NORTH PROVIDENCE – Developer Armand Cortellesso’s controversial plan to bring 48 tiny condos to 114 Baird Ave. will now be heard on Nov. 10.
Attorney Jack McGreen, for Cortellesso and Patriot Builders, told the Planning Board on Oct. 14 that they’d been having a hard time reaching their environmental engineer, who had been sick for much of the previous six weeks. By postponing, he said, they would have a chance to get him there to comment on their phase one environmental report on the property.
McGreen agreed to an extension on the length of time the town has available to consider the combined master and preliminary plan review.
Cortellesso previously proposed 30 units within a former industrial building on the site, and is now planning 48 micro units on two floors of a new building constructed the property, while still calling it an adaptive reuse project.
The man otherwise known as a Smokey is a frequent developer in town, and his projects often stir intense opposition in a town with little open space left.
Attorneys for the developer said at a meeting late last month that this project should have been approved by right. In a forum where the sides shouted each other down repeatedly, attorneys for Cortellesso took the board to task for a previous denial that was sent back to the town by a judge for being done incorrectly.
An attorney for Cortellesso said at the previous meeting that the reason there was no environmental expert there was because it wasn’t within the jurisdiction of the board. He said they would agree to a condition on their approval to adhere to all laws and regulations by the EPA and DEM.
Angelica Bovis, attorney for the board, said at the Oct. 14 meeting that they still had to hold the advertised meeting to accept any public comment from interested citizens.
Residents on Oct. 14 said they were upset not to learn about the conversation being postponed earlier in the day, saying they had to rearrange their days and evenings to be there.
They also offered concern that the environmental report is already a year overdue, and that truckloads of materials continue to be dumped on the lot. Because the physical condition of the site has changed so much over the past year, they said, a simple surface-level scan is useless, and core testing should be done to determine what contamination has been buried beneath the surface.
Neighborhood residents are calling for rigorous oversight on what’s happening at the property.
Numerous residents are expected to show up at the Nov. 10 meeting.
“Our community matters, and we cannot afford to remain silent when serious questions about public health and safety remain unanswered,” said resident Lucy Harrison.
She is encouraging residents to document any breathing problems and medical symptoms from possible exposure.
“I have personally seen my doctor and am now using an inhaler,” she posted. “I am keeping records in case my health worsens and legal action becomes necessary.”
