The North Kingstown Town Council held a regular meeting on December 16, 2024, beginning at 7:00 PM. The meeting included a joint pre-budget consultation with the School Committee, public comments focused on climate resilience and renewable energy, discussion of a municipal building renovation, and numerous board and commission appointments.
So I'm not going to tell you which way to go. You can all uh decide on your own if this is uh but we do have quite a few people who have signed up for the school committee. Uh or I should say for um for a special um uh for public comment. So um so I will take you right off and you can tell me if you want to go now or later. Uh Dave Caldwell. So make sure that you state your name and your address for the record. And everybody remember you have three minutes. Less is good. All right, Dave Caldwell, 6500 Post Road, North Kingstown. I'm here today to talk a little bit very briefly about our comp plan and how we are making some very good progress because I drove by Yorktown Park today and saw an excavator there where we've had a lot of flooding, and that's been a long time. We've we've got a climate here in North Kingstown that's changing, the waters in places it didn't used to be. When we did our 1994 comp plan, which I worked on as a URI student. Nobody heard the words climate change at the time. And now we have uh a little bit more to work with as we're thinking about thoughtfully what we do in town. So other things that are happening here in the work that we're doing in North Kingstown. I've got a bunch of folks here tonight with a lot of expertise. Some of the things you're gonna see in the private sector that I call making environmentally and economically sustainable decisions if you do them thoughtfully. Like at our business, our 1970 vintage rays ranch on post roads about to get a big overhaul addition, and we're gonna be off the gas. Right now, because the energy codes have changed as of November first, you can build new buildings with heat pumps all electric the same price that you can build. I'm a contractor, so I can say this with a great deal of uh subject matter expertise. We should be building our new buildings, uh all electric or ground source heat pumps. Same price. So um I've over the years been involved with a few initiatives in town. Happy to help. We'd like to make thoughtful decisions that are economically environmentally sustainable in time. Takes a little bit of planning, a little foresight, but we speaking myself and a few of the folks you see tonight. We'd like to help. I mean, I think you're doing a great job. We're thinking of how we move forward for the next generations that are coming to North Kingston, that we're doing it the right way, thoughtfully, economically and environmentally sustainable fashion. I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you very much. Thank you. Peg Parker. Thank you. Peg Parker, 1140 Gilbert Stewart Road. I just want to echo what David just put forward you to you about as a town, we really need to be looking at climate change impacts. Both, and I'm glad the school committee is here because I think we need to look at it from two perspectives. One being build smart, and we're obviously now starting a new middle school. We were thrilled to see that geothermal and solar was included in the bond issue and it did pass. Feel that we can be resilient in the face of climate change. One thing that comes to mind is the drought that we were facing not too long ago. I live surrounded by acres and acres of woods. And my neighbors and I were extremely worried about the possibility of fire. The water lines do not come far enough south. We don't have hydrants. Congratulations to those of you who are newly elected. Thank you to all of you for the time that you put in serving our town. But please keep this issue front and center. You have residents that are very concerned. Thank you.