North Kingstown Planning Commission Meeting – July 18, 2023
North Kingstown Planning Commission Meeting – July 18, 2023
The North Kingstown Planning Commission met at Town Hall on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, to conduct two public hearings and make recommendations to the Town Council: one involving 3760 Quaker Lane LLC and one involving Frenchtown Investors LLC. The Commission also reviewed the 2023 Rhode Island land-use legislative changes and approved the June 20, 2023 minutes. Commissioner Eric Wishart recused himself from the Quaker Lane matter; the Commission continued each recommendation to August 1, 2023.
3760 Quaker Lane LLC – Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Amendments
- Items 3A and 3B remained continued from May 16, 2023. Staff reported that a site visit had occurred on June 13, 2023, with the applicant’s engineer and attorney, and that the applicant had received and recorded a RIDEM wetlands permit.
- Applicant’s attorney John Mancini said the request sought continuity with the property’s long-standing commercial use by changing the split zone from Commercial/Low Density Residential to Commercial and from General Business/Rural Residential to General Business.
- In discussion, commissioners noted there was no development application attached, and they questioned whether the town would lose wetland or residential-buffer protections. The applicant’s engineer Kevin Morin described a conceptual conservation area of approximately four acres tied to the 2019 RIDEM permit/limit of work.
- The Commission ultimately reached a positive consensus to recommend both the Future Land Use Map amendment and the zoning map amendment, with a conservation easement along the DEM wetland line to the benefit of the town or its designee, plus permanent bounds/markers to be reviewed administratively.
- The public hearing was continued to August 1, 2023.
Frenchtown Investors LLC – Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Amendments
- Items 3C and 3D involved Assessor’s Plat 177 Lots 29 and 30, requesting a change from Commercial to Light Industrial on the Future Land Use Map and from General Business to Light Industrial on the zoning map.
- Staff reviewed the property’s 2013 change from light industrial to general business/commercial. Attorney John C. Revens Jr. and John Dion of Frenchtown Investors LLC explained that the retail/big-box plans from that era did not succeed, and that light industrial/distribution uses now have stronger market demand, especially given the property’s location in the Hunt River Aquifer and the scarcity of available industrial space.
- Public comment: Jason Bergenstock of 5 Woodland Drive cautioned the Commission about staff report language stating the surrounding area supported the change. He noted that portions of the area are woodlands and that some parcels across Route 403 are zoned light industrial but lack access except through residential areas.
- Commissioners viewed light industrial as a better fit than general business and believed the change would help Post Road by removing a potential retail competitor. The Commission voted 5-0 to close public comment and reached a positive consensus on both amendments.
- Both matters were continued to August 1, 2023.
Discussion: 2023 Rhode Island Land-Use Legislative Update
- Staff presented summaries prepared by state agencies and professional organizations describing major process changes from the 2023 legislative session. Effective dates vary, with some changes immediate and many taking effect January 1, 2024.
- Key topics included mandatory future land use map/zoning consistency, comprehensive plan update timing, including a 2024 update requirement and a 12-year rewrite cycle, expanded by-right approvals, changes to the local review/appeal system, and the need for North Kingstown to revise ordinances, density standards, and inclusionary requirements.
- Commissioners discussed the need for public outreach because some property owners may receive notices that their zoning is being changed for compliance.
Key Outcomes
- The Commission reached a positive consensus to recommend the 3760 Quaker Lane LLC comprehensive plan and zoning amendments, conditioned on a recorded conservation easement; the public hearing was continued to August 1, 2023.
- The Commission reached a positive consensus to recommend the Frenchtown Investors LLC comprehensive plan and zoning amendments; both matters were continued to August 1, 2023.
- The Commission voted 5-0 to close the Frenchtown public hearing and approved the June 20, 2023 minutes by a 4-0 vote.
- The meeting adjourned following the minutes approval.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to call the Tuesday, July 18th. The Tuesday, July 18th, 2023 Planning Commission meeting to order. The first two items we have on the agenda, Nicole, is there any reason why we wouldn't hear them and then hear them together and deliberate on them uh individually. You can re you can reach them, Jim. Okay. So uh item three A is a public hearing review and recommendation to the town council for request by 3760 Quaker Lane LLC for a comprehensive plan amendment to the future land use map to change the designation of assessors plat 130 lot sixty-five from commercial and low density residential to commercial. This was continued for May 16th. And item 3B, review and recommendation to the town council, the application of 3760 Quaker Lane LLC for an amendment to the North Kingstown owner zoning ordinance to change the zoning designation of assessors plat 130 lot sixty five from general business to annual residential to general business. Again continued from May 16th. And I believe the applicant knows the process that staff will walk us through first and then after questions we'll give you time to present. Yep, so Jim, um for the record, Eric uh Wishot is recused. Yep, so you guys, as you know, you've already um the applicant has already made a presentation on the application, so I'm not gonna go over all of the everything that was presented last time, but just an update. Um at your meeting on May 16th, you had requested more information. Um you wanted a copy of the minutes from when the applicant was before you for a pre-application for the development plan review for the subject bot. And you also thought a site visit would be appropriate and help you in making your decision tonight. So we did do that site visit on June 13th, and the applicant was there with um his engineer and his attorney, and um four or five planning commission members were there um at the time. And um I did include the minutes from that meeting in your packet. And um other than that, the other thing I confirmed was just that they did get their wetlands permit. I know we talked about that a little bit when we were on site, so I just snipped the page from DEM to show that they um did receive their permit, and then subsequently um their engineer did give me a copy of the permit from DEM that was recorded. So just for the record, they they did submit that too. Does anyone have any questions of staff? Okay. Um at this point open up to the applicant, excuse me, John. Yep, it's coming on. I think that's better. Yes. All right, I'll start over. Uh Mr. Chairman, members of the board for the record, John Mancini on behalf of the applicant. Uh the petition for be petition before you is requesting a zone change of an existing commercial use. It's with located within a split zone, and we're asking for continuity with respect to a commercial use of the the property has historically been commercial, and our goal is to uh extend that GB zoning designation. At the last meeting in May, you heard from Kevin Warren, who's our project engineer, and he's available again this evening to answer any questions or concerns that the board may have with regards to our proposed change. We also have Ed Parmental who had submitted a report uh with regards to consistency with the comprehensive plan. Uh we, as your staff indicated to you, uh did conduct a site walk in June uh for members of the board to become better familiar with the activities on the site and essentially the the current use and and use for the property. Um unless there's I I have my witnesses here and I think that um what I would do is just open it up to the board if there's any specific questions or concerns that you want us to elaborate on, we can we can do that at this point. I also have a uh our we also brought a PowerPoint presentation which we've had before. We can uh share additional information with you if that's what you need, but I think the record is complete based on both the site walk and our last hearing in May. Anyone have any questions, Ms. Mancini? Okay. Thank you. I've got one question, I think from that. So the currently disturbed area. That when the zone changes, that will remain a pre-existing if it's within the buffer, that will remain a pre-existing non-conforming. What is that? So the the my mic on the so in the back area that is the disturbed area, and I'm not sure if it goes into the 50-foot buffer between a commercial and a residential area. But since it's already cleared, when the zone changes and moves that buffer into the property, will that still be considered an existing non-conforming condition? I I I can address that if if you if you'd like to. Go ahead, John. So the um what we're asking for is a zone change.
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