Township Resolution Rejecting Outrigger's Development Proposal

Middletown Township Land Conservancy would like to share a note from Laura Shaw of “No Warehouse in Media” summarizing the townships decision (resolution 2025-16) to reject the Outrigger Warehouse Proposal.

The Township resolution can be read in full here

WAREHOUSE UPDATE:

At the Middletown Township Council meeting on August 20, Resolution 2025-16 rejecting Outrigger's land use proposal was passed by a unanimous vote of the four Councilors present.

The following list is a very high-level summary of the 10 reasons cited in the document:

1. Several points regarding the 153-acre Franklin Mint parcel boundary line changes as well as the point that later resubmissions differ to the point of constituting a new plan which would fall under the new zoning which prohibits using the land for a warehouse.

2. Plans were not properly certified.

3. and 4. Failure to comply with the mixed-use zoning codes.

5. Council cannot protect public interests since the proposed "warehouse" would not necessarily be a warehouse.

6. and 7. Pipeline easement, open space, and recreation issues.

8. Creation of a landlocked lot which is not allowed.

9. Several points regarding steep and very steep slopes.

10. Enivronmental Rights Amendment violations in the areas of noise, air quality, light pollution, and traffic congestion.

Middletown Ordinances need to be re-written to prevent a proposal like this one from being accepted in the future. In particular, our Ordinances should not allow the Township to accept a land use application with outdated or missing environmental data. And our noise Ordinance does not use current standards. In fact, the equipment for the measurements needed in the current ordinance are no longer manufactured. The impact of accepting an incomplete land-use application is demonstrated by the hundreds of hours over several months that our township engineers, township management, planning commission, and council had to spend reviewing Outrigger's revisions. Let's encourage the Council to re-write land use application and noise ordinances.