North Kingstown Planning Commission Meeting: October 19, 2021
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North Kingstown Planning Commission Meeting: October 19, 2021
The North Kingstown Planning Commission met on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, to discuss a major 16-lot subdivision pre-application for Sanctuary Estates, debate parameters for traffic impact analyses, and approve minutes from previous meetings. The meeting included staff presentations, public comment, and board deliberation.
Public Comments & Testimony
- One member of the public spoke against the affordable housing requirement, arguing that North Kingstown bears an unfair burden while other communities ignore state law. He urged the commission to disregard the inclusionary zoning component. Commissioners responded by acknowledging frustration but stating they must follow local ordinance and state law, though some expressed personal disagreement with the current system.
Discussion Items
- Sanctuary Estates Pre-Application (3.a): Staff and the project engineer presented a concept for a 14-lot subdivision (with two additional frontage lots making 16 total) on two parcels totaling 37 acres at 309 North Quidnessett Road (Assessor’s Plat 160, Lots 91 & 92). The property, a former bird sanctuary, is zoned Neighborhood Residential (one-acre lots). The proposal includes six estate lots (3–4 acres each) on the eastern side and eight smaller lots (40,000–61,000 sq ft) on the western side. All lots would use private wells and septic systems; fire protection would be provided via a water connection or a 30,000-gallon cistern. The design aims to preserve natural features like ponds, stone walls, and wetlands. Commission members noted the property’s unique character and scheduled a site walk. No vote was taken; this was a preliminary discussion.
- Traffic Impact Analysis Parameters (3.b): The commission discussed whether and how to refine requirements for traffic studies. Current ordinance triggers a study for developments with over 100 trips but lacks specific parameters. Several commissioners expressed skepticism about the value of traffic studies, noting they rarely show significant impact and often rely on questionable assumptions. The discussion centered on shifting focus to safety rather than level of service, and on creating a checklist of triggers (e.g., beach traffic, school days, seasonal conditions) that would allow the commission to request studies with tailored criteria. Staff was directed to draft a revised approach that is clear and project-specific.
Key Outcomes
- Sanctuary Estates: No decisions made; the commission will conduct a site walk at a future date to further evaluate the property. The applicant must address inclusionary zoning requirements (two affordable units required) as the project moves to master plan stage.
- Traffic Impact Analysis Parameters: Staff (Nicole) will develop a draft proposal incorporating safety-focused triggers and clear expectations for traffic studies, to be brought back for further discussion.
- Minutes Approval:
- Minutes from September 7, 2021: Approved 5-0 with corrections to remove excessive detail and note that public comment was allowed but not required.
- Minutes from September 21, 2021: Approved 5-0 as written.
- Minutes from October 5, 2021: Approved 5-0 as written.
- Meeting Adjourned: The meeting was adjourned following the minutes votes.
Meeting Transcript
Sanctuary states a major 16 lots subdivision pre-application for property located. 309 off the Nesset Road Queenstown. I think the applicant or in demand knows the process. The staff will give us a synopsis and have questions for that anything you wish to. I'm going to first introduce Joe, who is our newest employee. I'm not gonna put him on the spot and make him present tonight, but he is here to start being harassed by the boards. He started off, he joined me for the economic development meeting today, so you're his second meeting of the night. He does. Oh, you would like to know it. Joe, do you like to give an introduction of yourself? Quick, quick, quick. Sure. Where you're from? Who you are? Yeah, I'm uh Joe Dunnehoo. I just started in July. Um I just recently graduated uh with my MPA from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. So a little bit of a difference here, but um I'm excited. So he's still here, so that's a good thing. So we can move on now to sanctuaries. No, I didn't. Put him on the spot. Sounds like something you wanna do. So the application you have in front of you tonight is for it's a pre-application, so that's the first conceptual stage of a project for sanctuary estates, which is located on North Quinnescent Road, assesses plat 160 lots 91 and 92. The parcels together are approximately 37 acres, and they are in a neighborhood residential zone. If you've been a North Kingstown resident for a while, you would remember this as the bird sanctuary on um North Quinnesset Road, and there's still existing pieces of the property that hold old structures that were related to the bird sanctuary. And I believe some even some of the ponds and configuration are based on what the sanctuary was at the time. Um this is not in the groundwater protection district. It it's not there's not a floodplain on the site. Um it really isn't covered by any of the districts that we normally look at in, you know, if there's any additional concerns, and that is outlined in your staff report. It is in the neighborhood residential zone, which is a one-acre zone. And the the properties are subject of two other pre-applications you've seen recently. There's minor subdivisions on the two different sides. One was called 309 North Quinnessa, and the other one was something similar to that. So the proposal for this particular subdivision is to create 14 lots. One portion, which is the eastern portion, will have larger lot sizes, so they will have three to four acre lots, and there will be six of them on that side. The western portion will have eight lots. These will be smaller in size and will be closer to the neighborhood residential lot size of 40 um thousand square feet. Uh they range from 40,000 to 61,000 square feet on that side. The applicant proposes to use private wells and subject systems. This is not within the water service area, so they cannot use water for the project. However, they're having discussions in-house about fire protection, and they'll they will be allowed to to tie in for fire protection only at the site if they choose to do so. Um the site has as I said, the site has a lot of natural features, stonewalls, wetlands, a lot of things that when we go out for the site visit, we'll have to take note of and see and the the project has been designed around those those features. Um September TRC meeting. Um a lot of discussions were based on how they are technically two separate projects, so the HOAs for them will have to be separated out and all of the infrastructure will still have to be covered in those HOAs, but they'll have to they'll have to work together but work separately at the same time. Um again, the the issue of fire protection was addressed at this, and the fire marshal is going to require fire hydrants and they are able to do that because of the ability to connect to the water system for fire protection. If they couldn't connect, they would have to put up a 30,000 gallon cistern. Could the um sprinklers work in this area, or do they have to be on uh on the city? This the sprinklers could probably work too. Um at the I'm not sure actually if Eric has discussed this with the fire marshal, but this is the direction that they have been looking at for this property.
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