By Brandon T. Bisceglia
The lower level meeting room of Orange Town Hall was standing room only for a promised public hearing at the Inland Wetlands and Water Courses Commission Sept. 10 that would allow residents to speak out about a controversial development off Turkey Hill Road.
There was just one problem: the hearing had to be cancelled at the last minute.
The meeting was the first at which residents would have been able to weigh in on a development being put forward by a team representing town resident Richard Meisenheimer, who wants to build 10 multifamily residential buildings and a single community building on a compilation of parcels on the 22.5-acre property that he owns.
A different proposal for the same property was the subject of vociferous opposition in 2018. That first plan was eventually denied by the Town Plan & Zoning Commission.
This time around, neighbors and others who opposed the plan organized far in advance, posting signs around town urging residents to speak out against the proposal at the Inland Wetlands meeting. They circulated fliers. They held informal meetings in neighborhood homes.
Their effort brought dozens of people to the meeting. But an apparent failure on the part of the town to issue proper paperwork led the Inland Wetlands to delay the hearing with no notice.
It was not immediately clear what had caused the lapse Tuesday night, though several sources told the Milford-Orange Times that the town had neglected to send notification to the abutting property owners of the meeting via certified mail.
Murmurs ran through the crowd as commission chairman Rick Mangione told them what had happened. He wasn’t entirely clear on the cause himself, saying that he only heard about it when he arrived for the meeting.
Many of those opposed to the development gathered outside Town Hall after the announcement to vent and discuss next steps.
“I think the postponement and the reason for the postponement are very interesting, and point to an underlying opportunity to delay the public hearing, to by time to try to diffuse the public’s interest,” said Orange resident Ron Michaels, who has been active in the opposition. “It’s absolutely not going to work. This is only going to push us harder to get the message out.”
Angela McNabola, who is running as a Democratic candidate for the Board of Selectmen, said she came to the meeting to hear about the proposal and what her fellow residents had to say.
“It’s too bad that people arranged their schedules and came here to hear what had to be said and to speak their voice, and we want clarification on next steps,” she said.
McNabola said she wasn’t ready to point any fingers for the delay until she had all the facts.
“But we’re entitled to know what they are,” she added.
Information on when a future public hearing might be scheduled was not immediately available.