Whether the city will formally abandon three streets as TF Green airport plans to install a new sound barrier along Strawberry Field Road West is now up to the City Council to decide.

The Planning Board voted June 12 to make a favorable recommendation to abandon the roadways in question – Fieldview Drive and Murray and Bunker streets – thereby advancing the matter to councilors, who will have final say over whether the roads will be stripped of their status as public property.

The board’s vote came after members held off on taking action in May, when a survey of the streets contracted by the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, the airport’s operator, erroneously labeled an abutting lot owned by resident Curt Tietze as airport property.

That confusion has since been resolved.

Timothy Kinder, a land surveyor hired by RIAC, told the Planning Board the initial filing was based on the original subdivision property lines and “not necessarily the individual property lines.”

“We changed the plan to clarify that,” he said.

Tietze indicated he is satisfied with the amended survey, but noted RIAC never contacted him, including after the initial mistake.

Following the vote, Board Chair Phil Slocum made a note to the City Council: “There are still some details of the survey that we encourage them to look very closely at.”

Residents had earlier asked board members to hold off on issuing a favorable recommendation.

Michelle Komar, a retired environmental planner residing in Warwick, questioned how RIAC was allowed to start work on the site, even though the city has yet to abandon the streets.

“I don’t want to see rewards going to activities that shouldn’t be happening on city property,” Komar said. “So, if they haven’t waited for City Council approval, and done construction or earthmoving activities on city properties, that’s a violation as I see it. I hope you wouldn’t reward that type of behavior.”

According to City Planner Tom Kravitz, the work now underway is allowed under a temporary PAP, or pre-approval petition, that he authorized the Department of Public Works to issue. The petition does not require council approval, he said.

“But I cannot say for sure if [the ongoing work is] happening within what is the state right away,” Kravitz said. “That being said, we still feel it's important to go through the abandonment process.”

Dawn Mineker, RIAC’s acting senior vice president of infrastructure, said only that work began once RIAC received a physical alteration permit from the city.

Board member Kevin Flynn considers the berm, now under construction, a public benefit that will make life a bit easier for residents living alongside the airport – and the street abandonment is necessary for that to happen, he said.

“The airport is not going away. Warwick has an airport. It’s not moving,” Flynn said. “And so, I think what’s being done is an effort to try to make it as livable as possible because it’s not the easiest neighbor to have.”

Twenty seven homes once stood on approximately 14 acres along those three vacant streets. All of the lots are now owned by RIAC, following a $5 million FAA buy package in 2002.

Clearing out the former subdivision is part of RIAC’s $100 million project to construct the South Cargo Facility. Planned along Strawberry Field Road West, the structure is intended to house FedEx and UPS operations, with enough space for six cargo jets and 31 loading docks.

Files show the noise barrier – consisting of a concrete wall and an earth berm – would run alongside the cargo complex and traverse Fieldview Drive to stretch over to Murray Street, sitting along the backside of homes on Palace Avenue.

In the years since the FAA purchase, the open land surrounding Fieldview Drive and Murray and Bunker streets became an unofficial public park of sorts – a place where neighbors take walks and stretch their legs, at least until recently. Construction barriers and “no trespassing” signs now deter locals from the area. Large machinery on the property was visible from nearby roads as of last week.

Several residents who spoke at last week’s board meeting, including Tietze, said they would like to see RIAC consider allowing the public to retain at least some access to the land.

“There’s no question that the berm is for public benefit,” said Richard Langseth, a resident who has closely followed the cargo facility project and other RIAC matters. “What we’re saying is the streets around the berm – the rest of the property – should remain open to the public as a public park.”