From Tuesday: Middlebury voters delivered rebuke to First Selectman in contentious town.

Middlebury continues to remind us of the power of zoning to drive a town mad.

A proposal to build a warehouse/distribution center has caused Middlebury political and community leaders to take chunks out of each other at regular intervals.

Three years ago, State Representative William Pizzuto was able to insert a provision in the state budget bill that was tailored to halt the warehouse proposal. Pizzuto, who lives several hundred feet from the property at issue, chose to deliver his blow to the project in a piece of legislation, the budget, that was taken up in the final few days of the session and was not going to be amended once Republican Pizzuto’s yanking local zoning authority from Middlebury.

Much litigation and retribution followed. Development opponent Jennifer Mahr was elected to the Board of Selectman as a petitioning candidate in 2023. Two years later, Mahr won the first selectman’s job by 306 votes, again as a petitioning candidate, over Republican Vincent F. Cipriano, Jr., by 244 votes. Democrat Michael J. McCormack ran a distant third.

Mahr’s election as first selectman left her board seat vacant. A special election followed on June 23rd. Republican Brian Shaban’s appointment to the board was followed by a petition for a special election. On Tuesday, voters delivered their verdict. Shaban defeated Democrat Charles “Casey” Larkin, IV 1411 votes to 1167 on a 37% turnout.

Shaban and Mahr have clashed. He said Tuesday that he hopes to end some of the divisions that have marked the town’s politics for more than three years.

Extensive litigation over the development proposal on the former Timex property is resolved, Middlebury is likely to continue to see its politics roiled. The next test will come when Pizzuto, a wily opponent of local control of zoning, faces a Republican primary for his renomination.