Richmond Town Council Meeting Update for April 6, 2023

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA

RICHMOND – The Town Council agreed at the April 4 meeting to hold a workshop with the Planning Board to reconsider an application for a zoning change for a solar energy project at the Richmond Commons site.

Council members also agreed to engage the Church Community Housing Corporation to assist the town in procuring and administering Community Development Block Grants.

Richmond Commons

It was hoped that the 294-acre Richmond Commons property, located on Route 138, would be transformed into a mixed - use development, with 400 housing units and retail and office space.

The Planning Board created a special Planned Unit Development-Village Center zone in 2002 to accommodate the proposed project, but the plan failed to attract tenants. Since that time, the land has remained largely vacant and owner John Aiello has sold a portion of the west side of the parcel to a gravel company.

The Town Council first denied a zoning amendment proposed by  BlueWave Solar, of Boston, to allow solar in Feb. 2021, but with a different council now in place, the developer intends to apply once again for an amendment that would permit the construction of a commercial solar array on 65 acres on the northwest side of the property.

The PUD-Village Center zone currently prohibits solar energy installations, and BlueWave will ask the town to amend the use code to allow solar.

While the land remains largely vacant and the town is anxious to encourage economic development at the site, the lucrative tax advantages of allowing the construction of the facility no longer exist. State legislation introduced in 2022 requires cities and towns to tax renewable energy facilities at the same rate that existed prior to the developers leasing or purchasing the land.

A joint Town Council - Planning Board workshop to discuss the pre- application will take place on May 2 at 5 p.m.

Community Development Block Grants

Bob Plain, representing the non-profit Church Community Housing Corporation, told the council that his group, which is based in Newport County, was interested in administering the Community Development Block Grant program in Richmond.

“You have to be able to demonstrate that 51% of the beneficiaries are of low and moderate income,” Plain said. “What people on Aquidneck Island, where we largely represent do with it, it funds the social service agencies, it funds homeless shelters, it funds street scape projects, it funds senior centers.”

The corporation would offer services previously performed by the Washington County Community Development Corporation, where both representatives have retired.

Finance Director Laura Kenyon said the town would welcome a CDBG grant administrator.

“We’ve been waiting for an administrator to come to our door,” she said.

Town Planner Shaun Lacey said CDBG money could also be used for infrastructure improvements.

“If you can demonstrate that sidewalks or water service is benefitting 51% of the population that fall under low and moderate income, that’s a project,” he said 

State Mandates

Following an unsuccessful attempt to form a tri town coalition to fight unfunded state mandates, Councilor Michael Colasante said he was now asking state Rep. Megan Cotter (D- Dist. 39) to submit legislation requiring that state mandates be funded with state money.

“She is going to draft legislation for the mandates, for the unfunded mandates and basically, it will read that any new mandates that the General Assembly will pass will have to come with funding,” he said. “It will be a very, very simple bill, and then, Senator [Elaine] Morgan will do it on the Senate.”

At this point, the bill is far from reaching the floor of the General Assembly. Submitting the proposed legislation would first require a resolution approved by the Town Council asking Cotter to draft the bill, and no such resolution has been passed or proposed.

Economic Development

Economic Development Commission Vice Chair Joseph Reddish presented a report on the “Richmond Open for Business” campaign.

The commission’s mission is to attract new businesses to the town and to support existing businesses.

“How do we focus ourselves, as a town, to create revenue so that we can offset, in the future, our residential taxes,” he said. “And the way to do that, as we’ve determined, is really through economic development and growth in the town of Richmond. Our mission is to encourage and attract new businesses to locate in Richmond.”

The commission recommends that the town allocate $20,000 to $25,000 of its remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds to hire a firm to audit Richmond’s planning, zoning and building ordinances to determine whether they are business-friendly. Reddish said the commission had also determined that the town’s website needed an upgrade.

In addition, the commission proposes that the council use some of the ARPA money to hire an Economic Development Director.

“When I talk about the successes of other states and other towns, they have a Director of ED on their staff,” he said. “That person’s job is to go out and identify businesses and opportunities for bringing businesses, whether small or large. We have Richmond Commons, which has been a process, for, going on now, 30-plus years. Empty space. I think we get 10, maybe 15 grand worth of taxes.  Imagine if we could fill that with the right businesses and that would probably go up by 100 times and that right there would lower the taxes on the bottom line of the residents.”

Reddish also repeated a proposal, first made by commission member Louise Dinsmore, that town administrators be accountable for development objectives.

“We recommend that you develop a set of performance-based objectives and accountability of job descriptions for our Town Administrator and Town Planner related to economic development. I’m not saying they’re doing a bad job, but if we don’t set goals, it’s just like any other business out there,” he said.

RICAN

The Rhode Island Center Assisting Those in Need, which has received approval from the town for an $80,000 grant from the town’s ARPA funds for improvements to the building, asked whether some of those funds could be reallocated from the proposed rooftop solar panels to other projects.

It has been determined that the roof of the building, which houses a food pantry and thrift shop, will not support the weight of the panels.

RICAN President Scott Straight asked the council to approve the reallocation of the funds.

“We are asking to re-allocate that money to other projects that we have identified,” he said. “A new well – our well is not sustainable for us going forward. It actually dried up on us. Solar light for our parking lot – that’s about $14,000 right there.”

Another $20,000, Straight said, would be used to make structural improvements to the roof on the RICAN building.

The council declined to approve funds for parking lot lighting, but agreed to the request for $14,000 for the well and $20,000 for the roof.

Council President Mark Trimmer said,

“I’m looking at the needs, and the $20,000 for the structural repairs is definitely a need. The $14,000 for their well is a definite need. The lighting in their parking lot, I’m not feeling that’s something we should pay for, so my thought would be to allocate them the $34,000, which would cover their well and their structural needs.”

The council approved the amended motion, made by Colasante, to approve a $34,000 allocation to RICAN.