LINCROFT: FOUR PONDS PLAN HEADS TO COURT
The Middletown Planning Board last year rejected a proposal for 342 homes on the site of a former Avaya office building. (Photo by Joe Fisher. Click to enlarge)
By JOE FISHER
Organizers of last years successful battle in Middletown to stop a 342-unit housing development on a former Avaya corporate offices site are girding for round two: a court appeal by the developer.
In opposing the plan, a group that dubs itself SONIC, for Save Our Neighborhoods Integrity and Character, hired an attorney and expert witnesses, who argued that Four Ponds Center Associates application to the township planning board would adversely impact local traffic, the township school system, and the need to expand sewer capacity at the expense of neighbors.
After a year of hearings, the board rejected the application 9-0 last June, citing testimony of those witnesses as a major factor in the denial.