What now?

That is the question that haunts Pawtuxet residents who want to see 15 acres wedged between the river and Post Road left as open space and its owners who the Planning Board granted master plan approval to build storage facilities under conditions they’re not prepared to accept.

The decision raises the possibility that both the petitioner and the objectors will appeal the decision to the Zoning Board of Review and depending what happens there into the court.

The Planning Board decision came Wednesday night in the standing room lobby of the Sawtooth Annex in Apponaug during a two-hour meeting that turned ugly when many of the more than 150 in attendance, frustrated by the lack of an audio system, drowned out the proceeding shouting, “we can’t hear…shut this down…I have no idea of what was said…we’re going to shut this down and walk out.”

In opening the meeting Board Chair Philip Slocum made it clear this was less than an ideal venue. From the first hearing last June, the petition of Lee Beausoleil of Beausoleil Asphalt & Sons and Artak Avagyan of A-Star Oil, to build on the light industrially zoned site that was one home to the Hammel Dahl valve manufacturing operation, Pawtuxet residents have been concerned by the future use of the property. It hit a flashpoint when the owners closed off the walking trail that follows the river bank, which Boy Scouts have maintained for the past 30 years. The trail is a link in a two mile path that loops from the Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston to Warwick Avenue and back to the village.

At Mayor Frank Picozzi’s request, Avagyan and Beausoleil, removed no trespassing signs at the Post Road entrance to the trail, then posted an explanation they were only doing so at Picozzi’s request implying they were owed favorable review of their application. That sign was promptly torn down further opening the divide between the developers and neighbors. Residents organized under the banner of the Pawtuxet Green Revival, mounted a drive collecting more than 1,000 signatures in opposition of the development and garnered the support of state legislators who introduced legislation to protect rights of way and access to the river and the removal of materials stored on its flood plain. Opponents to the plan put together a legal team. They rallied experts to present their case including former City Planner Jonathan Stevens and former City Tax Assessor Kenneth Mallette.

Hearing was continued

The planning department knew it would face a crowd when the board considered the application in January. In addition to the 175 Post Road application, the board would consider master plan approval for a dog parlor abutting the entrance of Wethersfield Commons.

Faced with two issues projected to draw more than 100 projectors each, the hearing was moved to Veterans Middle School. The board denied the dog parlor but continued the Pawtuxet hearing after five hours of hearings.

Slocum told the crowd Wednesday that had they planned to return to Vets they wouldn’t have been able to meet because the school was forced to close when a sewer connection broke that morning. The plan was to meet in the annex community room but with the turnout the meeting was moved to the lobby. The downside was the lack of an audio system.

While the board completed public testimony at the January hearing and the meeting Wednesday was designed to give board members the opportunity to pose questions, Slocum opened the meeting to additional public comment, stressing the board has heard arguments from both sides and would welcome new information.

Initially, the crowd was attentive as the board heard public testimony and attorneys for both parties’ interjected comments. As complaints over the lack of a sound system mounted, Slocum assumed the role of summarizing the comments in a bellowing voice.  Finally that even became difficult to hear and audience members protested over conditions.

Slocum tried talking over the yells.

“Stand up, we can’t hear you,” a man shouted from the back of the room to Slocum.

“I’m unable to stand up,” Slocum retorted, “I’m on wheels.”

Slocum maneuvered his wheelchair from behind the table at the front of the room into the middle of the lobby. The crowd simmered down. He explained he would continue the meeting from there, repeating the testimony. But first he outlined the process of an application and how should master plan approval be granted, the project would require preliminary and final plan approvals requiring greater details and enabling the board to apply conditions. 

Resident appeals to the board included calling upon the owners to clean up the site before proceeding; ensuring a complementary “visual impact” on historic Pawtuxet with trees and open space on Post Road; prohibiting further curb cuts to the site and using the Storm Tools program developed by former RI Emergency Management Director Grover Fugate in assessing the impact of hurricane surges on the river when calculating wetlands and buildable sites as existing FEMA “models may not be accurate.”

Allowed by zoning

Nicholas Goodier, attorney for the owners, reiterated that the proposed use of the property is allowed by right as zoned. He also cited measures to be taken including elevation of the building site by two feet above the river flood stage; continued encapsulation of hazardous material with retention of concrete floor of the former manufacturing plant; fencing of the property and a conservation easement to more than 7 acres of the site.

Attorneys for the residents reasoned that if the building site is elevated, the owners couldn’t take material from the rest of the site to do that because of wetlands; that the owners have a history of not living up to their agreements; and cited a similar contractor storage facility on nearby Bellows Street as how the site could become a mess impossible to police.

At one point attorney Matthew Jerzyk, a Pawtuxet resident, read from a Providence Journal story quoting Beausoleil, “I don’t want to be told what to do with my property” to illustrate how the owners would disregard authority. Beausoleil stood to applaud loudly.

In making a motion to approve the application, board member Kevin Flynn pointed out the public would have access to the river and the owners would have rights albeit with conditions, for the development.

Board member Flynn prefaced his motion to grant master plan approval to the project pointing out anyone with a single family homeowners can deny access to their property  and likewise  owners of 175 Post have the right to deny access to their land. He pointed out approval includes the extension of the conservation easement the owners were prepared to give to the 1.7 acres they hope to develop at a later date.

“We’re not giving that property,” Avagyan interrupted. Flynn’s motion to approve was seconded by Steve Catalano. Also a condition of the approval is that the owners perform an environmental impact study of the site.

The vote was 4 to 3 for approval. Slocum was in opposition.

Soon after the vote, abutting property owner Vanessa Carlton texted out the following statement that was also sent to the media by Pawtuxet Green Revival. It reads: “In a building not suitable for a public meeting, we are grateful for chairman Slocum‘s attempts to inform the more than 100 neighborhood residents present as to what was happening in the meeting. That being said, we are deeply disappointed that four members of the board decided to approve a project so unsuitable and dangerous to the Pawtuxet River. The requirement of an environmental impact study, as we requested, and a larger conservation area, is certainly a silver lining, but industrial development should not be allowed on the river.”

By regulation, appeals to the decision must be recorded within 20 days of the decision being posted, which is expected to happen this week. Should both parties appeal, City Planner Thomas Kravitz anticipated they would be heard simultaneously by the Zoning Board of Review no sooner than their April meeting.