NORTH PROVIDENCE – Still frustrated about construction of a three-story storage facility on Douglas Avenue and how it was allowed to be built behind residents’ homes, Town Council members are preparing to hold a closed session to discuss a possible investigation.
Some members expressed reluctance during the Oct. 6 meeting about outright hiring an attorney for an investigation, with Councilor Steve DiLorenzo saying he didn’t like the idea of wasting money on a pointless cause.
By the conclusion of the discussion, they decided to hold a closed-door session with attorneys for a preliminary review on whether there are any issues to move forward on.
Council President Dino Autiello said he still has concerns about the situation, calling a previous meeting where current and former attorneys representing the town defended the process a “dog and pony show” and “disturbing.”
DiLorenzo said they already pay a council attorney, Charles Ruggerio, and Town Solicitor Anthony Gallone to represent them legally, and while no one is happy with what’s transpired, the cost of hiring another attorney would be substantial.
Councilor Mario Martone said he has nothing against the town attorneys, but this is a specialized issue, and he remains dissatisfied with findings that this new version of the storage facility was considered a minor change and therefore OK for the planning director to approve administratively.
Council members and residents are upset with a much taller storage building being constructed behind homes in the neighborhood, despite initial statements nearly a decade ago that the facility at 1204 Douglas Ave. would be made up of multiple smaller buildings.
Attorney Tanessa Azar, for the developer of the property, noted that they’ve been working with neighbors and various officials, including DiLorenzo, to come up with ways to lessen the impact of the building on the neighborhood. They maintain that everything from their perspective was done legally, she said, and they are working with a landscaping plan approved by the town.
If the town decides to go a different route and draw them into legal proceedings, Azar said, they’ll be forced to move away from that effort focused exclusively on be neighborly. Those efforts include improving the tree buffer and using a less abrasive paint color on the roof.
Council members questioned buffer plans that never had a chance to block the view of the three-story building. Azar said they’re working on various scenarios to possibly add plants at higher elevations on neighbors’ properties, but they’re working with an already approved buffer plan for their property specifically
Martone and others expressed bewilderment that planning officials approved a tree plan that didn’t actually hide the building from neighbors. What then, he asked, is the point of the plan?
DiLorenzo said they would need big trees to act as any sort of effective buffer for the neighborhood. He said no one is happy with what has transpired, but he doesn’t see the point of retaining an attorney in response to the mistakes the town has made.
Martone said he’s “flabbergasted” that the Planning Department approved a three-story building when, as he sees it, they shouldn’t have. Further, he said, the landscaping plan approved by planners doesn’t block anything. He said he’s more convinced than ever that they need an attorney to investigate the Planning Department, saying it’s “ridiculous” that the department is making these kinds of mistakes that are hurting residents. He said he was operating under the assumption that they would at least have the opportunity to put in appropriate fencing and landscaping, but planners approved something that doesn’t protect neighbors at all.
“What are we doing?” asked Martone.
The councilman said he wants to effectively eliminate the chance of additional bad decisions for the town going forward.
Azar said that as far as the developer is concerned, there are no violations, and they are beyond any type of appeal period. She said if litigation happens, they’ll be forced to defend their rights and move away from developing effective screening that works for everyone. Everything would then take a different tone, she said.
Margo Conklin, of 44 Cushing St., said she has so many concerns, including about the buffering plans and the continued erosion neighbors are experiencing as a result of no retaining wall being in place. She said land behind their homes is going to continue to disappear, saying the current landscaping plan is not sufficient.
“This whole thing has been really disheartening,” she said.
Former Planning Board member Shane Piche, who voted against the original plan for the storage facility, said he sees major failures throughout planning and zoning on this project and others. The boards’ former advising attorney Kelley Morris Salvatore claimed at the Sept. 24 meeting that he disparaged her, Piche said, which he said he did not, but he believes this situation showed either nefarious activity or incompetence.
He said the appropriate move is never to go to a more extreme use for a commercial village district, but that’s exactly what happened in this case. When former Planning Director David Westcott recused himself from the process, he said, Morris Salvatore stepped in and convinced the Planning Board that it should make the change, despite the developer showing no hardship.
He mentioned that Morris Salvatore worked as a partner in the firm that brought the original application.
When Piche tried to read the cease and desist letter, Autiello told him not to, but he allowed Piche to continue on with his comments about Morris Salvatore. At the previous meeting, she had been told to limit her comments before protesting and continuing.
Morris Salvatore responded to Piche’s assertion this week by saying that her recommendation was neutral, and that she did not tell officials how they should proceed. She provided the administrative opinion from April of 2017. It states that the Planning Board must decide whether proposed amendments to the comprehensive plan to authorize limited manufacturing uses in Geneva are in the best interest of the community, and if so, they they would recommend that the board make a number of findings.
“If you read the recommendation, it’s totally neutral,” she said, noting that she even said that the applicant didn’t really show a hardship and asked the board to really think about it before making a decision
Here’s that opinion:
“He’s mischaracterizing my participation in all of this,” she said of Piche. “I (also) don’t represent the Town Council who voted on the zone change.”
As for her affiliation with the attorney who represented the developer, she said she had been gone from that firm for five years, well outside the standards for any potential ethics issue.
“I take my responsibility to act ethically very seriously,” she said.
Piche said the town’s zoning may not define minor changes to project, but there’s no way anyone could look at the building eventually constructed and say that it was anything like the original plan for multiple smaller buildings.
He also pointed back to Morris Salvatore’s involvement in construction of a home on three tiny lots on North Elmore Avenue in 2019. The Planning Board recommended not approving a zone change, he said, but somehow Morris Salvatore cited an error in the reading and said they had recommended it. Mayor Charles Lombardi thankfully did the right thing in that case and put a stop to the project, said Piche,
As Morris Salvatore points out, words matter, he said, and this was a very big error showing either incompetence or nefarious activity. He said many mistakes have happened, and for eight years he fought against them and for what residents deserve. The town has had a planning and zoning nightmare, he said, and it’s a shame if the council doesn’t now take this fight to its fullest extent possible to get the investigation residents deserve.
Westcott, he said, never would have recommended approval of a manufacturing limited zone for the property, and it’s a shame to allow a “monstrosity” to be built based on a technicality.
Morris Salvatore said Piche is someone who continuously disregards rule s on development, including permit violations and not showing up to municipal court when summoned. She said she finds that people who throw the most stones generally do so because they’re not doing the right thing themselves.
“It’s clearly just any way to take a shot at me,” she said, noting that another of her critics, Brad Dean from Cumberland, a fellow member with Piche of the League of Rhode Island Businesses, took time out of his Tuesday evening to watch Piche complain about her.
“They’re all in cahoots to disparage me,” she said. “It’s ridiculous and a little creepy.”
At the Oct. 6 meeting, Martone said he wants to talk to someone with expertise in this particular legal area, because he sees real problems with the approval process. Attorney Ruggerio then suggested that they meet with him and an attorney in closed executive session to determine if a larger investigation would be an appropriate next step, and the council unanimously agreed to that option. Martone also made a motion to receive all plans related to the property and the buffer zone by last Friday.
