SMITHFIELD – A triangular lot at the intersection of Route 7 and Harris Road could see residential development if its owner moves forward with an official application and gets approvals.
Engineer Sam Hemenway, of Garofalo & Associates, went before the Planning Board on May 21 to seek early feedback from a pre-application discussion on the 2.14-acre site next to Coffee Connection near Route 295.
The applicant on this minor land development project is Harris Holdings LLC. Hemenway said they’re trying to get some feedback before filing an official application and officially moving forward.
He explained to the board that the target property is an undeveloped portion of three lots tied together by previous approvals. He added that they’ve discussed what might work for a constrained property that’s difficult to develop.
The owner, Domenic Grieco, is seeking to potentially add nine residential units for what Hemenway described as a “transitional area” between the commercial retail units next door and the homes just up Harris Road. He said they’ve tried with adding another commercial building, but it hasn’t worked out.
Hemenway said it seemed like a good fit to add a multi-family project, but such a project isn’t allowed in a commercial zone.
Hemenway said they wanted to talk about a mechanism they would take to move forward, and came to a rezoning and then coming back under a unified development application seeking dimensional relief for setbacks.
He said the idea is for three duplexes and a triplex, all one-story buildings. If the town agrees to this less intense use, they would move forward with seeking the necessary permissions, he said.
The nine proposed units is just under the threshold for needing to have low-to-moderate-income units. There would be parking for each unit and visitor parking as well.
Though the housing would function separately from neighboring commercial lots. Residents would exit through the parking lots of those commercial properties.
Hemenway said they proposed their idea to the Technical Review Committee, and members were generally receptive, though they suggested trying to get a little more room to lessen the dimensional relief needed. Doing so would be a bit complex, said Hemenway.
Planning Board member Michael Moan said he would be more comfortable with a proposal that maintains commercial as previously hashed out for the property.
Member Catherine Lynn said she has concerns about additional traffic through the parking lot at Coffee Connection and Slice and Scoop, saying those are heightened by the idea of dancers at Heritage Ballet next door running through the lot to get ice cream after class.
Other members also suggested that they’re more in favor of a third connected commercial parcel. Grieco, who said he purchased the property last February and who does a lot of projects in town, responded that commercial would likely be too intense for this parcel.
He said he’s not looking to retire on the profits from this project or cram units onto it, referencing a new multi-family project on Louisquisset Pike that he said doesn’t do justice to the area it’s in.
The way the property is shaped, housing is the least intense use for it, said Grieco, with perhaps one car per unit. Add another 5,000 building, say, a restaurant, and with the traffic exiting from Coffee Connection, the town will probably need to add a traffic detail, he said. This seemed like the best option for all sides, he stated.
If the town does want them to go the commercial route, said Grieco, perhaps commercial contractor condos would be a good fit. He said they don’t see mixed-use development as the best option, but the corner does need something to get it cleaned up.
Board members said they understand the economics of adding more units, but perhaps a smaller number tucked further away from the road would make more sense.
Town Planner Gregory Guertin said members of his office didn’t have many concerns of significance on this project. There are some hurdles to jump over, including “quite a bit of relief” needed after a zone change, he said. Guertin said they talked about tightening up the project a bit to need less relief, including the possibility of decreasing ground floor square footage by adding second levels to the homes. Guertin said he empathizes with the position the owner is in.
