Large scale Middlefield development?

[The Voice of Reason]

Middlefield Has Big Plans For Small Stretch Of Route 66

Consultants are telling the town's planners that the Route 66 strip conceivably could support up to 637,000 square feet of retail development worth $70 million and throw off about $1 million annually in new tax money. If sewer lines were to be extended from Middletown

[JayCT]

The problem is that towns like Middlefield are ill-prepared to plan such developments. Too often they let certain things rule what the development will look like and end up with something that is no better than a strip mall. Look at Canton as a prime example. The town pushed and pulled at the Shoppes at Farmington Valley until it became nothing more than a strip mall with a street. down the middle. The developer did not help either with the materials used. Cheshire will sadly be the same. While I understand the difficulties there are with planning in a small town there is a need for a strong Plan of Development that would help mitigate this proposal's impacts on the town.