A group of residents living near a proposed residential development on Orange Terrace in Middletown, New York, pleaded to the Zoning Board of Appeals not to greenlight a variance on Feb. 15. 
A zoning variance is an exception, granted on a case-by-case basis by a local government, to normal zoning laws that require that a property match the classification for a certain area.
The developer, Orange Terrace Properties LLC, wants to squeeze six single-family residences onto lots that, under the current city zoning code, can only accommodate three houses. 
Philip Dropkin, a Goshen lawyer representing the developer, argued in front of the Zoning Board of Appeals that the development would not alter the characteristics of the neighborhood and that building less than six houses would be economically unfeasible for the developer. …