North Kingstown Planning Commission Meeting – October 29, 2026

The North Kingstown Planning Commission met at 6:30 PM on Thursday, October 29, 2026, at Town Hall, 80 Boston Neck Road, North Kingstown, RI. Under RIGL 42-46-6(c), notice was posted on the Secretary of State's website. The commission set a special meeting, certified a CDBG application, held a combined public hearing on the Greene Farm LLC development at 84 & 100 Pleasant Valley Road, and approved prior meeting minutes. The public hearing was continued to November 12, 2026.

General Business

• The commission set a special Planning Commission meeting for November 12, 2026 at 6:30 PM, primarily to review the revised quantity development package amendments.
• Community Development Block Grant Program Year 2025: Staff planner Nicole Lafontaine explained that the CDBG federal funding requires the Planning Commission to certify that proposed subrecipient activities are not in conflict with the North Kingstown Comprehensive Plan. Staff identified plan consistency for the four subrecipient requests. Commissioner Joe Donohue agreed, referencing plan element six. The commission unanimously approved the certification on a motion by Tracey McCue, seconded and approved by voice vote.

Public Hearing: Greene Farm LLC – 84 & 100 Pleasant Valley Road

• The commission held the unified development review public hearing for Greene Farm LLC's combined master and preliminary stage major land development application for 84 & 100 Pleasant Valley Road (Plat 129, Lots 2 and 9), zoned General Business and located in the Groundwater Recharge and Scenic Overlay districts. Attorney John Mancini and engineer Kevin Morin represented the applicant.
• Staff described a proposal for indoor and outdoor storage and a sales office for farm materials produced off-site, professional office space, and roadway improvements to Pleasant Valley Road. The two lots had already been administratively merged. Proposed buildings include a roughly 1,600 sq ft retail/sales/yard office, about 5,000 sq ft storage barn, about 4,100 sq ft office, and about 9,700 sq ft covered material storage bins, with total coverage about 20,600 sq ft against roughly 50,000 sq ft allowed.
• Staff stated the applicant sought one zoning variance for the dumpster location in the front yard and one landscaping waiver from the 10-foot perimeter buffer along Route 4. No variance was sought for the uses themselves. The applicant said it could relocate the dumpster to eliminate the variance.
• Staff and applicant presentations noted an approved on-site wastewater treatment system, nitrogen loading below 5 mg per liter, no wetlands or flood zone on the property, a RIPDES permit, three stormwater infiltration areas, private wells, and a proposed Pleasant Valley Road upgrade with 21 feet of pavement, curb, and guardrail.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Written correspondence from Michael Lynch, Holly Moran, Caroline Cheshire, Steve Tadino, and Sean Taylor was entered into the record.
• Beth Hill Ross asked about changed groundwater mapping and expressed concern that sludge from another project could end up sold at this site; she asked who would monitor and enforce testing.
• Mark Slavchev said the same developer is associated with a proposed sludge plant and worried that runoff from storage bins could contaminate local groundwater; he requested public SDS sheets and water monitoring.
• Sean Taylor said the plan was strong if it strictly handled clean forestry and traditional farm products, but requested conditions closing a blended-biochar loophole, explicitly excluding sewage sludge, biosolids, and industrial byproducts, requiring indoor storage of such materials, and mandating a fire/hazardous-material plan with closed-loop runoff capture.
• A resident from Seagrassway requested SDS data for every ingredient, asked what animal products would be in freezers, and suggested security fencing given the property owner's unpopularity.
• Vanessa Mascaro asked that product-line changes require formal approval rather than mere review, asked whether the commission could prohibit sludge-derived biochar, asked about odor mitigation, and sought clarification on excluded and future biochar materials.
• Jeffrey Crawford asked about DEM regulation and testing of compost from the Coventry facility, whether materials would be mixed on site or elsewhere, and about the broad state definition of compost.
• Richard Welch noted a nearby town well closed due to PFAS, requested baseline groundwater testing now, wanted exact biochar ingredients and a prohibition on pressure-treated lumber, and raised concerns about runoff from paved areas.
• Ricky Thompson asked where biochar originates and what ingredients are permitted, urging limits or prohibition beyond wood/plant-based sources.
• Elizabeth Stern asked the commission to consider Mount View residents' concerns about water, air, and infrastructure, citing odor from Bitumar.
• Nadine Swanson said she smells Bitumar daily, has noticed well-water changes, and believes North Kingstown is expanding too fast, making water protection critical.

Commission Discussion and Conditions

• Commissioners questioned the applicant about material composition, biochar feedstocks, dust control, winter storage, delivery hours, dumpster relocation, road construction, and possible roof-overhang extensions. Tracey McCue expressed concern about storing materials in the bins during winter in a groundwater recharge area and wanted the materials not proposed list included in conditions. Joe Donohue cautioned against restricting a business's winter operations, but agreed to ask the applicant for winter operating and mitigation information.
• The commission discussed amending condition 7 so that any new or changed materials, including changes in constituents of named mixes, require Planning Commission approval. There was consensus to add a condition explicitly excluding sewage-sludge-derived biochar and related biosolids byproducts from the site.
• The commission also discussed obtaining additional information from the applicant on odor mitigation, fire department input on fire suppression, more detailed SDS sheets, certifications for soil products, winter operations, and a baseline well test before operations. James Callian confirmed the commission has authority to impose explicit conditions, but noted that a future cease-operations enforcement would likely require a separate legal process.

Key Outcomes

• The CDBG certification was approved unanimously.
• The Greene Farm public hearing was continued to the special meeting on November 12, 2026, with the applicant to provide supplemental information and the hearing to remain open. A further extension may be requested because a decision is not expected before mid-December.
• The commission gave staff direction to prepare revised conditions, including strengthened material-list controls, the biochar/sludge exclusion, no floor drains, landscaping/stormwater conditions, and possible winter-storage mitigation details.
• The commission approved the minutes of October 20, 2026, and the administrative actions report, which noted the planning director signed final plans for the Dutch Cove small subdivision.
• The meeting adjourned.