On Sunday, the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) passed a resolution in opposition to the proposed United States Army training base on Freeman Road, in the Maromas section of Middletown. The resolution passed by a vote of 28 to zero, with two WSA members abstaining.

The site, which is five miles southeast of campus, has become a point of contention since a Jan. 24 meeting at which the Army presented the property as its preferred location for a new 31- to 45-acre Armed Forces Reserve Center.

“The site selected by the Army is in the heart of pristine wilderness and the largest contiguous forest on the lower Connecticut River,” reads the resolution, which explicitly calls on the Army to find a new location for the base.

The resolution also urges either the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection or the City of Middletown to purchase the site, should the Army refuse to change its plans.

Sponsored by Mike Pernick ’10, chair of the WSA’s Student Affairs Committee (SAC), the resolution also calls on President of the University Michael Roth to take a public stand against the site and to support Mayor Sebastian Giuliano, the Middletown Common Council and the WSA in their opposition to the Freeman Road location.

In an interview, Roth expressed his opposition to the proposed army base and emphasized that he opposes the site, not a military presence in the city.

“I’m not saying there shouldn’t be an army base in Middletown,” Roth said. “I don’t think the mayor is against the army.”

According to Pernick, the WSA resolution has been sent to the Army Corps of Engineers, Mayor Giuliano’s office and Roth.

“[The Army] thanked us for our interest in the project and said they will take the resolution under advisement,” Pernick wrote in an e-mail. “I believe that, when all is said and done, another site will be chosen for the base.”

SAC member Saul Carlin ’09 lauded the resolution’s passage.

“Last week’s resolution is an unequivocal signal to the town, the state and the Army that Wesleyan and the students, staff and faculty are full-blooded citizens of Middletown,” Carlin wrote in an e-mail. “We take seriously our civic duty as members of the Middletown community to consider and advocate for what’s in the best interest of our neighborhood.”

The WSA’s action came just days after the Middletown Common Council held a workshop on Thursday, Feb. 21, at which Bill Warner, the city’s director of Planning, Conservation and Development, proposed two alternative sites for the Army facility.

“You could easily put someone [at the Freeman Road site] and they’d think they’re in Vermont,” Warner said at the meeting. “What we’re trying to do is steer the Army away from Freeman Road.”

Of Warner’s two proposals, one is a site on River Road, which runs along the Connecticut River. The property, currently owned by Connecticut Light & Power, has been industrially zoned since 1957 and contains land that has been previously mined. It is 3,400 feet from the nearest house.

Warner said that the state’s Natural Diversity Databas— listing of biological inventories from the past 100 year—dentifies no species of special concern on the parcel.

The second site is on Saybrook Road, which runs near Route 9. It is currently home to Adesa Impact, a salvage yard for totaled vehicles. Though Warner said that this site is better than the one on Freeman Road, he also pointed out that the scenic Blue Trail traverses the eastern boundary of the property, and that new construction could have a large environmental impact. Still, it compared favorably to the Army’s preferred site.

“This site is certainly better than Freeman Road,” Warner said.

Measured according to Warner’s own criteria for the site selection process, the Freeman Road property scored a 34, the Saybrook Road site garnered a 44 and the River Road parcel emerged as Warner’s preferred suggestion, with a ranking of 61 points.

Some residents, though, are not satisfied with the two alternative proposals. All three proposed sites are still in the Maromas section of the cit—n environmentally rich region with rare species of animals and homes that date back to the 18th century.

“So far, three bad sites have been brought to our attention,” wrote resident of Saybrook Road Barrett S. Robbins-Pianka in an e-mail. “And the more time one has to consider the three, the more clear it becomes that they are very similar and that they are the type of property that we want to preserve rather than pave.”

Robbins-Pianka has urged officials to take a more regional view towards the planning of the base.

“A regional army base consolidation deserves a regional site search,” she wrote in a letter to Governor Jodi Rell.

The full text of the WSA resolution will be available on the assembly’s website, at wesleyan.edu/wsa.