North Kingstown Planning Commission Meeting - October 7, 2025
North Kingstown Planning Commission Meeting - October 7, 2025
The Planning Commission met on Tuesday, October 7, 2025, at 7:00 PM at Town Hall. The meeting included a decision on a convalescent care expansion, a public hearing on a 66-unit affordable senior housing project (Franklin Commons), and a review of proposed zoning ordinance amendments for flag lot setbacks.
Consent Calendar
- The minutes of the September 16, 2025 meeting were approved unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jan MacAller (resident, Conservation Commission member) spoke briefly during the public hearing on Franklin Commons, expressing appreciation for the presentation and the environmental questions asked by the commission. No opposition was voiced.
Discussion Items
- 3a – Decision: AdCare Rhode Island (1950 Tower Hill Road) – Staff presented a unified development review for adding 10 beds to the existing convalescent care campus (total 80 beds). The commission approved the zoning relief and the development plan review unanimously with conditions.
- 3b – Public Hearing: Franklin Commons Master Plan Comprehensive Permit – This was the main agenda item. Staff (Becky) reviewed the application: a 66-unit, 100% affordable, age-restricted (55+) rental project in one five-story building on a 7-acre buildable portion of an 11-acre lot. The applicant (Valley Affordable Housing Corporation) and their experts presented: engineer Joe Casale, architect Carissa Coons, planner Ed Pimentel. They requested seven adjustments/waivers:
- Parking stall size: from 9.5 ft to 9 ft (length unchanged? Actually 18.5 ft required, they propose 18 ft – one-half foot less).
- Drive aisle width: from 26 ft to 24 ft.
- Number of stories: one additional story (5 instead of 4).
- Building height: 56 ft to parapet (6 ft above permitted 50 ft) and 61 ft to top of mechanicals (11 ft above 50 ft).
- Driveway slope: 10% instead of maximum 8%.
- Single point of access (waiver from requirement for two egress points).
- Infiltration basin side slopes steeper than 5:1 (waiver from subdivision regulations).
- Town engineer Ali commented that after further review she found the parking and aisle width adjustments reasonable, suggested a few oversized parking spaces and more handicapped spots, and recommended deterrent landscaping near the steep slopes to the basin. The applicant agreed to consider these.
- The commission heard testimony that the project meets all six findings under the Low and Moderate Income Housing Act and the subdivision land development standards. Public comment was opened and closed; no public opposition.
- 3c – Review of Zoning Ordinance Amendments for Flag Lot Setbacks – Staff indicated no action was taken on this item at this meeting.
- Administrative Actions Report – None.
Key Outcomes
- AdCare Rhode Island Expansion: Approved unanimously (zoning release and development plan review) with conditions as stated in the emailed decision.
- Franklin Commons Master Plan: The commission expressed general support for the project and its adjustments, with the caveat that the height and story relief are site-specific due to topography and affordable housing benefits. A motion was made to continue the matter to November 4, 2025, to allow staff to draft the formal decision. This continuation was approved unanimously.
- Minutes Approval: The September 16, 2025 meeting minutes were approved unanimously.
- Next Steps: The commission will reconvene on November 4, 2025, to finalize the Franklin Commons decision.
Meeting Transcript
Pursuant to RIGL 4246-6C notice of the meeting has been posted with the Secretary of State. Item 3A is the decision on a unified development review for the combined preliminary and final development plan review and special use permit and dimensional variance request. Application of ADCAR Rhode Island Inc. 1950 Tower Hill Road, North Kingstown, Rhode Island, 02852 to add 10 beds to the existing convalescence care campus for a total of 80 beds located at 1950 Tower Hill Road, Assessors Plat 36, Lot 5, Zone Rural Residential, and in the Groundwater Recharge Overlay District and the Scenic Overlay District. Did everybody have a chance to go through the decision that was emailed? And does anybody have any questions, comments, concerns? I'm not sure. I'm good. Then I would entertain a motion to approve. Motion to approve. So Rich, just I didn't write this one, but is there a separate zoning vote? And um so just make sure I'm just looking at it. Yeah, there's a separate vote for the zoning on page eight. And then on the back page 10, there's a vote for the um development plan review. Okay, so let's take it one at a time. I'll entertain a motion for the zoning. I move that we approve the zoning release. Second. All in favor? Aye, aye. And a motion for the development plan review approval. I move that we approve the um what you just said the development plan review. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. And there are conditions too, but there you guys are good with those. Okay. Uh 3B is a public hearing of the master plan comprehensive permit of major land development project application of Franklin Commons LLP for Franklin Commons, a 66 unit residential project proposed in one building to be located at 7259 Post Road, assessors plat 136 lot 170, zone post road, and in the ground raw groundwater recharge overlay district. Becky. I'll give you guys a little overview. So most of you will remember this was before you a few months back as a pre-application. Um at that time it was just a um straight up major land development project. Um they have resubmitted at the master plan stage, which is now optional under the um revised state laws recently revised. Um, and it is um now a comprehensive permit, which again you have reviewed in the past, and so that does allow the planning commission um to sit as the regulatory board for any adjustments they're seeking or variances, waivers, um, as well as approving the land development project. So it's a streamlined approval process. So there's a couple of different um provisions which were included in your staff report. Um, the findings, and I gave you a separate cheat sheet um when the time comes that stipulates the six, I think standards that you have to find positively on. I also gave you the land development project findings that is pretty standard, and then I gave you a separate um write-up of the adjustments they're seeking, either um which would typically be variances from the zoning ordinance or waivers from the subdivision um regulations. So again, um it's uh uh very similar in concept to the previous application at pre-app. It's a one one building, five stories, sixty-six units. Um it has a footprint of about 13,000 um 29 square feet. It's 11 acres total, but there's about seven of suitable land. So again, they base their density calculations on suitable land. As submitted, they're not seeking any density um adjustments. So very typical of a comp permit, one of the main goals is they typically want to seek a density adjustment. In this case, they're not. They actually meet the base zoning under the revised general laws. They could have 12 units per acre.
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