Planning board approves vinyl‑siding waiver for Mellow Realty, 4–2

The Town of Middletown Planning Board voted 4–2 to grant Mellow Realty Inc. and Coddington Cove Land Condominium Association a waiver to allow the use of exterior vinyl siding on four buildings at 300 Coddington Highway.

The vote followed hours of testimony and questioning during a public hearing that the board had kept open since February. Gerard Galvin, attorney for Mellow Realty and Coddington Cove, told the board his clients had explored the chair’s suggested compromise — keeping the first building as built and using more‑compliant materials on the remaining three — but that switching to composite siding on the three remaining buildings would cost roughly $93,000 more than vinyl and was “cost‑prohibitive.” He also said he had submitted about a dozen letters of support from tenants and occupants preferring the existing aesthetic.

The board sought an opinion from the solicitor’s office on whether granting the waiver would create binding precedent. A solicitor’s office representative said the town’s lead solicitor, Peter Regan, advised the board that each modification or waiver must be judged on its own facts and that one decision does not automatically bind future boards.

Several board members said their concern was not aesthetic but procedural: the project had been approved previously for metal siding, and the applicant constructed with a different material that is not expressly allowed by Middletown ordinances. A member asked whether the building inspector had authority or opportunity to flag the material change; the applicant said a certificate of occupancy had been issued and described the change as a good‑faith mistake that the parties sought to correct through the hearing process.

During discussion, one board member proposed the approval be limited by an explicit statement that the board found the circumstances unique and that no precedent should be inferred. The motion was amended to add that condition, and to record the board’s decision as based on the testimony, the expert evidence in the record and a site visit. The amended motion passed on a voice vote, 4–2.

The board did not adopt specific mitigation measures (for example, additional landscaping) as part of the approval; one member said he hoped the parties would nevertheless investigate modest, less‑costly measures to help bridge the concerns expressed. The applicant estimated vinyl siding would cost about $17,000–$18,000 per building while composite siding would run $40,000–$45,000 per building, figures the board discussed when weighing cost versus conformity with design standards.

The board’s formal action was to grant a waiver from section 5.2.1.2.c of the Middletown rules and regulations regarding subdivision and development of land to permit vinyl siding on the four buildings at 300 Coddington Highway, and the board recorded that the decision was made on the unique facts and evidence in the record and was not intended to create a binding precedent.

The planning board moved on to other agenda items after announcing the vote.