Narragansett Planning Board Meeting - July 16, 2026
Narragansett Planning Board Meeting - July 16, 2026
The Narragansett Planning Board met on July 16, 2026 at 6:00 PM in the Town Hall Large Boardroom. The meeting was streamed live on YouTube. All five board members were present: Chair Thomas Callahan, Vice Chair Joseph O’Neill, Secretary Rupert Friday, Member Stephen DeSimone, and Member James Grundy. Staff present included Community Development Director Jill Sabo, Planning Technician Amanda Aywas, Assistant Solicitor Scott Levesque, and Clerk Heidi Petrone. The board reordered the agenda, moving Administrative Matters and Approval of Minutes to after Old Business. The meeting adjourned at 8:24 PM. Key actions included advancing a subdivision pre-application, tabling a site review with re-noticing requirements, approving two site reviews with conditions, recommending a zoning ordinance amendment to the Town Council, discussing zoning recodification, and continuing rules of procedure.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Mark Crook, 161 Boon Street – Expressed frustration with repeated continuances of the Boon Street Market application (D.1), alleging a pattern of delay and questioning the applicant's strategy. He stated that the proposed pergola would not benefit neighbors and that only weather currently limits noise and activity. The board acknowledged his concerns but noted that enforcement of violations falls under the building official, not the planning board.
Discussion Items
-
C.1 Pre-Application Review: Lakeworth Landing/Petrucci Minor Subdivision (4 Lots with Street Creation, 609 Point Judith Road) – Attorney Matthew Landry presented a proposal for a four-lot subdivision using newly enacted oversized lot provisions. Discussion focused on: the need for waivers from road width and sewer extension requirements; the potential for a Comprehensive Permit to include affordable housing (several board members strongly encouraged this); sewer capacity and fire hydrant concerns; and ownership/maintenance of the private right-of-way. No votes were taken as this was a pre-application review. The board asked staff to analyze the new state legislation on lot sizing and indicated they would look favorably on an affordable housing component.
-
D.1 Site Review: Narragansett Pier Railroad, LLC / Boon Street Market (145 Boon Street) – Attorney Robert Murray explained that the applicant was not prepared to proceed because they were awaiting a final determination from the building official regarding scope modifications (e.g., removing a pergola). After public comment, the board voted to table the application and require first-class mailing of notice to abutters of the new hearing date. Motion passed 5-0. The board emphasized that further delays would not be tolerated.
-
D.2 Site Review: Narragansett Realty Trust / McKenna (0 Emery Street) – Attorney Murray requested a variance from road frontage requirements to allow a 75-foot extension of Emery Street (rather than the full 159 feet) for access to a new single-family home. The applicant agreed to build the road to town standards (20 feet wide) and use permeable asphalt for the driveway. The board first voted 5-0 that the application was complete and consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. They then voted 5-0 to recommend approval of the variance, subject to conditions in the July 15 project summary plus additional conditions: road built to town standards at 20 feet width, approval from the Rhode Island Department of Health for a private well, and submission of a revised site plan noting permeable driveway.
-
D.3 Site Review: Trazi / O’Connor (58 Indian Trail) – Applicant Karen O’Connor sought a special use permit to convert two lower-level rooms into bedrooms, making the house a five-bedroom home. She explained that both the MLS listing and the town’s tax card showed the property as five bedrooms, but the fire marshal’s smoke inspection revealed that the rooms lacked proper egress. The board discussed parking concerns and the need for accurate plans. They voted 5-0 that the application was complete and consistent with the Comprehensive Plan, then voted 5-0 to recommend approval subject to six conditions: documentation of the five-bedroom MLS and tax card, that the den and garage cannot be converted into additional bedrooms, and other standard conditions from the project summary.
-
E.1 Recommendation to Town Council: Zoning Ordinance Amendment – Section 4.5 High Water Table Limitations Overlay District – Assistant Solicitor Levesque explained that the amendment removes ambiguous brackets and clarifies that “site coverage” (not “lot coverage”) is the correct term, and deletes an unnecessary last sentence. The board voted 5-0 to approve the recommendation to the Town Council as discussed.
-
F.1 Old Business: Zoning Ordinance Recodification – The board discussed the need to recodify the zoning ordinance (and possibly subdivision regulations) to improve readability and consistency. Staff presented cost estimates and example scopes from other towns. The board expressed interest but acknowledged competing demands (Comprehensive Plan update) and staff capacity. They decided to draft a memo to the Town Council recommending the recodification, to be reviewed at the August meeting.
-
F.2 Old Business: Rules of Procedure – The board agreed to continue discussion of proposed rule changes to the August 18, 2026 meeting. Motion passed 5-0.
-
G. Reports/Updates – Liaison reports: Rupert Friday noted the Coastal Access Advisory Committee discussed a right-of-way access issue; Stephen DeSimone reported the Land Conservancy Trust is advancing the Sunset Farm conservation plan, planning trail signage, and exploring restroom facilities and a community garden. Legislative updates: Staff are tracking 2025 and 2026 state law changes to incorporate into zoning and subdivision regulations, with a target of January 2027 for Town Council action. Resilience Grant: A consultant has reviewed ordinances for resilience opportunities and will meet with an advisory committee in August. Comprehensive Plan Update: A public workshop on July 16 (62 attendees) used interactive tools; the next workshop scheduled for August 6 is cancelled due to stakeholder scheduling delays. The board also discussed Open Meetings Act restrictions on quorum attendance at other public meetings and agreed to invite the new Building Official to a future meeting.
Key Outcomes
- Lakeworth Landing Pre-Application – No vote; board encouraged applicant to pursue a Comprehensive Permit with affordable housing; staff to analyze new lot size legislation.
- Boon Street Market (D.1) – Motion to table with first-class re-notice to abutters passed 5-0.
- 0 Emery Street (D.2) – Two motions passed 5-0: finding of completeness/conformance with Comprehensive Plan, and recommendation to approve variance subject to conditions (road to town standards at 20 ft, DOH well approval, revised site plan).
- 58 Indian Trail (D.3) – Two motions passed 5-0: finding of completeness/conformance, and recommendation to approve special use permit with conditions including documentation of five-bedroom status and no conversion of den/garage to bedrooms.
- Zoning Amendment Section 4.5 – Motion to recommend approval to Town Council passed 5-0.
- Zoning Recodification – Board agreed to draft a memo to Town Council; will revisit at August meeting.
- Rules of Procedure – Continued to August 18, 2026 meeting.
- Administrative Matters – Quorum confirmed for August 18, 2026.
- Minutes of June 8 and June 16, 2026 – Continued to August 18, 2026 meeting.
- Comprehensive Plan Workshop – August 6, 2026 meeting cancelled; next steps to be determined.
Meeting Transcript
And Heidi, if you would please take her Stephen DeFromo. Here. Dr. Joseph O'Neill. Here. Thomas Cowley. Here. Rupert Friday. Here. James Fundy. Mr. Chair, you have time to do this project you have a plan. Thank you, Heidi. On the first order of business, I'm going to ask if we can move the administrative matters under A and the approval of minutes under B to follow item number F. I guess I should take a motion. So all in favor? Okay, so that would bring us to the pre-application review for Lakewood Landing. Plat V, lot 38, 609. And before you get started, Mr. Landry. Of course. Okay. This is a pre-application review for the four-lock subdivision, which we just mentioned. It's located in an R20 zoning district. It has located off of Point Judith Road and presently has no public road frontage. The site is served through a private right-of-way. Applicant wishes to divide the parcel into four separate residential lots. Each will have a substandard area with the lots in this area will be required to meet the dimensional requirements consisting of an R10 if the board approves this application application at some point in time. Or at least briefed here tonight. I will say this is a this is a pre-application meeting. Town water utilities exist on site. And I think that's it in terms of background. So Mr. Landry, if you're real? Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, attorney Matthew Landry from the Office of Western Cabinet on behalf of the petitioner applicant. As you know, that this is just a pre-application meeting. We're giving you sort of a first look at what's being proposed for this property at 609 Point Judith Road. There's an existing single family home on the property. We're proposing a four-lot minor subdivision for the property. As you mentioned, Mr. Chairman, there's an existing 20-foot right of way that services the existing single family home. That's a deeded right of way that was conveyed to my client on the acquisition of this property. It's for ingress and egress by foot or by vehicular vehicles to and from this property. It includes an easement for any utilities, water, sewer, electrical, any other utilities that may be needed to service these existing dwelling as well as the four proposed house lots. There's also some legislation that has now allowed oversized lot development and infill development, if you will, of lots of a certain size to be reduced below what would otherwise be required from a lot area perspective, uh, so much so that they do not need to satisfy the law area requirements from the zone that they're located in. Those are classified as oversized lot uh minor subdivisions, and in order to qualify uh under that regulation, um, you have to do an assessment of all the properties within 200 feet of the lots proposed to be subdivided and take the average of all those lots within 200 feet, what the lot area is. Uh and there is a calculation that was submitted by the engineer in the pre-application submission that has determined at least 50% of the properties within 200 feet, have at least 8,500 square feet of lot area. Um so what we exceed that threshold for this oversized lot development um minor subdivision classification based on that calculation. Uh and each of the proposed lots has at least 10,000 square feet.
openpublica.com