North Kingstown Planning Commission Meeting - March 4, 2025
North Kingstown Planning Commission Meeting - March 4, 2025
The North Kingstown Planning Commission met on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, at 7:00 PM at Town Hall, 80 Boston Neck Rd. The meeting covered two development applications and a discussion of zoning ordinance amendments. The commission approved both applications with conditions and unanimously approved the minutes from February 18, 2025.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes Approval: The commission voted 5-0 to approve the minutes from the February 18, 2025 meeting.
Discussion Items
Final Plan Application of Steven Allen – 3-Lot Conservation Development at 155 Essex Road
- The applicant proposes a 3-lot conservation development on a 12-acre parcel in a Neighborhood Residential Zone and Groundwater Recharge Area.
- An existing dwelling and barn will be retained; the barn will be converted into a dwelling unit, and the remaining land will become one open space lot.
- Key issues addressed: merging two open space lots into one, correction of assessor's plat/lot numbers (duplicate numbers discovered), deed restriction limiting bedrooms (4 on lot 14, 5 on new lot), replacement of existing cesspool with new OWTS on both lots (to be installed prior to CO for barn conversion), water service coordination due to road moratorium (5-year period expired), and stormwater addressed at building permit stage.
- Staff noted that conditions from preliminary stage were resolved; the application was brought back for final approval per commission request.
Combined Preliminary and Final Stage Development Plan Review – 222 Exeter Road, LLC
- The applicant seeks approval for a new tenant (Decks and Docks) utilizing 4,500 sq ft for hardware storage, 1,000 sq ft display area, and 2,000 sq ft office within an existing 41,777 sq ft building.
- Exterior improvements include a 75,031 sq ft gravel laydown yard with geogrid for infiltration, chain-link fence (black vinyl-coated), and landscaping (evergreen plantings) on the outside of the fence for screening.
- No new lighting or curb cuts; site is in Light Industrial zone and Groundwater Recharge overlay.
- Conditions: satisfactory inspection of the existing wastewater treatment system (SSD) must be submitted to the town; confirmation of fire separation with fire marshal; vinyl-coated fence and evergreen landscaping around the laydown yard.
- The site has sufficient parking (21 spaces required, 14 striped plus additional unstriped spaces available).
- The applicant submitted safety data sheets for stored materials (composite decking and pressure-treated lumber); water department had no concerns.
Discussion: Zoning Ordinance Amendments
- Staff presented several proposed amendments for feedback (no vote taken):
- Remove outdated septic setback from wetlands requirement (state law now governs).
- Add definitions for "accessory structure" and "mechanical equipment/appurtenances" (excluding wind turbines and solar installations).
- Exempt mechanical equipment (e.g., A/C condensers) from special use permit requirements for location between house and road; generators to be treated separately.
- Remove screening requirement for roof-mounted solar equipment (except in historic districts/scenic overlay).
- Allow property owners town-wide to designate a primary frontage on corner lots (currently allowed only in Post Road district).
- Commissioners expressed general support but requested further refinement on generators and record-keeping for frontage designation.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to approve the Steven Allen final plan (with conditions including updated lot numbers, deed restriction, OWTS prior to CO, water service coordination). Vote: 5-0.
- Motion to approve the 222 Exeter Road development plan review (with added conditions for vinyl-coated fence, landscaping, and satisfactory wastewater inspection). Vote: 5-0.
- Minutes of February 18, 2025 approved unanimously (5-0).
- Chair noted an update on a solar farm lawsuit: a motion to dismiss based on timing was filed by the developer's attorney; decision expected in coming weeks.
Meeting Transcript
Of the North Kingstown Planning Commission. And for the first couple items, we have a couple uh development reviews, then we have a discussion on uh zoning ordinances and finally one set of meetings or meeting minutes to uh approve. So we'll uh jump right into the first item of business. That's final plan application of Stephen Allen for a three-lot conservation development proposed at assessors plat 158, lot 14, 155 Essex Road, located in a neighborhood residential zone and groundwater recharge area. We're we're efficient here. So Pat, do you want me to give a brief intro? Yeah. I'm sorry, I was going or ready to turn it over to um again, most of you or maybe half of you are familiar with this application from the preliminary stage. Um at that time you did request as a condition that it come back to you for final. So there's really just a little bit of buttoning up of items as you saw in the staff report, there's not too many outstanding um items to to chat about tonight. Um again, as you might recall, and for those who are um weren't here at the time, it was at preliminary, it's about a twelve twelve-acre parcel. There's an existing dwelling on the lot, and then there's also a barn. The intention of the applicant is to create a separate lot for the barn and convert that barn into a living unit. Um, and then the remainder of the land would be in the open space lot. One of the issues at the time of preliminary was that they were showing two separate open space lots. So a condition of master plan was to actually just merge those into one, and that is what's reflected. There's one open space lot now on the submitted plan set. So um Pat did notice, I'll just say right away, um, that the assessors plat and lot that was assigned for um the new house lot, I think it was there actually already is an existing lot with that plat and lot assignment, so the tax assessor is gonna have to um give us new numbering for that, and then we'll have to change the plans. So um Pat picked up on that. So I think at the time the lot that is a lot of record was fairly recent creation of that. It was cut out of another lot. So I don't know if it was a weird timing where that one had just come on, and then these two lots or three lots came along. So but we'll straighten that out and we'll make sure that the applicant's engineer adjusts the lot numbers on the plans and any deed restrictions or anything, we'll make sure we adjust those. Um let's see it as you said, neighborhood residential, groundwater. The other um kind of larger issue we talked about at that uh preliminary was that in the groundwater area you're restricted to four bedrooms per two acres. So the applicant will have to record a deed restriction. They did give us an example of what that could be, and the town solicitor is reviewing that. So he will make a determination if that language is appropriate, but he is already reviewing that with the applicant's attorney. Um and let's see as you um saw on the plans, they are proposing to use the existing gravel driveway. There will be shared access um over that, so no new curve cuts are being proposed at this time. You probably also saw in the plans that they're going to there's um existing water service to the existing dwelling, and because of the road being newly paved, there's a restriction on cutting into that road for five years. So that's their time period is over, but they have to be doing that. Oh, I'm gonna let Nicole speak about that in a second. She spoke to Allie. But anyway, Allie had a concern about that initially, but I think it's it it'll be fine. But if they wanted to, they could go through the existing lot for temporary service working the world of the water department. So um that shouldn't be an issue. There's no new impervious, and they didn't need to do inclusion area because of the number of lots, it's under um five, and the existing cesspool on um lot fourteen will be replaced with the on-site wastewater treatment system as well as a new one for the barn once it's converted. And um again, I outlined all the conditions in the staff report and how they were addressed by the applicant. Um I won't go through all of them now, but it was obviously sufficient for us to bring it to you tonight. I just wanted to note that um the moratorium is over, but because it's newly over, if they were to do this sooner than later within the excavation permit, it would be an extensive um patch, it wouldn't just be a small area, it would be a a good couple hundred feet on both sides. So it wouldn't be you know something that it would be done in ten years. Any uh questions for staff yeah, so there's gonna those conditions will be likely be different. Those were preliminary stage conditions, so at final, there are different conditions in the staff report. So those will have to be, you know, depending on what you guys decide tonight what to include. Um those will have to be adjusted. Do you want me to take those off the plan? So we'll just once tonight when I do once I do the decision, I will let you know what how the plans have to change. I think we need you at the microphone. Yeah, because it's being recorded, so if you don't speak into the mic, we can't.
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