Subject: A Heartfelt Plea to Protect Middletown Irresponsible Overscale Development

Dear Planning Commissioners,

I write to you again today not just as a minister of the Rainbow Church of Living Light, but as a good neighbor and someone who cherishes the unique and historic spirit of Middletown. I need to let you know that I and many of my fellow Middletown residents are deeply troubled by the proposed rezone of APN 014-380-09 to build a massive worker dormitory right in the heart of our little town.

This isn’t just a technical zoning issue—it’s a matter of community integrity and safety given the massive wildfires that have ravaged our town in the recent past.

When I look at this proposal, I picture 283 bedrooms located just blocks from our town’s schools, churches, library, parks and single family homes. Just Phase 1 of this development alone could mean 500 or more new residents suddenly woven into our tiny historic town of roughly 1,100 people. Not slowly, not organically, but shockingly all at once with serious cultural, infrastructure and safety impacts.

Have you ever stood on Santa Clara Road at dusk? Heard the birds, stood under the trees, seen the kids riding their bikes? This street just isn’t built to absorb shift-based transit vans, nighttime lighting and the turnover of an industrial-scale dormitory operation like this that is actually far more commercial than residential in nature.

Middletown is our sanctuary. Not just for our church, but also for our neighborhood, our rhythm, our small town way of life. Approving this commercial worker dormitory sets a dangerous precedent that tells future developers: “You don’t need to build with Middletown in mind.”

I ask you now with full sincerity: Do not let this be the moment that Middletown loses its soul. Reject the rezone now and request the re-situation of this facility outside of downtown Middletown.

With prayer, hope and steadfast love for our small town,

Rev. Charles Bono
The Rainbow Church of Living Light
Middletown, CA

Subject: Strong Opposition to Rezoning of APN 014-380-09 (Santa Clara Rd Worker Dormitory)

Dear Planning Commission,

As a long-term Middletown resident and founding minister of the Rainbow Church of Living Light, located in Middletown's downtown core, I am writing again to oppose the rezoning of APN 014-380-09 from R1 to R2 to accommodate a 283-bedroom worker dormitory for the nearby planned Maha Guenoc Valley Project. This Middletown worker dormitory proposal stands in stark contrast to the established single-family residential character of our historic small town and is incompatible with the scale, infrastructure and safety expectations of our unusually tightly-knit community.

To be specific:
Population Shock: With 283 bedrooms, this dormitory facility could increase Middletown’s population by a massive 30–50% or more in a single phase, without the incremental integration afforded by traditional housing.

Zoning Conflict: R1 zoning reflects our community’s strong preference for low-density, family-compatible housing. Changing to R2 to accommodate an employer-controlled dormitory— which is effectively a commercial land use in a residential-zoned area —sets a very troubling precedent that cunningly bypasses the Middletown Area Plan’s purpose.

Evacuation Hazards: Wildfire evacuation in our region is already tenuous. This project inserts hundreds of potentially carless workers into a tight street grid adjacent to school routes. No evidence has been provided of evacuation modeling under red-flag conditions.

Infrastructure Strain: Dormitories carry unique demands for water, wastewater, emergency services, lighting and parking. Without documented capacity verifications and clear mitigation, approval would be premature and unsafe. Middletown residents have already been unjustly burdened by having their sewer rates more than doubled to pay for an otherwise unnecessary sewer system expansion to accommodate this huge worker dormitory project, when this cost should properly have been borne by the developers.

Land Use Policy: The ordinance and accompanying documents (see Meeting Agenda and Project Materials) claim General Plan and Area Plan consistency. Yet the neighborhood character, intended density and residential pattern of this planned worker dormitory contradict this assertion.

I thus respectfully urge you to deny the rezone and ask the applicant to locate worker housing elsewhere out of town and ideally on their own expansive 16,000-acre project site, where intensity and operations can be internally managed without burdening downtown Middletown. Failing to do so will result in further escalation of this matter as we explore and employ additional legal options to protect our town from irresponsible over-development.

Thank you for your time and commitment to thoughtful stewardship.

Sincerely,
Rev. Julia Bono
The Rainbow Church of Living Light
Middletown, CA