would be a great place for that. When we were growing up, Paul, you know, we had the Boys and Girls Club. We had bowling alleys. We had lots of things for us to do when we were kids. We weren't hanging out on the streets. Now there's nothing for our children to go to.

I saw you hanging out a few times.

Yeah, I saw you at the Boys and Girls Club too. But let's go to the hotel itself. Oh, I have a few questions that I just would like some clarification. Is there a restaurant proposed in this hotel?

I don't know. Yes. Most hotels have a restaurant.

Well, some only have a continental breakfast, so that's not a restaurant.

Oh, I see.

Is this a restaurant that would be open to the public? Okay. So it would be not fine dining, but family dining? Type nine, okay, thank you. And then the other question I have, Mr. Regan, if you don't mind clarifying, at the beginning you were discussing the annual revenue of what this hotel would bring, and I just wanna make sure my numbers are correct. You had mentioned a rent tax, a property tax, and yes, if it's gonna have a restaurant, there'd be a food and beverage tax and a hotel tax. And you said there would be a 2.5% increase annually. Well, based on the numbers that you said on what the tax revenue would be for annual revenue for the town, am I correct that you said 740,000? 785. 785, okay, sorry.

Thank you for correcting that.

Okay, so for $785,000 a year, and I understand a 2.5% increase a year, but for less than a million dollars a year, what is that going to do for our budget? In realistic terms, in my opinion, less than a million dollars of revenue is not going to offset anything in our community. It's not going to offset our taxes, that's for sure. And my biggest question is, what is it going to do, what kind of strain is it going to put on to traffic? The intersection is already very busy. It's going to cause an increase in the need for our police and fire. It's going to cause an increase for water and sewer. It's going to cause an increase on road usage and damage to our roads. Is the actual cost, I mean, is the actual... revenue of less than a million dollars going to cover the expenses of what our community is going to have to do to support this hotel. Is it going to help cover the cost of overtime for police and fire and public works to support the activities brought on by 144 rooms, 144 cars, sometimes two cars to a room, but at least one car per room? So those are concerns I have in increasing what West Main Road is going to look like. The other thing I have a really big concern about as part of that section of West Main Road is there was talk for a long time about roundabouts. Well, one of the roundabouts is going to be right there at that intersection. That's a very scary concept. I don't know about how many of you travel out of town to go and drive through roundabouts, but just when I go to Ikea and I have to drive around that roundabout to get to Ikea, it's not much fun in Massachusetts. So I know that's comparing to something different, but a roundabout can be pesty. Some people say they're good. So those are my questions to the town council. What real benefits are we going to see is less than a million dollars of revenue really going to be a good decision for this community when so many residents are against this development? It's just a question I have and I hope that lastly, I just want to say I personally am not against a development. I just think that this particular Design is very concerning as a resident. It's not about my taxes. Our taxes are going to go up no matter what because life changes and we have to increase our taxes to support this community. It's more a concern of what this is going to do for our environment. So whether it generates $2 million or less than $1 million, the point is, is this really the right design for that location? Is it the right design for what we could do without making that more of a town community center? Thank you.

Thank you, Teresa. Yes, ma'am. Carrie, do you have your hand up? I'll get you next.

Hi, I'm Denise Brown, 64 Pequot Lane, Middletown. I guess I just basically want to say that we have a gift right here. We have this open space that a lot of towns would kill to be able to have, but they don't because it's been already overdeveloped. we could put up another hotel and just be Middletown, Las Vegas. You know, we don't need another hotel, especially not our West Main. What we would need and what would be most amenable to the residents would be to have a really welcoming town center that people can gather or have a gazebo or have walking paths, trees, and beautiful flowers, gardens, just a place where we can gather and have the kids and go walk for, go walk and be close to where Potsy Field is and maintain Potsy Field so that people can play on it and perhaps put stands so that people can watch the kids playing. But the best way I could suggest is take a ride to Wellesley. I used to live there. They have the most beautiful open spaces right in the center of town it's beautiful it's welcoming community it's walkable and it's reasonable and we already have the open space it's not like people have said oh well that's Wellesley they're they're rich we have the open space it's our time to do the right thing for the residents you know We've been saying this, we don't want another hotel. We don't want another bank. Please, town councillors, we elected you. We want you to represent us. Do not fall by the sweetheart deal with the local developer. We don't want that. We want open space developed so that the residents can use it. And we don't want to be Las Vegas, Middletown. Thank you for letting me speak.

Terry Flynn, 34 Warren Avenue. If you think it was crowded in here tonight, imagine if the Gaudet Middle School Talent Show was not this very same night at this very same time. Wondering if we should bring our camp chairs to the next gathering. There were so many people having to stand that or lean. It was a little uncomfortable. And I'm just wondering if we could make sure that there's a stack of excess chairs next time. Appreciate that. And thank you for the opportunity to address the Council on this critically important issue before the Town. I would like to speak to the pertinent documents the Town Council may reference while considering the requests of the developer. First, there is the Middletown Comprehensive Community Plan, which addresses this special area of Middletown specifically and states, the concept envisions a walkable and attractive mixed-use center at the intersection of Coddington Highway and West Main Road to include a mix of commercial, residential, and municipal uses that is well integrated with the surrounding neighborhoods. And then there's the Middletown Zoning Code. In Section 501, limited business zoning is defined. The definition includes the following key elements. Areas for day-to-day local shopping needs, convenience shopping services to neighborhood areas, Limited specialized business uses in certain parts of town and a village style mix of uses like multifamily residential small scale retail office and public uses, while preserving open space and to limit commercial sprawl. And then there's the request for information dated June 2, 2021. This document outlines a town center as one of the development goals for this area, and it's described like this. A town center that offers common space for community gatherings, strong urban design, a town gateway, and improved pedestrian experiences. This center might also retain some level of municipal-related use. The title of that development goal is Vibrant Town Community Center. With the library removed and no details laid out for anything other than a hotel, this recent amended and restated proposal is not consistent with the Middletown Comprehensive Community Plan, does not reflect a limited business district according to the Middletown Zoning Code, and it does not meet the stated goals of the request for information. As a matter of fact, neither did the initial developer proposal. This is highlighted in the planning board recommendation to the town council dated May 17, 2022, where the initial developer proposal was assessed by the planning board who stated that the planning board believed that the submitted details did not meet the stated goals of the request for information. This absence of attaining a town center was highlighted yet again at the February 5th, 2025 Planning Board Middletown Center public hearing. Residents and planning board members agreed that the development was not looking much like a town center, so much so that Mr. Galvin, the developer's attorney stated, quote, if the town and the public don't want this to be called town center, I mean, I think we'll figure out, we'll figure out a way to make the naming work. And finally, the Middletown Comp Plan's first goal in the Economic Development Implementation Program is to, quote, promote a diverse and expanded local economy without compromising the characteristics and qualities which make Middletown a desirable community. Neither proposal made by the developer attained Middletown's version of a town center, and both developer proposals compromise the characteristics and qualities which make Middletown a desirable community. They also fail to implement opportunities in Middletown's cultural and historic resources, open space and conservation resources, housing, facilities, land use, and neither proposal achieves any of the four economic development goals, policies and action items of the comp plans implementation plan. Since the developer proposals are not consistent with the COMP plan, the developer simply fails to meet the criteria to apply the general purposes of zoning regulation, which according to Rhode Island General Law 45-2430, quote, shall be developed in accordance with a comprehensive plan. In summary, it has been shown that the developer's proposals are not generally in compliance with a comprehensive plan and that zoning regulations shall be developed and maintained in accordance with a comprehensive plan. Therefore, the developer's requests do not qualify for zoning regulation. Make no mistake. Voting to amend the comprehensive plan to make it look like the developers proposal is generally consistent with the comprehensive plan would breach public trust and violate your oath as public servants. For these reasons, it is requested that each town council member rejects the comprehensive plan amendment, zoning change, and overlay zoning requests before it. I will submit this statement and request that it and the supporting attachments be made part of the public record. Thank you.

Thank you, Terri. Martha.

Can you hear me?

I have a bad throat again.

My name is Martha Coziera, 8 Miller Street in Middletown. Until a couple of years ago, I had never heard of the concept of overlay. I had no idea what it was. I believe the first time I heard the word overlay used in Middletown was in regard to putting in an overlay at the Newport Middletown Airport. I wanted to look into what it was, I had no idea. And I was looking for comparables and I came up with the overlay that was done at the Westerly Airport a few years ago. And the people there are still reeling from what happened. The Rhode Island Airport Corporation came in and seized 936 homes through eminent domain, got rid of them, And then the state, which had enacted a law just for this kind of situation, the state had said that the people owning the parcels would be compensated 100%, and then another 50% would be added to that just to make sure that they were not being... gypped or losing anything, and then the state reneged. So they got someone to come in and say, this is how much your property is worth and we're going to pay you 100% of that. And the situation is still being litigated today. So, and this, I mean broken hearts all over the place in westerly so I just wanted to put that out there, but. Primarily. It seems that the people here have a lot in common that there are certain dates. that kind of grabbed our minds, all of us, whether we were talking to each other or not. And the year 2022, 2024 seems to come up quite a bit. And that's when I think I started kind of zeroing in on what are they talking about? What do you mean it's underused or underutilized or whatever? And so then I noticed, as Wendy Real and Joanna had said, there was like inconsistency in terms of, you know, well, what can we hold on to? Because it seems like Everything is shifting a bit between the zoning board and the planning board. And, you know, there's supposed to be some sort of a regular process that we can look at as an outline and say, OK, this is where we're starting and we're going to follow and do this, this and this in an orderly fashion and then follow the rules. or laws or however you want to describe them. As Wendy had mentioned, she said people started getting really worried about all of the executive sessions and why aren't they talking to us. People started getting suspicious and then there were conflicts that people were concerned about. As I was checking all of this at home, you know, privately, I noticed that 2024 really seemed to be a pivotal year. And it was pivotal because Mr. Karam had a number of issues going on both here in Middletown with his desire to partner with Rocky and put in this area with the hotel, but it was also the steward situation. Why does that have bearing here? Because the common denominator was Stephen Hutler's law firm, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw. and he was representing the town on the zoning board and then in february february eighteenth of twenty twenty five he switched from the zoning board to the planning board but at the same time simultaneously one of his partners andrew troop was appointed by the state of massachusetts to represent creditors in the steward debacle which received international coverage just a terrible situation and um when you're looking at this you i'm not a lawyer for sure but there are certain rules where you're not supposed to have two partners in a firm like that working in any kind of, I'm struggling for the right word, where you've got someone like Mr. Karam involved on the steward side with Andrew Troop, and then you've got Mr. Hutler, who was senior partner with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw, dealing with Mr. Karam in the Middletown real estate situation. And the thing is, This is considered a real no-no in the legal profession. I mean, people are sanctioned for that. And I actually went in and was looking like, oh my God, is there precedent here? And yeah, that law firm, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw was, and I made copies of all of this for all of you. They were fined $10 million for not disclosing conflicts with a company called Sonic Blue in California. And it says Pillsbury was kicked off the bankruptcy case two years ago for failing to disclose that some of its lawyers had assured three hedge funds before the filing that they would be paid ahead of other creditors. Okay. This is from the American Bar Association and it said they Pillsbury agreed on a ten million on ten million dollar settlement to settle the bankruptcy trustees claim that the law firm failed to disclose conflicts of interest and then We had another situation in 2005 Pillsbury represented an Australian company called Macquarie and Macquarie is massive they're huge and Macquarie in 2021 stepped into the Karam situation and and they became part of this medical properties trust and then Apollo global management stepped in in 2016 and And they took over and they are the ones, Apollo, who are deciding how this disposition of all the assets, who the creditors are, who are going to be paid. I mean, it's a very big deal. Billions and billions of dollars are involved in this. It's gone to the United States Senate, where the senators have voted unanimously to say, oh, no, no, no, no. And then And then in December, December 2nd of 2024, Pillsbury got in trouble again with the SEC. They kept $4 million of money that had been stolen from a number of investors. They weren't supposed to keep it. They represented the bad guy who was convicted and he's still in prison. And the SEC actually had to go to court to force Pillsbury to give up that money. And I just found myself thinking, you know, You can't have this one individual who is internationally prominent for not very good reasons and have him involved with the same law firm on the international case, Stuart, and then right here in Middletown. It just shouldn't be that way. And so I made copies of everything for each of you. I'll give them to Wendy before I leave. But I think that this is a situation that has to be brought up before the Ethics Commission. And the last thing I want to say is I don't even know if you guys are aware of this. If you saw this, a reporter from WPRI by the name of Ray Bakary, he's on Jim Hummel's show a lot. And he was just given a big promotion. He just moved a few weeks ago to Iowa. And he posted this on Twitter because he's been following Middletown and the planning board. And he said, looks like state representative Marvin Abney, the House finance chair, may have a primary this year. Matthew Skrzinski has opened up a campaign account to run for Rhode Island House District against Marvin Abney. Matthew Skrzinski is a mechanical engineer at Raytheon and just joined the Middletown Planning Board. This he tweeted on April 10th. So what that's going to do is If the primary comes in September and Matthew beats beats Marvin, then he's not going to be able to hold the planning board seat and go to the state house. So that's going to open up another seat on the planning board. And then, you know, we've got a big mess here with conflicts. And this is not something you can just brush off. I mean, when you're being fined $10 million for not disclosing you have conflicts, if I were you, I'd take a deep breath and I really wouldn't vote a yes on this tonight. That's all I wanted to say.

Thank you, Martha. Okay. Melissa.

Thank you, Mr. President, members of the council. Melissa Welch, 535 Walcott Avenue. I've listened patiently to my fellow citizens and their heartfelt feelings about this, and I appreciate that. I'm going to offer something of a different perspective, and I hope everyone will also afford me the respect of hearing my views. I am also the co-chair of the Middletown Center Citizen Advisory Committee. The committee has been on hiatus pending a decision from the council on how to move forward on this project. And I'm speaking tonight only for myself, not on behalf of the committee. Although I was sorry to hear that it sounds like we'll no longer have the opportunity to develop the larger part parcel of land at the north end of this development, which would have given us more opportunities to add to community and recreational space. I want to note from the start, though, that on our committee, our goal was to create a community space that would bring people together for all sorts of activities. And we envisioned a place that would have walking paths and benches and trees to provide shade, including preserving a lot of beautiful trees that are already there and a playground and a basketball court and picnic tables and a pavilion, a place where we could hold concerts and maybe a community yard sale in the farmers market. And we also envisioned a memorial to those who have lost their lives serving our country. And it certainly could provide an honorable and respectful memorial to Staff Sergeant Christopher Potts, who, although he was not from Middletown, enjoyed playing baseball there. And sadly today, the sign on the old scoreboard is all that serves as a reminder since there hasn't been an organized baseball league there for nearly a decade. To me, it'd be better to have a memorial that actually tells more of his story, more than just a nickname. And to have it in a place where our community would actually be gathering for all sorts of activities. But all these things were meant to be part of a mixed use development, both with commercial and residential units that could provide some revenue to help support that community space. Because otherwise, how do we pay for it? More taxes? Now, I know the idea of a hotel rubbed some people the wrong way, and that's understandable because I think it's seen as something that benefits outsiders, not our local community. But in this case, it's most likely to be serving those who are in the Navy, going to the Navy base or working in local industries. And much like the previous... Folks, please give her the respect that you were given. Thank you, Mr. President.

It's the right thing to do.

Um, and, and I have spoken about this from the beginning because I've experienced, uh, from my own time at the Naval War College, the shortage of available space for our students, for speakers, for people coming for conferences, many other purposes. And that's also part of our town's history. I'll bet if you look around this room tonight, you'll see many people who first came to this area through some connection to the military. And some might say okay fine, then let the navy base house them but consider that, by making space for these visitors in our Community. Not only are they spending their per diem dollars on our restaurants and our shops but they're getting to know us as a town, and we can get to know them and some of them, we know return to middletown and become our neighbors. They coach our kids' soccer teams, they teach in our schools, they volunteer for local charities, they give back. And I believe our community is better for it. Now, right now, Middletown's economy is pretty robust. In fact, we have more jobs than workers in this town, which means that the people who can't find a place to stay locally, even temporarily, have to commute from somewhere else, which only worsens our traffic problems. Now, I know it can feel like too much change is happening too fast. But if we look to the not so distant past, maybe some of us can even remember back in the 70s when our population more than doubled in just a few years. And that brought huge growth. All of a sudden, we had fast food joints and shopping centers and acres of asphalt parking lots popping up all over the place. and we're still living with that legacy today but it doesn't have to be like that we can manage that change by making the best use of the space we have to create walkable livable areas that support local businesses provide housing and create community spaces And it won't be perfect, but if we work together, we can make that change work for us to benefit our community as a whole. Otherwise, what really worries me is that if we just keep saying no to everything, I'm afraid we're just going to be stuck with two empty buildings and a vacant lot for years to come. And how does that serve our community? We can and we should do better and move forward together. Thank you.

Thank you.

Melissa's office was down the hall from mine at the Naval War College I'm the person who organized all the lectures the conferences when we brought in the ambassadors and Presidents and let's see who else do Oh members of the United States Supreme Court CEOs from Wall Street and that sort of thing. We didn't have to go off base We had everything we needed right on base. I did that for ten years. I

Okay. Is there anyone else that would like to? Matt.

See, I'm tall. I've got to raise it up here.

I wasn't originally planning on speaking tonight, but Matthew Skrzenski won 10 Wintergreen Drive, so I appreciate you soft-launching my campaign, because I haven't finished the campaign website yet, which takes a lot of time. I want to follow all the ethics rules, and I want to follow them correctly, but I also had to file with the Finance Committee. So, that's why I announced it and, you know, actually I had a very nice call with the gentleman you mentioned. He did a good job researching. I will say, and I am bringing this up at the planning board next weekend, that there are other ways to bring revenue. And I want to try to stay focused on this. You guys have the decision, whatever you make. We also have a lot that's been sitting vacant next to the IHOP for longer than I've been alive. lot named Benny's that hasn't been occupied since 2019 the watch store which may not be occupied and they will be there are dozens of other unoccupied places in this town where revenue can be made through zoning changes and I will plan on producing that and hopefully it passes the planning board next week or whenever it it gets done, we have a lot going on. And I will serve on that board to the greatest capacity I can until I have to step down, which I will gladly do when I am required to do. But I'm not guaranteed to win the primary. I'm not guaranteed to even get further than that. I'm running against an incumbent who's 50 years older than me, who literally has not been opposed in any candidate run since 2012 except once. So why not run, right? Why not run? I grew up in this town. I went to this high school. Sorry.

I get it. I know you're excited. Thank you. And thank you for running, but let's keep it down.

I went to this high school. I grew up with a single mother down the street, right? Housing, education, learning opportunities, public transportation, that's what I fight for. You know, I'm not trying to launch a campaign right here and now. There's still a lot of work for me to do. But I'm trying to do it on the planning board. In this development right here, I WASN'T ON THE BOARD TO APPROVE THAT. I WAS STILL IN COLLEGE A FEW YEARS AGO IN 2022. I ONLY JOINED THE BOARD THIS PAST YEAR. SO MUCH FOR ME HAS CHANGED AS I TRY TO GIVE BACK TO THIS TOWN. IT'S UP TO YOU GUYS. I DON'T HAVE A SAY IN THIS, BUT WHEN I LOOK AT THIS IN THE DEVELOPMENT PLAN, HALF OF IT IS ASPHALT. THERE'S GOING TO BE A TON OF RUNOFF. I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF I WOULD APPROVE THIS IF I WAS ON THE PLANNING BOARD, RIGHT? This hotel is just, it's a touchy subject. Now, should we redevelop the school that's been vacant since 2009 when I was still in elementary school? Probably. Should we develop housing next to it? Probably. But should we keep Potsey Field? Yeah, in my opinion, we should. It's a lot of good open space there. Should we do something like, You know, the town center, which the more I look at it, it looks pretty good, but that, you know, the park, I would hope so. You know, I just went down to Newport with my girlfriend the other day, soon to be fiance, but...

Hey, can we talk about that? I'm just kidding.

No, no. My dad's already on me for that. It's okay. It's okay. But, you know, you go down across from 7-Eleven, it was this beautiful street fair, and local vendors were selling their stuff. You know, people, local donuts and local, you know, coffee and local flowers, the most beautiful flowers. People grow them in their homes. That could be the vision. Right. I don't have the power. That's up to you. But, you know, I just wanted to say that whatever I do on the planning board or wherever I am in the future, I will follow the rules and I will do it with integrity. Thank you, man.

I would just like to say that, you know, since you started coming to the meetings probably a year and a half ago, I think we're all pretty impressed with how intelligent you are and the way you carry yourself. So very proud of you. For running, it takes a lot to do that, to get up there and whether people agree with you or not. And so I just want to say that, and best of luck to you.

Thank you, sir. I also will say that I started that education here in Middletown. And thank you to the teachers and everyone else doing a great job in this town. Round of applause. You really deserve it. You know, I don't know if Teresa Spangler is still here. But I went to her preschool and you know, I always remember those moments and it really brings me back to this town and want to give back. So I'll take my three degrees and do the best I can. Thank you, man.

Okay.

Teresa. Yes, ma'am. Sandra.

That's fine. I'm not too sure how to turn this down.

Gentleman's going to come help you behind you, Sandra.

I should have gotten up before somebody told it. Okay. Sandra Spencer, 932 Mitchells Lane. I don't have anything alarming to say that somebody has already said, so hopefully I won't take up too much of your time. I'd like to thank the town council for protecting Posse Field and I am on that group that would like to know that we're not going to revisit this in another year, two years, ten years, that we'll just keep that land, whether all of it's a ball field or not, that it will be protected as open space. I asked the question the last time about how we got from without an RFI and an RFP. And I did some research and discovered there was an RFI. I'm not going to repeat everything that Joanne said. I do not have her background. But oddly enough, An RFI went out and a proposal came back. And out of this whole proposal, there's like eight pages that are a proposal. All the rest of it are pictures of other places that they've done and stuff about their group and who they are. But literally, there's five pages in the front and three in the back that actually have anything to do with the proposal, which made me feel really stupid for printing out 40 pages because I got tired of looking at my computer screen because I do that all day as a job. But the RFI says on page, I printed out two pages. I printed out more because I was tired of looking at the screen, but I brought two. And RFI in Section 5 says that the development goals and potential uses, and I won't read the whole thing, there's three items. A town center that offers common space for community gathering, strong urban design, a town gateway, and improved pedestrian experiences. This center might also retain some level of municipal related use. Item two was mixed use development, provide office or residential uses above retail, creating density, encouraging investment, and promoting alternative forms of transportation. And thirdly, affordable and workforce housing. multi-family housing units available for rent or purchase at affordable prices, see Appendix C. This project for these guys, it hits none of these boxes. It's not even a little thing down here that says, and maybe we can have a hotel. There's nothing here that it hits. As to the RFI, I've also seen the part here that says, this step is not a formal request for proposals, RFP, and will not result in the selection of a developer for the property. A formal procurement process will follow any conversations that result from this RFI. I do not have Joanne's experience in contracting, but in my time, in the Navy working for defense contractors and more recently working within the state of Rhode Island in IT, I've been a technical person that has been consulted. I've been in some of the rooms. And in either one of those places, I've never heard of an RFI ending up with a proposal that was signed as a contract. And so maybe the town really doesn't I think RFPs are important, but it looks like in the RFI it was, it just seems rather odd. I'm going to leave it at that. Joanne's words were better. It just seems rather odd. I do have some notes on the bottom of this. There are so many hotels in that area. And you know, I drive by them. I'm not going to say that they're butt ugly. I was going to say that the roadway's dead. I was going to say that the roadway in at One Mile Corner has more character, but I'm really not going to insult them to that level. But you know what does have more character and design and is more artistic is the self-service next to the police station. Go by there. When I first heard self-storage there, I thought, oh, god, not here. Like, hide it down some alleyway. That place is beautiful. Oh, they're hotels. I don't even notice them. They're big, gray, rectangular buildings, and I drive by, and the only time I ever even notice them, maybe that's a good thing, is when I cut through from Applebee's, and I cut through the back way to go home, and I'm like, oh, look at this. Here's a hotel. They're not... they're useful, they bring in revenue, they house a lot of people for a night or two or a week, but they're not particularly attractive for the gateway of Middletown. And to have it right on that corner just seems kind of bizarre. But the self-storage I really do like. The additional problem I have with it there, This is kind of a town council question that I don't expect an answer of, but the town council has officially responded to a request by the city of Newport that was pushed along by Bike Newport. I didn't intend to wear a bicycle shirt, I just had this on. But following Kayla Watson's death, a Middletown woman who was commuting to work on her bicycle, as I recall, and was hit on Admiral Culver's Road a few years ago by a bucket truck that turned left on a red light, And that road, I was almost taken out some years ago and ripped a bus. I don't think that's a great road to bicycle on. But I was on my way from my mechanic, where I dropped off my truck, to work. And that was by far the shortest way to get to the Aquidneck office park. And the RIPTA bus almost took me out, and I wouldn't be here to complain at you now. It's not a safe road for bicycling, and that's because there are too many trucks and buses and commercial vehicles on it that do not obey the speed limit. And I'd like to thank you for the speed zone cameras in the schools, because that might help for us.

You feel like one of the only ones so far.

If I could buy a bag of fish and call my aquarium a school and you'd put one in front of my house, I would go buy a bunch of fish. In any event, I find it hypocritical that the town council would speak out opposed to using Coddington Highway, which has a separate lane for pedestrians and bicycles, a separate protected bike path, the entire length of Coddington Highway now, that the town council would come out and say that they would not approve of rerouting truck traffic down Coddington Highway rather than Admiral Colfus. Do I think it looks attractive? No, but Admiral Colfus really is a problem. And so if we think that we need to reduce the traffic, and I don't remember the word, there's something about fragile, I think, and now we're putting 144-room hotel right on that corner, It seems a little hypocritical that we say unless they're bringing money to stay in a hotel in Middletown, in which case it's just fine to have a whole bunch of traffic there. It's just my thought here. Lastly, we are a tourist destination. We get far more income, I believe, that supports the town of Middletown. from the defense industry and the Navy. I could be wrong, the numbers might be skewed now, but I don't know how many defense have been out of that world for, I don't know, almost 25 years. But it appears as if there's still a lot of defense contractors. Tourism, I don't know what percentage of our income is, but I think it pales in comparison to that. Those tourism jobs do not pay the same amount. Those people cannot afford to live in Middletown. When I still commute to Bristol two days a week, and I come home, and sometimes I call, I use my thing in my car now, and talk to my car, and talk to Mary, and she says, what's the traffic like? And I'm like, it's great my direction, but man, it's a mess going the other way. All these people are leaving the island. They can work here, but they can't live here. There's no place they can afford to buy now. Those days are past. The people working in the tourism industry, folding towels, renting out rooms, they don't make that kind of money to live here. So that's a two-part statement. One is, I do think we have enough hotels. If these guys want to build a hotel over where East Side Mario's used to be, Ruby Tuesday's, I don't think it's a great spot either, but I won't be here saying, please don't build another hotel. That would be up to you guys. the hotels we've got enough of them there's so many hotels we could be over tourism west main road is is blocked up if you've ever tried to drive down it you try to go downtown in newport in the summer it's all blocked up you try to go in the mansions we tried to see the the elephants a few years ago because i was had covered when they first came we tried to go on um Labor Day weekend, and we couldn't park anywhere. We could only drive around the drive. We couldn't even get back out to Memorial. It was such a mess. Overtourism can be a problem. We've traveled in Europe, and sometimes on bicycles. And sometimes I see that stuff in my feed because I'm curious. And I'm seeing where Amsterdam is restricting. When we were there on the weekdays, it was fine. Weekend, it was a mess. Amsterdam is restricting tourism there. They're restricting short-term rentals. They're restricting hotel building.

So, Sandra, we've got to kind of get back to West Main Road.

I'm just saying that I know of two cities, Amsterdam, Barcelona, both cutting down on tourism because it's destroying the lives of the people that live there. And Barcelona, the residents... In Barcelona, it's on the news, the residents are getting squirt guns and going by outdoor cafes and they're squirting tourists. I don't really think we want people doing that here. And that's my point. I think there is a point when we can have too much over tourism and that the hotel is not good. Whereas the use of some of the property, we need more housing, but the use of some of the property to actually be common space for community gatherings sounds really good to me. That's it.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

Peter, do we have a squirt? No, I mean, it's all that goes through my mind. I'm like, oh, my God. Not yet. Not yet. No, we don't want that. Okay. You are up. Thank you for waiting patiently. Okay.

Sheila Maloney, 27 Forest Avenue. I just had a follow-up question about Potsey Field, which is one of the things that started my interest in this, other than the years and years of planning that went into it. Mr. Regan stated that the process to move the restrictions on Potsey Field had been started with the National Park Service. No, you had filed paperwork. No pending.

No, we had we had we had not we engaged with the National Park.

So there is no request.

No, no, there was no formal request. We engaged with them and with the EM because Some residents had engaged with them and said that we were planning to violate the restrictions, which was not the case.

There's nothing pending because it sounded like it was still open. It's not open. There's no request to move the restrictions.

No, we have never filed a formal request to remove the restrictions.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Sheila.

I have the folks in the background. I'll get to you in a sec. Yes, ma'am.

Hi.

Is that loud? Too loud? That's perfect. Okay. Hi, my name is Celine Angier. I live at 861 Mitchells Lane. Everyone in this room is asking you, the entrusted members of the Town Council, to revisit this square peg in a round hole folly. Chicken coops, she sheds, a garage in-law apartment, even a 200-person wedding and commercial event center on entrusted farmland all need to go through zoning to request permission. Everyone in this room, if they want to do all of those things, any of those things, if Sondra wants to build an aquarium in her front yard for her fish, she has to go to the zoning board. If we want to do anything on our property, the resounding refrain from zoning board is we must comply with the way that the law is written and the law says. I've been to a few zoning boards. I'm a part-time resident here. I was born and raised here, but only a part-time resident. And I've been to a few zoning meetings. And what I hear is, if you want to do a thing that is currently not allowed in our code, I've heard the zoning board say that they can't do it because it doesn't comply with the current law. I've never heard them say, we'll just change this one for you right now. There are 16,500 and something something residents in this town, only a few hundred of them are here tonight. And all but one, I think there may be more coming up to support the developer, but all of them are asking you to abide by the current zoning laws and not change the laws for two developers in town. I'm glad that other people quoted the 2014 comprehensive plan I won't I'll spare you the the re repeating, but it is what we currently abide by correct not the draft 2025 one. So, I just ask that you listen to the 16,000 people that, well, I guess 16,000 didn't vote you in. I don't know what your voting percentage is here. But I would ask that you listen to your residents and not the two or three investors that sit before you tonight to change these zoning laws. It's pretty clear nobody wants this zoning law change. I look at these two pictures here in front of me and it's pretty obvious which one is the one that goes with the comprehensive town plan. The other one might be a nice addition if it was affordable housing for people and with parks next door. And I'd also ask why you're ignoring the deed restrictions on POTC Field. And so, yeah.

Selene, we're not doing anything with POTC Field. We're not ignoring those. We're just not doing anything with it.

Okay. I've heard that there's the potential that you might.

That POTC Field is staying just like it is.

Okay. And is it part of a cohesive vision for those parcels right there?

I'm not sure I understand your question.

So the hotel, Potsey Field, and then what is the plan with the other parcels?

There's initials. We've had some talks as a council with potential housing where Kennedy is in the library.

Okay. All right. Well, I would ask you to listen to the residents instead of the two developers here. Okay.

Thank you. yes gerard do you want to speak to this you want to wait till the end all right well okay okay okay

All right, so the picture here was presented by Mr. Rowe. This is not the developers depiction of the hotel. Where's the guy?

Gino.

I got it.

Gerard, can you just state who you are, please?

Gerard Galvin for the development team here. And there are a number of things to address. First of all, this picture was put up here. This is not a rendering from the developer. This is not what the hotel is going to look like. It says right on it it's an AI depiction. So to the extent other people are coming up here and referencing that as though that's what this development is going to look like, that's incorrect. The other piece, well, what it's gonna look like is, I think the most important thing that we need to clarify here is the town is retaining control of the vast majority of this overlay parcel. you will still make the decisions about what's going to happen on those northern parcels. It can be the park. It can be more town center-ish with retail, as has been described. It can be totally focused on the housing with a strong affordable housing component. The point of this step back in coming back since September was save Potsey Field and leave discretion with the town to figure out what's next there. And leave the hotel on the corner where the old hotel was. It provides revenue for the town. It provides a viable project for my client. And allows you discretion, who are you going to lease to on the northern parcels who you're going to partner with for the development, you want to see there. what's the amount of housing, you want what's the amount of other amenities or municipal uses, you want to have all of that is retained with this overlay it's meant to set the table for you to make your next decisions. So that's the point here. Yes, the broader project, we took the message, we took the signal from September. And by the way, this has been found to be, the original proposal was found to be consistent with the comp plan by the planning board twice. Yes, with some conditions, we then came back before you in September and having met virtually all of those conditions. And now we've made further revisions, eliminating other points of concern, no banks, no drive-throughs, retain Potsy Field, leave the northern parcels for you to decide, the town to decide, however you wanna do it, have a referendum. have a different process next time. But the framework is there for you to make your decision as a town. That's what this does. So I just want you to be clear about that. And if there's any questions about that, please ask me tonight or ask Peter about the authority that this leaves you with, the discretion this leaves you with, to partner with another developer for affordable housing. Or simply use it for municipal spaces. You have all that control plus POTSY stays where it is and you get the revenue from the hotel. So I want to reiterate some of those points because there still seems to be a lot of confusion here. The whole point of this is POTSY doesn't go anywhere and the overlay allows for the next possible steps on those northern parcels. So you can ask us any questions, but we're not going to be developing that. So we don't have an image for what's happening on the northern parcels. That's left for you. That's left for the town. OK. OK?

Yeah.

So to the extent, I don't know. At this point, it probably doesn't make sense to move this away. But I just wanted it to be clear that that's not our image of the hotel.

OK. Thank you, John. I'm sorry, John. Before you go, get up. This lady here has not spoken yet, so ma'am.

Hi, my name is Debbie Murphy. I live at 102 Ridgewood Road. I also am a member of the Middletown Advisory Committee. We haven't met in months. But I just wanted to speak as a resident tonight. And I don't wanna talk about a lot of, I've been hearing a lot of good, got a lot of good points from the residents. But the one thing I did hear that made sense was the money part. If the income for the town is less than a million dollars, that's not enough to make this worth what you're doing. So I just want, as a resident, I just want to say that I don't think that that's enough money to change this parcel of land. And I think we just have to rethink that and find another way to bring more income into our town and not destroy this piece of property. And that's all I'm going to say. Thank you.

John.

John Galeano, 22 Wood Road.

I just want to say, actually, I want to thank the town council You're hearing a lot of honesty, and people speak in their minds, and I'm sure you don't like a lot of it that you're hearing, but I also know that you put in a lot of hours.

So I guess we can agree to disagree.

I'd also like to, I mean, I'm not gonna outsmart a lawyer, that's for sure, but Mr. Galvin brought up that, you know, they're not gonna go any farther. Rocky's gonna get his hotel. Um, these are the same people that presented to the town, this beautiful town center. And then the very next time that they were in public 14 and a half acres off, maybe 14, I'm sorry, all commercial. So why are we even, I know he's a lawyer, but why are we taking his word for it? Why, what do we owe Rocky? There's something happening. There's something going on here. Paul, in 2002 or three, I forget. Like I told you earlier, I do forget. We spent three and a half million dollars on land that we can't do anything with from Rocky. We've already done him a favor.

Are you referring to the Valley?

Yes, I am.

Okay.

Paul, I have a dog. I bring it out of town because I understand the beach. I absolutely agree with that. Okay? What a spot for a dog park. There's no other place in town. But anyhow, that's beside the point. I will not bring my dog to the valley. Okay? Okay. And I've talked to other people that will three and a half million dollars. We did him a hell of a favor and now we're going to do them another one.

No. So just so I recollect that very closely. Cause I was part of the executive sessions because in the executive session broke records, by the way. So, um, I don't recall that John, but I will say is that there was a proposal of 46 homes to go in there that the developer was proposing. And that's why the town purchased that Valley to keep it open. So it wasn't just doing somebody a favor. It was 46 homes that were proposed at that time. So there's more to that story, and maybe that's what you recollect.

Maybe the people that proposed the homes did a soil test that we should have?

We did do soil tests.

Oh, and you went ahead and bought it anyhow?

We did do soil tests on that, John, yes. And you went ahead and bought it? We did.

That's a favor. I'm sorry.

No, John, there's more to it. There's a lot more to it than for you to get up there and say that. You need to get the facts on that because we can get them for you.

I would like to see the facts. No problem. Absolutely.

We did test for a couple of hot spots at the town when we negotiated that. The town put aside $200,000 for remediation. Put it in writing. The Kemp and I's put aside $200,000 for remediation. I'm just telling you what it is. And then the laws changed. And then all of a sudden it was you've got to dig out two feet And I'll never forget this. And this has to do with this, but I want to make sure the record straight and we're not just slinging stuff up here without having the facts. And that's not a shot at you. I lived it so I can remember that. And I'm not perfect. I can't remember. Neither am I. I understand, John. So having said that, the guy came, one of the scientists came before us because we wanted to put a park down there as well on the other side or near where Newport Water has their stuff, their reservoir, little holding pond, whatever it is. And Said you can't do it because if a child ate any type of soil off that ground, they would get sick. And I'll never forget because I asked the question, how much would a child have to eat for them to get sick? Do you want to know what the answer is? Because I'll never forget this, 40 pounds of dirt. And that's when I knew that the laws weren't right. So the laws had changed, so we did test it. We can get you that information for sure. I would like to see it. Okay.

Okay. Yes, sir. You see where I'm coming from.

Yes, sir.

I do. Now, $3.5 million back then is probably $8 million, $9 million today. I don't know.

I'm not sure.

I can go back to my seat and find out. But anyhow. Okay. I do appreciate the time that you have had to put in.

Thank you.

And I'm hoping that, you know, everybody does. But my last statement, please, listen to the people. Don't do anything tonight. Thank you.

I had Chris Rowe next, and then I'll get to you, sir. Mr. Brown. Chris Rowe, 177 Chases Lane.

Okay. I just wanted to clarify something and actually give an apology to the developers and Mr. Gerard. regarding the graphics that were put up here and I thought I made this clear when I when I and maybe I didn't say enough about it when I put brought those up there and that these were and that's why it says developers idea not developers proposal that's why it also says on it there's the note off the side says this is not an actual developer made graphic this is a resident made AI generated graphic depicting a hotel based on a general description So, and I said, I started off mentioning and saying, these are to give people an idea in their head, a visual, some kind of something that they can, you know, some people can visualize things in their head really well and get a good mental picture. Some people can't. So the idea of these was just for people to get a mental picture of, well, what would a hotel look like? there on that on that site or what would a green space park type thing look like on that site there was no intent at all to make it appear that that was the actual proposal being put forward by the developers so i want to apologize to everybody for and for to anyone who who maybe didn't understand that and mistook the intent okay the drawings that i made up okay thank you

With respect to with the steam castle was just talking about that two things number one the whole idea is Why get up use open space to put a building number two? We don't want a hotel The esteemed council seemed open for a referendum for the rest of the property, so why don't we have a referendum for this corner where the hotel is? It's his suggestion, and I agree with it. We should have a referendum. Thank you, council.

We're under contract.

Understood.

That's why. We have a process.

Yes. Yeah. I mean, that's not... no there's always been a con there's been the contract it's not it's not a done deal they have to go through these hearings peter can you where's peter it's not yes ma'am okay tom we're gonna have somebody else come up and speak okay sir thank you yes ma'am

Hello, thank you. My name is Kathleen Mitchell. I live at 447 Turner Road in Middletown.

Excuse me.

I grew up here. My family has lived here for several generations, and I moved away as an adult for work and lived up in the Boston area for many years, but came back recently to retire here. So I've seen many changes happen over the course of my lifetime. And as someone mentioned, you know, change is inevitable and some changes are positive. But I've seen it's almost a death by a thousand cuts where It's a land grab and people are now concerned about what is the fabric of this town. We want a community. We don't just want strip malls and hotels and banks. So you have an opportunity here to take a step back and truly come up with a vision for what the town center could be. And I think people are making their thoughts clear that it's not a hotel, but they want something that's going to benefit the community so they have a sense of community, a place they can bring their families, a place for young children and teens to hang out. There used to be a roller rink here. There used to be a bowling alley here. There used to be several theaters here. All that's gone, and it's being replaced by hotels and corporate soulless entities so that the sense of community is really being eroded and i think that's what people are feeling and trying to express in various ways so i think you have an opportunity here to reimagine what this could be and i think people are making making their thoughts clear that it's it's not this this this is going to benefit the people in this front row This is not going to benefit the rest of the people in this room and the ones that couldn't be here to speak out, who have signed petitions and voiced their opinion to you in other ways. So we're imploring you to do the right thing and take a step back and reimagine what a real town center could be to give people a sense of community that love this town and want to live here and want to raise their families here and want this to continue for generations to be a really special place that's got character and soul. Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am. Yes.

My name's Ann Galkowski. I live at 43 Briarwood Avenue, and I would like to state for the record support for the council unanimously voting against putting this plan into action. There have been many much more eloquent statements made before me as to the reasons why, including It really is not representing or demonstrating any kind of town center, community center, family centered, teen centered, affordable housing needs that the community has. I have concerns about not only the 144 cars that would come with the rooms, but also all of the workers who would need to commute into and out of town because they can't afford to live here with a hotel job wage. And I have a concern about the gentleman, Mr. Gerard, I think, who said to you, we're under contract. Now that statement left out a very important part of information, didn't it? were under contract if the hearings result in the voting of the passage of this agreement, which I don't see how it possibly could based on all of the input that you've had from this community tonight and also all of the petitions and all of the other hearings. So I really think that you need As you know, with all due respect, you work for the town. I don't care whose contract is partly fulfilled and it's not actually under any kind of process to move forward if the hearings have not resulted in it moving forward. So you're not under contract and it needs to not go under contract. You need to represent the citizens and not the developer.

Thank you.

Wendy was next, Teresa, then we'll get to you, okay?

Wendy Real, 48 Swan Drive. so i just have a quick question and a clarification mr galvin gave a very good plea for the developers a minute ago with some confusion so they are asking for 15 acres to have an overlay He just said to the residents that their part is the hotel and Pazzi's Field. He mentioned a minute ago that another developer would have to handle the north side. My question is, he also made it sound like he was doing the town a favor, So if this zoning overlay were approved to affect the entire 15 acres, who is to say, with his words, Another developer who would develop the north would want the same use. If it's being zoned as limited business, the people north may not want or need it to be limited business. That was my question with some confusion. Thank you.

Thank you, Peter. Could you explain the overlay piece?

Yeah, so the overlay piece was drafted and then redrafted when, once again, Patsy Field, remaining where it is, splits this property into two pieces. And you can't cross Patsy Field, once again, unless you got permission from, you can't even put a driveway through it unless you were going to get permission from the federal government to do that. And that probably wouldn't happen. So as a practical matter, you've got two separate development parcels. The revised overlay was drafted to have as much flexibility as possible for the town to make a decision as to what they wanted to have there, whether it was all housing, whether it was a mix of housing with some commercial uses that might support that housing, whether it was a more heavily commercial component or some other sort of uses that would be allowed in the limited business district. It was drafted to create the greatest amount of flexibility possible so that if the town came up with a plan, you probably wouldn't have to come back and revise the zoning to fit what the ultimate development plan was. It's possible that you might have to make some tweaks to it or changes, but the idea was to create as much flexibility as possible for the town when the town made a decision as to how they wanted to proceed with the rest of that property.

Teresa.

And just to make it clear, under what's proposed and what's in front of the council, while the 3.8 acres of the rec complex is part of the overlay district, that would not be zoned limited business, that would still be zoned institutional public. So in addition to the restrictions that are already on the property, it would still be zoned public as well, further restricting its use.

Teresa Spangler, 132 Peckham Lane. Just a quick question, and I've been following this, but obviously I don't understand what contract has been signed. So if that could be explained, and then I have one more question after that. So if that could be explained of what the contract entails, because that confused me.

Sure, Peter.

There's a amended and restated development agreement that replace the previous development agreement which covered the larger parcel and now there's an amended restated development agreement that just covers the smaller three and a quarter acre parcel on the corner that agreement sets out what can be built on the property and the process that you'd have to go through and has certain contingencies one of which is that the The rezoning of the property be passed in order to allow that development to proceed so okay so at this point.

And again, I'm just trying to clarify this, and I'm sure I'm not the only resident sitting out here a little bit confused. Maybe I am just understanding that.

So right now, at this point, what contract is signed means that they have permission to develop to know what it means is if the rezoning is passed and they subsequently get approval. from the planning board, from RIDOT, from RIDM, and any other state and municipal approvals that would be required for any development like this, if all of those things happen, then they would have the ability to lease the property from the town to construct the development.

Okay, thank you for clarifying that. And then the second thing I wanted to say is again, I'm not a dead horse. I totally respect the fact that development is important. But I just do want to emphasize that for less than a million dollars, I know I said this before, we just need to be careful that the rich don't get richer and the residents continue to struggle. So if we were, I mean, I really think that this kind of deal needs to be worth more than $785,000 a year.

So that's a great, that's a great, sorry, Teresa, that's a great point you bring up. Peter, can we discuss how we got to that number, that projected number? Because I think that's important. Sure.

that residents or the people in attendance residents understand that yeah so we worked um with professional appraisers who came in took a look at the value of the property took a look at a number of different factors including development costs including the state of the property in order to come up with the fair market value of the ground lease there were some initial proposals from the developer. There were negotiations back and forth that got the amount of the ground rent to a level that our appraisers felt was fair market value. There were also discussions about the The escalator the two and a half percent there was a comment earlier. From someone say well gee inflation is now 3.8 well it's 3.8 right now, because of the around war when this was being negotiated. inflation was closer to two. And so we felt very comfortable with the two and a half at that point in time, notwithstanding this current spike now is expected to come down so.

So is that annually forever and will go with increases as inflation increases or is that something that we're locked in at 2% forever?

It's locked in at 2.5%.

For how long?

For the 99-year term of the lease.

Okay. So my other question then is, again, if we're only going to generate... and eventually it'll get over a million dollars, but if we're only gonna be generating less than average of a million dollars, a little over a million over a course of years, and then they're generating multi-millions, I just think that we need to look at this as an equitable process. Again, if we're going to benefit as a community, as a town, with a lot more than a million dollars, then I think that's something that I know I could swallow that a little bit better, but looking at this at less than a million dollars, That's a real problem because again, the rich get richer and the town residents are losing this piece of property for something that we're not really going to benefit because a million dollars is a drop in a bucket for our 47, you know, whatever million dollar budget we have. So that's the thing I think we need to really think about.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you. Hang on, Martha. I'm going to have Joanne have a second shot at this, and then we'll get back to you, okay? Joanne, yes, ma'am.

I just have a question on the zoning overlay. I'm not really clear on how that works. If Posse Field stays zoned public, but the overlay is over the whole 15 acres, what takes precedent, the overlay or the zoning?

Okay, they're all part and parcel of the same thing. Every zoning overlay will there's an underlying zoning that gets assigned to the parcels in there. So with regard to Patsy field, the underlying zoning is public. So the only uses that would be allowed would be uses allowed in a public zoning district and They still have to be consistent with the recreational use restrictions that are on the property. And Gerard wants to weigh in on this.

Okay. So why have an overlay on that property if it's going to stay public?

Peter? Because then I've got one small parcel in the middle of this floating around on its own. So what? No, listen, please. Don't say so what. There are public parcels throughout the town that are all part of certain different zoning districts. So it's part of the overall property that's being developed. And that's why it's part of the overlay. This is an area of the town that is all publicly owned property. And there are certain uses that are going to be allowed on certain parcels if this passes and certain uses that are not going to be allowed on potsy field because it's going to be zone public so. it's trying to have a coordinated approach to the development of the overall site. is the intent of having the overlay rather than doing it piecemeal, parcel by parcel.

Well, if Pottsy Field isn't going to be developed, why have the overlay on it at all? Just leave it alone. I don't understand the thought process. Sorry for being stupid, but I don't get it.

You're not stupid. Don't say that.

No, because it is part of the overall acres that's owned by the town, and that's not. It's part of the overall property. So it made sense to try to include it to have a comprehensive approach to it. That's all.

Well, it might make sense to somebody, but it doesn't make sense to me. But that's OK. OK. Thank you.

Thank you, Joanne. I had Gina next and Mrs. Brown. I'll get right back to then Martha, then Mrs. Brown.

I think that the problem I think that the problem that I'm having with the Pottsy Field thing is that we had that whole thing the last meeting and we had everybody came up and we all talked about how maybe the family didn't care about what was going on and the sister of Charles Potts was here and said yes we do care so i think that that is a very sensitive subject and i think that that's why i feel very protective of that piece of land i don't think that having a um a monument or something a gravestone is not the same thing as having an actual thing of the person So I think that what I would want to know, it's not making sense to me why it is being included, even it's easier and it's more streamlined if we do an overlay of the whole thing. Why can't you leave it alone so that we know that it is never going to be changed? And I think that's, that's what the issue is. And I'm sorry that you're doing this, but that's what the sensitivity is.

No, I'm trying to, I just want to respond to that. Whether it's included in the overlay or not, the underlying zoning remains public. The deed restrictions remain on the property. So nothing can be done unless the underlying zoning change or The federal government allowed us to remove those restrictions. So whether it's part of the overlay or not doesn't change that one bit. The only situation is you've got an overlay with a big donut hole in the middle of it that didn't seem to make sense to us. So, so it's no more complicated than that. That's all

But from the public's point of view, I mean, this has just been a marathon tonight and I wasn't expecting to even revisit Potsy Field again. I thought that this was really only and can are we allowed to ask a question as far as the hotel? Do we know what the design of the hotel is going to be? How many floors is it going to be?

If we're going to speak, we're going to need to. Hey, Antone, listen. Folks, we're going to maintain order because it can get out of hand real quick. We'll get to that answer, Gina, okay?

Okay.

We'll get him an answer to that right now.

Okay.

You have to speak into the mic, sir.

It's going to be four floors, not five.

Is there?

Okay. John. Thank you, sir.

I don't I don't know. It's just a question. Sure. What is the did we put in a limit to how I know that like Middletown, we do nice signs now because, you know, there's there are restrictions on how high your sign can be and how tall that, you know, how lit it could be and all of that. Is there a restriction in the town for the height of a building or are we doing doing a change for that, too?

Yes, there is a restriction.

Okay, what's the restriction?

I want to make sure I get it right. Peter, can you explain what the planning board came up with?

The restriction on the height is 55 feet. You mentioned signage. There is restrictions on the signage, I believe. And Ron, you can correct me. I think it just has to comply with the standards already in the ordinance as far as the signage is concerned. for the most part, yes.

That's all just an aside. I mean, I think we're getting mired down in some of the other stuff. I think that we just need to decide. You guys need to figure out what you're going to say. And I think that for me, I got very upset when he said that we signed a contract because in my mind, I thought, wait, is this a done deal?

No.

So it's not a done deal?

No, it's just part of that process.

So the need to not are you guys planning on voting to know ma'am. Okay. So, okay. When are you going to vote. Well, I'm just curious.

No problem. I'll answer that question, but it's going to cause a problem because there was some confusion with we're going to have the third tonight and the 10th. Council Logan could make it on the 10th. So, but I thought it was important. No, I thought it was important to have everybody here. That's important. So, um, we moved it to the 17th, which created some confusion because that wasn't relayed properly to the developer. They've agreed to the 17th. However,

Wait, the 17th of June?

Yes, ma'am. Okay. However, I'm sitting here tonight thinking, and I agreed to the 17th of June, I just realized I'll be in New Hampshire. So I will apologize up front, and I was the one saying the 17th, but I go to bike week every year, and I forgot it was bike week.

So what happens at that next meeting? Do we have this whole thing all over again, or do you just vote? Or is this the wrong forum for me to ask that question?

At the next meeting, we're supposed to make a decision, but I'm not sure where that meeting is going to be now.

Do we have public input again or no?

Absolutely. It's a second public hearing.

At the next meeting?

Yes, ma'am.

At an undisclosed date?

Yes, ma'am. And I apologize. I hadn't told anybody that until just now because I was sitting here thinking about next week, and I'm like, you know what? I'm going to be in New Hampshire. I apologize, folks. We had Mrs. Brown next. And then I have Martha, and then I'll have you, okay? All right.

Hi, Denise Brown, 64 Pequot Lane.

I just had a question.

If the overlay were approved, hypothetically, does that mean that maybe Rocky can put another hotel at the north end? I mean, what's to prevent another developer from sticking another hotel?

I can answer that.

It's already approved.

I can answer that. The draft overlay would prohibit any other hotel on any of that property. So it's limited to one. And the other thing, too, is the council, since the town owns that property, it's not like it's private property where a developer can come in and simply say I'm going to propose to put up another hotel. The town owns the property. So as the property owner, the town has additional control over what happens on the property beyond the zoning, but the zoning overlay limits the overlay to one hotel.

OK, but if the town owns the property, even the first corner of Coddington and the residents are adamant they don't want a hotel, why don't we listen? We don't want a hotel on Coddington at West Main. It will destroy our town center. We don't want a hotel. Will you listen and not do this?

Thank you, Denise. Martha.

A few weeks ago, when the new revised language came out in regard to this new proposal, there was one sentence there that really struck me as odd. And I thought to myself, I really should ask you guys about it. And it mentioned something about that the developers needed to have some sort of conditions or reassurance that if they brought in ambassadors or foreign dignitaries to this hotel that something had to happen. And I just thought to myself, I've never heard of such a thing.

I've never heard of that either.

I've never heard of such a thing. Well, it was in what was sent to us, but that's good to know because I immediately started thinking that the last time, I beg your pardon, that we were in this particular room, except a year ago, the Crown Prince of Dubai had read something that I had written um through my group on LinkedIn and he contacted me and it was and you know he was very interested in basically taking over Rhode Island and I just noticed that um he owns 20 of MGM casinos and resorts so that was very worrisome and the other thing that worried me is that he recently bought McLaren Formula One racing so you can imagine when I when that was sent to us with the term in there about him special visitors including foreign dignitaries and ambassadors I thought what is going on you haven't heard any of that no ma'am thank God okay thank you Martha

Yes, ma'am. And then Mr. Brown will go back to you. And then we're going to we're going to start wrapping this up if we're going to have the same. Okay, I don't want to be cut you off. That's not the intent. Okay, no problem.

And Galkowski 43, Briarwood. I have a question about the 2.5% interest or escalator. Yeah, over 99 years. What research was done to base that decision on? You know, how many 100 year spans has had 2.5% inflation or less? And how does that benefit the town of Middletown?

Okay. Peter, can you speak to how that came up? Or Sean, because I got a rough idea, but I want to make sure I get it right.

So we the staff and the solicitor's office looked at the guidance from the Federal Reserve on long-term inflation forecasts. That's where the number originated from. Yeah, and also referring to our financial advisors that advise the town on debt matters, but we did research that matter and used the long-term guidance from the Federal Reserve.

Yeah, I mean, the money piece, whether you agree with it or we agree with it or disagree with it or not, it was research. It wasn't just a hey, let's make a deal. We didn't negotiate directly with them. It was done with research and looking at similar leases or like leases like that over that period of time. So it wasn't just, you know, we didn't spend, I'm not being a smart guy, but we didn't spend the Ouija board and go, okay, that's the number.

I understand. That's not our specialty. I'm curious about how, if that cost of inflation increase is applied to this situation, would that cost of inflation increase for other people leasing that land? Are there local businesses, residents, possibilities that could benefit from that same agreement? It seems like a really good agreement. I mean, 2.5, it's low. And I'm not saying there wasn't research done. I'm speaking on behalf of the town. I'm speaking on behalf of us, we the people.

Yeah, but there was research that went into it from the Federal Reserve. I don't think any of us, and this isn't a shot at you or anybody else, and it's more of, I don't think any of us have a crystal ball for 50 years down the road.

Well, that's what I mean. So why lock in?

But you have to go with some type of average if you're locked in, because that's a typical lease for that type of use.

Oh, maybe we could. Well, first of all, this is kind of a mute point because this really should be voted down at the next meeting. However, when it's voted down, then that number perhaps could be reconsidered for other uh people to lease the land and i would recommend a range i mean i'm just uh one person speaking and as part of a democratic process i would like to also request that perhaps the um next meeting is not scheduled on the same night if possible as a major town event so that more people can attend the meeting um because of the event at Gaudet School tonight, which I'm sure took a lot of people away.

Yeah. Okay. It wasn't intentional. I don't know. I know. Yeah, I get it. I understand. It's a good point. It's a good point.

I had something else, but I can't remember it now.

So that's because you're close to John and he can't remember things either. All right.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. And we have a gentleman. I'll get you in a sec, Mr. Brown. We have a gentleman that hasn't spoken yet. I didn't recognize you, but now I do blend right in. How are you? Well, thank you.

I listened for the last couple of hours and I heard a lot of stuff. I heard a town solicitor.

Well, can you pull that towards you or up?

I heard the town solicitor explanation more. I heard the town solicitor explanation. I heard developers say he has a contract. And I'm looking at this holistically. So far the town has spent almost $18 million to accommodate the developer. It's spent money. I'll tell you what, you spent $12 million on a library to move it to accommodate the developer. Wrong. Should we spend?

Tell me. No, Paul, I want to straighten the library issue out. So when the town, when this project initially was going to, we were going to rebuild the library there, because our current library is not structurally sound at all. So instead of putting money into it again, We got a price. Teams did the research. We had professionals. And it was going to be, this was three years ago, it was going to be $24.5 million to build a new library. So I think we were all cringing about that based upon the school vote. And so, okay, so how are we going to do this? So we started looking for a building to move the current library to while this potential thing was going to start to go forward to build that $24.5 million library. We found that building and it was up for sale. So it was for sale for 3.3 million. We offered 2.8. Other developers came in and offered more. We had visited the building with Embrace Loans, who owned the building. Embrace Loans said, we told them what we'd like to do there. And they said... They came back to us and said, somebody bid $30,000 more than the town. If the town matches that building, matches that price, we'd like to sell it to the town because we like what you're going to do with the building. So instead of spending $24.5 million, we spent $3.3 million to purchase it. And right now I think it's projected at 6.9 million to renovate it. So this is, I know you don't agree with it, but there's a lot of savings there to be able to do that. And yes, would we have liked to put it out? We would have lost the building if we didn't, we had to make that move and save 11 to 12 or $13 million.

Well, I mean, I don't want to get into the library discussion, but how much would it have cost to rebuild the existing one? And why didn't you let it go to a referendum? But that's something else. Yes, sir. We don't we don't have to agree on that.

No.

Let me go back to today.

Yes, sir.

And that is you spent well, you spent another five point four on Hugendorn.

Which we reimbursed fifty five percent. So it's going to cost the taxpayers two point eight.

With the express purpose of moving Patsy Field. Okay, the planning board. That's not true. That's in the purchase and sale agreement.

That's not true. There was a reservation, there was a provision in the purchase and sales agreement that allowed us to try if we had to, to relocate the recreational use restrictions to that site. what we wanted to do was to move it to the north of the west main road site but the town has been trying to purchase the hugendorn property for close to 20 years correct okay said nothing that purchase had nothing to do with west main road okay anyway so so we we disagree on that but but the point is the planning board approved and maybe somebody will disagree with me on this

A 15-acre overlay. The planning board said you can have a 15-acre overlay if you extinguish the POTC fiasco, right? If you figure out how to fix POTC. And, yeah, go look at it. And also, look at the contingencies. They're in there. And also, if you, yeah, if you, 15-acre overlay. The proposal tonight is for a 13-acre overlay for a developer that wants to use four acres. So the question is, it's a simple question. Why don't we go back to the planning board and review their recommendations and apply their recommendations to the new 13-acre overlay? I'm sorry, the new four-acre development. Just do four acres.

Okay. Peter, can you answer that?

I thought I had, but...

Well, if other people think he has, that's fine.

No, I just want to make sure, all kidding aside, I want to make sure that if there's confusion, that there's a clear answer. Whether we agree or not, but I want to make sure there's an answer.

Once again, the idea was to try to pass an overlay that covered the entire amount of acreage that the town owned. there to try to have some consistency in terms of the development regulations for that property rather than to simply rezone one piece. That was the thought. Okay. Because we just did one piece and some people might claim it's spot zoning just to do that one piece rather than to do the rest of the...

Okay, since I'm having such a problem understanding everything, Can you please, in plain English, explain the results of tonight's meeting and what the next steps are?

Yes, sir. So we're taking public input tonight, so public hearing, Paul. And again, I apologize because the 17th just, for whatever reason, skipped my mind. So we will get the date out to you in advance. whatever that date is, and I apologize to Wendy and everyone else here, and the audio folks as well, because they're the ones that, you know, the school will be available, it's just lining up audio on everyone's schedules. That will be the next step. At that point in time, the council should be expected to take a vote unless something changes. Okay, Mr. Brown.

This is sort of a follow-up with what Paul was saying. My understanding, Town Council, is that as it is zoned now, the hotel cannot be built on that corner. Is that correct?

That corner right now is zoned public, yes.

Okay. So really, the purpose of the... Overlay district is to create such a number of acreage so that when they put the hotel there. They're not going to be subject to a spot zoning.

No test know the overlay was first drafted when the entire corridor. was the subject of the development. And then when that changed to where we had two development parcels rather than one combined parcel, the overlay was revised to account for that and to try to create as much flexibility for the town if to come up with a plan for the any development on the rest of the site yes but i'd be creating such another acreage that basically takes the spot zoning contest uh makes it harder to prove no that really wasn't that really wasn't part of the part of the uh equation and because you know, we're also dealing with the comp plan amendments as well, that becomes less of an issue. But that really wasn't part of the conversation or part of the equation of why we did it. We had an overlay that was prepared for the entire district, the plan.

Well, I'm just talking about from the beginning, not just the most recent overlay, is that gave you a way to get out of the spot zoning, because you yourself said if you just rezoned this acreage where the hotel is, you could be subject to a spot zoning contest.

You know what I was I guess what I was trying to say it's sort of a damned if you do damned if you don't if we do the overlay over the entire property. You get questions about why aren't you doing just this one site if we did just the one site there'd probably be claims about why didn't you do the overlay for the entire thing, but we had one larger site. that included the whole corridor, which was why the overlay was drafted in the first instance. And now the only real change to it is because of POTC field staying where it is, it's being developed in different pieces. The concept of having a consistent overlay for the whole district still remains. So that was the rationale for that.

I really think it's a way to get around just moving this hotel in the corner will be subject to spot zoning. That's all I just want a clarification.

Thank you, Tom. Okay, folks, if you have something new, great. If you don't, and it's just repetitive, we're probably going to wrap up Terry.

Terry Flynn, 34 Warren Avenue. Two very new things, just point of information for you and the audience. I think it's only fair talking about the building purchase for the library that the developer who did step down or who you matched was Chris Bishu, one of the developer team earlier. And I think that that is information that should be part of the presentation if you're talking about that particular transaction.

Also, I want to... What does that have to do with the library?

Well, it has to do with the transaction, actually, Paul, that you're in a transaction with one of the developers looking to do something with West Main Coddington, and then this building comes up, and this developer overbid you, but then steps back, and the potential benefits to all parties.

I don't even know he was a bidder.

It was in the newspaper.

I didn't know he was a bidder. I don't know where you get that. Terry, you better make sure you get your facts straight because that's all news to us here tonight. And maybe you're right, and if it's news, I'm going to be pissed. But we were never told that for the record.

There was more than one other bidder involved. There were multiple bidders.

Was Chris Bichot one of them?

Not to my knowledge.

They didn't disclose the other bidders to us.

Okay, well I will look into that because I read an article that

Fair enough.

He was involved in that whole transaction.

That was never disclosed to us. Now, he bought the building on the other side, the old KVH, the big tall one.

Yeah, I knew that. Okay. Yeah, that's older. This was more recent from what I understand. So I'll get back to you on that because, you know, as John says, truth wins all.

They don't tell you when you're bidding against somebody who you're bidding against?

No, but afterwards, then, you know, it's available or it's then open.

Okay.

So also, it does seem that potsy field is not yet safe. I just want everyone to know, so long as the deed allows a process, and it does, for the land to be relocated or the restrictions to be lifted, then that risk is still there. It's even worse with an overlay zoning because you've got in place, potentially, if the restrictions were removed for it to already be zoned, whatever uses are allowed with limited business. What's concerning is that our documents, hold on.

It's zoned public, Terry.

Right now, I understand that. It's zoned public now, and there's a process for the federal government to release the restrictions. Okay, so let me finish then. So if the risk is there now, then it's going to still be there even with a public zoning. It confuses me that you would even say that or present that perspective. The risk is there. It was there over the last year, and it's there now. Nothing has changed. It's public, and the deed has an out. So I'm just letting everyone know the only way to really protect Potsey Field is to have it documented. That is the will of the people, the future of Middletown, thinking endgame here. to have it in adopted documents that the town wants it protected i'll have the people know here that the draft comprehensive plan right now the new one for 2025 doesn't even have the words potsy field in it it's such a treasure it's protected forever by the federal government and that's never been recognized or publicized so the the comprehensive plan and the town charter are the only way to protect that field and i want everyone to know when those opportunities arise okay Last thought. Thank you.

Thank you, Terry.

What this is all about is, you know, when Mr. Galvin was speaking about, oh, we're going to do this one corner and the rest is up to you. I just have to remind you that the whole project, how this got initiated, was to create a vision north to south and east to west, and then to execute that vision. THIS DOES NOT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE RFI. THIS WOULD HAVE FAILED IN REVIEW. AND THAT'S WHY I WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO DENY ANY REQUEST WHATSOEVER We are nowhere near a town center, as multiple people have told you, and we're nowhere near the essence of what we started in the first place. It has taken a left turn, and now it's at a dead end. Thank you.

Thank you, Terri. Chris, do you have something new to add? That's a no, but go ahead. This will be it.

before you wrap up and we wrap up for the night this is just asking for clarification moving forward after tonight so at the next meeting will that be a open will that be split in two because the next meeting is when you're supposed to vote so is that going to be only vote or is it going to include an open session where anyone can still make comments and then you'll close that out and then go into a closed session where you go ahead and discuss it and then go ahead and make the vote? I just want to make that clear. It's a public hearing. I just want to make that clear that people will still be able to comment.

It's a public hearing and you'll be able to make comment. Yes, sir.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Okay, Mr. Flynn. Hi, Paul. I'm just getting tired. Not of anybody in the room. Honestly, we all need to get out of here.

Ready?

Well, you've taken a nap for the last half hour, John. I've been watching. All right, go ahead. I'm just kidding.

Mike Flynn, 34 Warren Avenue. The international ambassador comment that the developers don't know anything about, Martha brought up, and you guys don't know anything about, it's actually in there. It says, if prior to the commencement of the ground lease, the developer shall coordinate with, invite... blah, blah, blah, in the event that they have an event involving key public officials, international ambassadors, members of Congress, their aides, blah, blah, blah. Why it's in there, I don't know, but it's there. Section 215.

I don't even know what that means. Peter, do we have any idea why that's in there? Why that language would be part of that?

No, what it says, so there's a section in here with regard to press releases, marketing, signage, and promotional materials, and there's a provision saying if they're going to have a significant public event that might include those sorts of people, that they're going to notify the town so that the town's aware of it. That's the extent of it. Okay. And allow, so that the town... is aware and the town representatives can attend. Okay. It's got nothing to do with the Prince of Dubai.

Okay. That's okay. All right. Listen, thank you for your comments. We will get, I'm sorry for the bike week thing, but it's just something I do with my son and it totally, honest to God, it slipped my mind. We will get you another date. Wendy, I apologize again because I know I'm going to hear it tomorrow morning at 6 o'clock in the morning. And... thank you and we will get to the date so that we can um we can have a second public hearing okay thank you everyone thank you thank you for being respectful thank you motion adjourned