Nothing is etched in stone and the debate will continue, at least until June 18th. That's when the committee, which functions like a city council, indicated it would formally propose the zoning changes. The aim is to make the project more palatable to opponents by reducing it in scale. One key trial balloon floated last night was a reduction of the total allowable commercial space from 1.7 million sf to approximately 850,000 sf. The committee also suggested it would reduce the developable portion of the site to 100, while increasing buffers and setbacks.

More than 100 members of Concerned Citizens of Middletown, the key opposition, at times turned the meeting into a raucous affair. "It doesn't help this process at all when people yell at each other, because no one can hear what anyone is saying anyway," committeewoman Rosemarie Peters told the gathering at one point.

The committee also made it clear that it isn't about to buy the site and preserve it as open land, as Concerned Citizens of Middletown has urged. Committeeman Raymond O'Grady pointed out that the developer has said the property isn't for sale, "and I don't think we could afford it if it was."