Richmond Planning Board Update for January 10th 2023

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

RICHMOND – At the first Planning Board meeting after the Town Council declined to renew the appointment of Vice Chair, Nancy Hess, board members named Hess Planning Board Chair. It was an act of defiance as well as a show of support for Hess, who has served on the board for 20 years. Her term expires on Jan. 31.

At the Jan. 3 Town Council meeting, council President Mark Trimmer and members Michael Colasante and Helen Sheehan voted against Hess’s reappointment and council Vice President Richard Nassaney and councilor Samantha Wilcox supported it.

The vote has generated considerable fallout, since Trimmer had told Hess at a meeting over the holidays that he would support her reappointment. The reason for his change of heart, Trimmer later explained, was Hess’s treatment of developers, which he described as overly harsh at times.

Adding to the controversy, however, was the revelation that Trimmer and fellow councilor Colasante, had accepted campaign contributions from donors connected with the largest developer in town. 

Trimmer and Colasante each received three $1,000.00 donations from people connected with The Preserve at Boulder Hills, which has sued the town over what the developer described as inaction on applications. That lawsuit was dismissed, but attorneys for The Preserve have said they will appeal.

Hess elected Planning Board Chair

Hess has not commented on the council vote, but Philip Damicis, who strongly opposed the council decision, opened Tuesday’s meeting with another statement supporting her.

His voice occasionally choked with emotion, Damicis said of Hess,

“She is incredibly knowledgeable. She’s an incredible asset to the board. She’s an incredible asset to the town, and quite honesty, everything she has done has been for this town, for the residents of this town, and for the protection of our town’s regulations, and she has treated everybody fairly, as far as I’m concerned. I’m incredibly disappointed in this council for not reappointing her and I think this town is going to suffer because of that.”

To Hess, Damicis said,

“I’m hoping there’s some way we can get you back, but in the meantime, I’m glad we will pass on the gavel to you tonight, at least. If only symbolically, you deserve it.”

Hess thanked those who had supported her.

“I just want to thank the members of the community, the dozens, and dozens, and dozens that have reached out in various ways and have given me kind words, words of support, words of sympathy and words of disgust – not at me, but the situation of being caught between politics and special interests. This is never good for the community,” she said.

The town has ongoing difficulties in recruiting qualified volunteers to serve on boards and commissions. Hess, who works in the Rhode Island Division of Statewide Planning, played a critical role in the update of the town’s comprehensive plan. 

Board member Dan Madnick who agreed that Hess would be difficult, if not impossible to replace, said she had mentored him when he first joined the board.

“For those who don’t know, Nancy does teach all the planning training for the state,” he said. “So, while Nancy is also on this board, she does all that training, and she also trained me, and she’s been an excellent mentor.”

Madnick also noted that the council members who had voted against Hess’s reappointment had not provided specific reasons for their decision.

“The Town Council did not justify with any substantial reasons why she should not be reappointed to the Planning Board,” he said. “I can understand why someone may not be reappointed if they don’t have the background or the skill set to utilize on a board such as this, but Nancy has it all…This board hasn’t been full for a number of years, so, specifically to Nancy and this board, to not reappoint her and opening up another vacancy on the board doesn’t pass the voice of reason for me.”

Madnick then nominated Hess to the position of Chair, which the members voted to approve.

Damicis, who will serve as Vice Chair, then passed the gavel to Hess. With Hess’s appointment expiring in a couple of weeks, Tuesday’s gesture was largely symbolic. Behind the scenes, however, there have been suggestions, as yet unconfirmed, that Hess might apply once again for reappointment, giving council members an opportunity to change their minds.

Annual Report 

Town Planner Shaun Lacey presented the Planning Board’s Annual Report for 2022, which lists, by month, the major decisions and activities of the board.

The report included several long-range goals, such as resolving the ongoing challenges posed by the Wyoming commercial district.

Lacey explained that the town’s comprehensive plan points to a need for design guidelines for the district.

“… one way to achieve that is through design elements, and knowing that we don’t have anything in our operating budget that would be able to cover the cost of doing a new design, we would need to hire a consultant that has real design expertise, someone that has design charette type of experience,” he said. “So clearly, it is something that the board might want to start considering for next year. It would be subject to capital appropriations, so, in this year’s capital improvement program, I’ll be requesting $20,000, both for FY ‘24 and FY ’25, totaling $40,000, which would be needed in order to hire a consultant who can help us put together a plan for Wyoming.”

Board members then engaged in a lengthy discussion of Wyoming’s development challenges, including transportation and traffic issues.

Housing Survey

Members discussed the 2022 HousingWorksRI Fact Book, which analyses existing housing throughout Rhode Island and provides data on income and housing in all 39 cities and towns, including Richmond.

Hess pointed to a lack of information in the report on rental housing, of which there is little to none in Richmond.

“There’s nothing wrong with rental housing that serves multiple generations, to move them into home ownership, but we are missing that,” she said. “People talk about the ‘missing middle,’ and that’s for middle income people, but there’s the missing rentals and I think, we need to look at, as our population ages, because Rhode Island has a very high elderly population compared to other states, where are our seniors able to go?”

Joint workshop

The Planning Board and the Town Council will hold a joint workshop on Jan. 17 to review proposed amendments to the aquifer protection overlay district regulations and ordinances.

The meeting will take place at 5 p.m. in the council chambers. The Town Council meeting will follow the workshop at 6 p.m.