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City Planning


Middletown, the hub of Middlesex County, is located on the Connecticut River, with easy access to major highways, airports, railroads and other modes of transportation. Our city's forty-two square miles include rural, suburban and urban settings, an historic downtown and large city-owned parks and open spaces. When considering a new location for business, employment or residence, please take a good look at Middletown and see what we have to offer!

What do you get when you combine
  • a location in the center of the richest state in the nation;
  • direct access to the Interstate Highway System;
  • over 2,000 acres of land zoned for commercial and industrial land uses; and an aggressive pro-business administration, with numerous tax and business incentives and a streamlined permitting process?

Middletown, CT is finding this ideal mix leads to an expanding grand list and hundreds of new employment opportunities in this small city of 48,000.  Middletown's success is based on sound land use planning; whether it is developing industrial parks, buying open space, or building bike paths to improve the quality of life in the City, Middletown has been on the forefront since establishing one of the first planning commission's in the Country in 1931.

This planning has put Middletown in the enviable position of having 31% of its grand list comprised of commercial and industrial uses. This grand list includes companies such as Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, Northeast Utilities, Aerospace Techniques, and MiddleOak.

At the same time the City understands that its size places the City in a precarious position.

  • Middletown has six times as much residential land as commercial and industrial land available for development;
  • For every dollar Middletown receives from residential it spends $1.32 in services representing a net loss (due to school costs) and;
  • For every dollar Middletown receives from commercial and industrial uses it spends $0.54 representing a net gain (due to the need for limited service).

Therefore, Middletown has a policy of de-emphasizing residential growth by buying open space in residential zones and aggressively promoting the development of commercial and industrial land. This policy has resulted in the acquisition of over 2,500 acres of open space.