Our town is thinking about whether a new apartment building should be built at the corner of Route 7 and Middle Road.

A crowded room of some 60 or 70 attended to hear Mr. Rosenzweig talk about this proposed four-story apartment building with 32 units. The audience is well aware that we have a housing shortage in Middlebury but the majority had serious questions about this apartment building.

Let’s estimate how many people will be living on the 0.7 acre lot. Mr. Rosenzweig stated that there will be one apartment with one bedroom and the others will be two, three and four bedrooms. I estimate that this building will house 90 to 110 people. This apartment building will then support the highest density of population per acre than anywhere else in our little town. This high density of people will be almost on top of the busy traffic light and this busy intersection.

The proposal has no green spaces, not enough parking, and the building will be a sidewalk distance away from Route 7 and Middle Road, as if this is the inner city. I do not want to start allowing structures to be built adjacent to Route 7 and Middle Road. Let’s preserve our small town and have green spaces around our buildings.

Mr. Rosenzweig claims this is the only lot available for his development. I hope he can work with the Zoning and Development Department of Middlebury to find a more appropriate setting. This building is too big for the lot. I am in favor of scaling this building down to ten or fifteen apartments. Otherwise this project should not be approved.

1. Suzanne Stone

Middlebury