MIDDLEBORO — Barely two weeks after Town Meeting voters approved a change of zoning for the site, a developer is seeking to build four lots on and around the former Meadowbrook Drive-In property on Harding Street.

Jeff Youngquist, owner of Outback Engineering, and Bharti Partel, the administrator of the property, attended the May 7 Planning Board meeting to present very preliminary new plans for the site.

“We hope to create lots and sell the properties for development,’’ Youngquist said. 

Patel said after the meeting that he was “looking to add light manufacturing’’ on the property. He said the uses would be up to potential tenants.

The site has been controversial. Lincoln Project Company planned in 2023 to construct three buildings on the site. The first building would feature approximately 147,800 square feet with 48 loading docks and 118 employee parking spaces to the north and 36 employee parking spaces to the east. 

The second building would have covered about 145,000 square feet with 50 loading docks. The third building featured 380,000 square feet with 75 loading docks.

This proposal was ultimately withdrawn.

At the April 22 Town Meeting, voters approved a change of zoning for the area that would prohibit industrial use such as this. But this most recent proposal was submitted before the vote was taken, which allows the issue to proceed.

Supporters have described the area of the former Meadowbrook Drive-In property on Harding Street, as well as the surrounding neighborhoods on Vernon Street, Cordial Road, and Clayton Road, is a valuable natural resource. 

“We’re not merely trying to preserve land, we’re trying to preserve a way of life,’’ resident Matthew Bruffee said at Town Meeting.

The land is home to two brooks and abundant wildlife, he has said.

At the May 7 meeting, area resident Corey Maloney, who has been an outspoken critic of the prior project, noted that the site features “core critical habitat’’ with wildlife that is “thriving out there in great numbers.’’

Development on the site would threaten this, he said. 

Youngquist said that the latest proposal would maintain a portion of the land through the National Heritage MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program. This land would be protected from development, he said.

“We’re not walking away from Natural Heritage,’’ Youngquist said.

Patel said that the project has “the potential to land good employment’’ and “be a good asset to the town.’’

But Maloney warned that development on the site would threaten the area’s natural resources. “As we move forward, we can’t go backward,’’ he said.