North Kingstown Planning Commission Meeting - May 20, 2025
North Kingstown Planning Commission Meeting - May 20, 2025
The North Kingstown Planning Commission met Tuesday, May 20, 2025, at 7:00 PM at Town Hall, 80 Boston Neck Rd., North Kingstown, RI. The commission granted a landscaping-plan waiver for the North Kingstown Food Pantry, approved a development plan review modification for a proposed deck and outdoor seating at Gooseneck Vineyard/Mighty Geese LLC, and approved the draft minutes from May 6, 2025.
Waiver Request: North Kingstown Food Pantry
- Staff presented the waiver request for the final plan checklist requirement for a combined preliminary/final plan unified development minor land development application for an addition and associated improvements to the food pantry at 445 School Street (Assessor's Plat 149 Lot 119, zoned Public).
- The applicant sought to waive the requirement for a landscape plan stamped by a landscape architect, proposing instead to use local community and volunteer groups for plantings that would mimic existing site landscaping.
- Staff noted the site is functional rather than heavily landscaped; no public comment was offered.
- The commission voted to grant the waiver request.
Development Plan Review Modification: Mighty Geese LLC / Gooseneck Vineyard
- The applicant requested a modification to add a 1,490 sq ft deck (26 ft by 57 ft 7 in) and outdoor seating on the north side of the existing building at 1340 and 1376 Tower Hill Road (Plat 7, Lots 13, 22, 23; Rural Residential; Groundwater Recharge Area and Scenic Overlay District).
- The proposal adds about 48 seats, bringing total site seating to about 174 seats. The applicant stated the additional seats are intended to accommodate existing customers rather than increase vehicle trips.
- Staff said parking meets ordinance requirements, although the ordinance calculates parking from building square footage rather than outdoor seats; existing and overflow parking are full at peak times, and valet service is used. A suggested condition was discussed to formally identify an overflow parking area.
- Stormwater calculations submitted with the application did not include the roof area of the proposed deck; the town engineer said the calculations would need to be revised, and a drywell designed for a 100-year storm would be an acceptable alternative if the existing system cannot handle additional runoff. The applicant's attorney described the deck as slatted boards over crushed stone to allow infiltration; the roof is a solid metal roof. The town engineer said the impact is minimal and the revised calculations could be reviewed during the building permit phase.
- DEM system suitability permits 175 lounge seats and 350 banquet seats, but not simultaneous use. The banquet facility is not yet constructed. A nitrate loading analysis met the ordinance's 5 mg/L standard.
- Fire marshal recommendations, described as non-required suggestions, included removing mulch near the building, adding an AED/defibrillator, training staff in fire extinguisher use, and having licensed crowd managers. The facility is near, but below, the threshold requiring sprinklers; the building department noted it is also near, but below, the threshold requiring a secondary bathroom.
- The chair read positive findings under the development plan review, groundwater recharge/wellhead protection overlay, and scenic overlay criteria.
- No public comments were offered.
Minutes of May 6, 2025
- During review of the draft minutes, a commissioner questioned whether the minutes adequately addressed zoning release criteria; the discussion noted minutes are a high-level summary and the transcript contains the full detail.
- A correction was made on page nine involving lot width wording. The minutes were approved as amended.
Key Outcomes
- The commission approved the Mighty Geese LLC development plan review modification 5-0, subject to three conditions: (1) event space and lounge seating may not operate simultaneously; (2) an overflow parking area must be identified on site; and (3) the applicant shall submit stormwater calculations addressing the additional roof area, with review by the town engineer administratively during the building permit process.
- The applicant must also coordinate with the town clerk on expanding its liquor license for the outdoor seating area.
- The commission approved the May 6, 2025, draft minutes as amended, including the page nine correction. The meeting then adjourned.
Meeting Transcript
Is a waiver request final plan checklist requirements for combined preliminary and final planified development minor land development application of the North Kingstown food pantry for an addition associated improvements to the food pantry located at 445 School Street, Cessus Plat 149 lot 11 zoned public. In case you are familiar with this staff will walk us through if uh after questions that you we may ask you to present, but I I think after the site visit, this may be not a very complicated process for you tonight. So it's I have a very brief few words to say. Again, it's a checklist requirement that they submit a landscaping plan, you know, stamp by landscape architect. So they're asking to waive that requirement so they can move forward in the process. And again, they want to use some local community groups and volunteer groups to do the plantings on the property. Um so instead of having a landscape architect, they're gonna try to use some local groups to do the plantings for them. Um it'll mimic similar landscaping that's already on there. So if you went to the site visit, you'll you'll see what's out there. And again, there's institutional use of budding it on at least one or two sides. Um, and they will need a few variances from some of the landscaping requirements, but um for tonight, they're just asking to not submit that landscaping plan. I mean, after being out there almost it's uh I don't want to it's a well kept site, but it's not incredibly landscaped, it's functional. Yep. So I think anything would be more than what we have now. Absolutely. Does anyone have any questions for staff? Does anyone have any uh questions of the applicant? Uh is there anyone from the public who wishes to comment? Seeing none, would anyone like to make a motion to grant this waiver request? I'll make a motion to grant the waiver request on the landscaping. So a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? It's five all. Thank you. Thank you. Uh next item on the agenda, item 3B, development plan review modification of Mighty Geese LLC for a proposed 1,490 square foot deck addition and outdoor seating area for property located at 1340 and 1376 Tower Hill Road. Assessors plat 7, lots 13, 22, and 23, zoned rural residential located in a groundwater recharge area. And I see the applicant is here and I know attorney craven knows the process as well as anyone. Yep. So um I'm sure most of you uh will remember this, but um the property is located in the groundwater recharge area and the scenic overlay district. So as such, any modifications um have to come before the planning commission for approval. So that's why it's here tonight, even though it's a very minor minor modification. Um it is for a 26 by 57 foot seven-inch deck or about 1490 square feet on the north side of the existing building. Um, and there's about 48 seats proposed, and the total for the seats across the site is about 174. Um there's no flood zone or wetlands or coastal features on the property. We asked the applicant. This is a modification because we only asked them for a few key items to address given the size of the improvement. They addressed um traffic in the narrative, uh, the suitability of the system to accommodate the additional seats, and then stormwater. So those are kind of the three main areas that we um had the applicant submit materials to address. Um traffic-wise, again, they're more um thinking that these seats are going to accommodate customers already coming to the property, so they don't anticipate an increase in the actual number of trips per day, but rather better accommodate their clients and customers that are already coming to the property. If you've been there on a busy night, you might see that they could certainly use a few more seats for folks. So I think that's the intention rather than attracting new um customers to the property. Um they do have sufficient parking on the property per our ordinance, and one thing we we have discussed with the applicant at TRC is the fact that the parking is based on the square footage of the building and not on outdoor seats. And so um really when you have a lot of folks that are inside the building and outside the building in these seats, you might need more parking than our ordinance requires. But they are meeting the ordinance for parking. So one thing we did talk about was um right now the parking areas and what was overflow parking areas are kind of full at their busiest times, and so I it's my understanding they're using valley service to mitigate some of the impacts from um the full parking lots. Um it might be wise, and I put a condition suggested that maybe they want to officially designate an area for overflow parking, really for a safety issues and making sure it's it's well managed, but also I think over time obviously your parking cars on grass somewhere, it'll um wear down, it can be compacted.
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