Larry LeBlanc files new lawsuit against Charlestown

LeBlanc demands the town issue a permit for new development at wind farm site

By Will Collette

On March 7, Charlestown's favorite developer, Larry LeBlanc, filed CCAH, LLC and LL Properties LLC against the Charlestown Planning Commission and its members, as well as Town Council President Tom Gentz in his capacity as Council liaison to the Planning Commission, and Ashley Hahn Morris, the Town Planner. Click here to read the lawsuit.

LL Properties LLC is LeBlanc’s land management company and CCAH, LLC is the corporation LeBlanc created to propose, build and sell Ninigret Hamlet, the project he proposes to build on the 81 acre site. On March 20, LeBlanc is also going before the town Zoning Board of Appeals to fight for CCAH, LLC to get its permit.

"Order in the court....the Peeple's Court is now in session."

In his new lawsuit, LeBlanc asks the court to issue a Writ of Mandamus against the Town, which is an order compelling the Town to issue the permit LeBlanc alleges they are required to issue under law.

LeBlanc argues that the permit application for the project was complete and proper and that the town lacks any legal reason to withhold the permit.

Charlestown’s Planning Commission is notorious for trying to use time to kill projects it doesn’t like. I wrote about this, calling it the “Power to Obstruct.” It works on most developers because developers are reluctant to play hardball with a political body if they know they will need to come before them again in the future.

But Larry LeBlanc has no expectations of anything but hostility from Charlestown’s Planning Commission. LeBlanc is no stranger to the Planning Commission, and there is no love lost between them. Over the years, LeBlanc proposed to build an industrial wind farm, a huge housing development, a slightly smaller housing development, or maybe sell the land to the Narragansett Indian Tribe so they could build a casino. 

LeBlanc can be reasonably sure that no matter what he proposes, it will be opposed by Planning and other factions within town.

So I’m sure the neighbors of LarryLand, the same folks who formed Ill Wind RI to fight LeBlanc’s wind farm proposal, are not happy about this new lawsuit.

LeBlanc has now upped the ante by asking the court to compel Charlestown to act on his permit application. He has a shot at winning, although that would then lead to town appeals, perhaps more citizen lawsuits, and more work for teams of lawyers. And the town continues to be on edge anticipating the outcome.

Frankly, I don’t think LeBlanc wants to build Ninigret Hamlet any more than he wants to build the Whalerock wind farm. Or build an amusement park. Or a bowling alley. Or a missile test-firing range. Or an observatory five times the size of Frosty Drew. LeBlanc has told Charlestown on several occasions that he wants to sell those 81 acres to the town – or somebody.

Last year, there was a rare moment when Planning Commissar Ruth Platner and I publicly agreed on a contentious political issue: we were the only two people in a jam-packed Town Council chamber to agree that it was worth taking serious action to buy 81 acres of unspoiled land along the historical and geologically significant moraine on Route One’s northern flank. LarryLand is currently a key part of what makes Route One a Scenic Highway.

This land, Larry LeBlanc’s ownership of it, and the succession of really unpopular uses he has proposed for it has caused endless headaches for the town. Some of the consequences:

• It caused the CCA to engage in a civil war between 2009 and 2010 that led to a schism and the CCA’s now notorious paranoia about secrecy.
• It spawned an anti-wind energy NIMBY organization that turned Charlestown’s pro-wind consensus into a community-dividing, on-going war and gave Charlestown the dubious distinction of being one of the most anti-wind communities in North America.
• It made the anti-Narragansett attitudes among the town’s white population a lot worse.
• It hardened the CCA’s resistance to affordable housing.

In short, LarryLand has been a nightmare for the town for a long time and has been a major source of discord, with no end in sight. Accordingly, Ruth and I stood united in supporting the only sure way to make the nightmare end: buy Larry’s land.

Peeps want peace...and open space

Last summer, the 81 acres of LarryLand were appraised at $825,000. LeBlanc, through his lawyer, asked for $3 million. LeBlanc bought the land some years ago for a little over $1 million. A fair price is going to be somewhere within that range. The Town Council could not get over its aversion to negotiating with LeBlanc to get the ball rolling toward a deal. Maybe, I hope, attitudes have changed. Whether you like LeBlanc or not, he has exerted considerable influence over this town. And he's not going away until he gets what he wants.

When, in the name of all that is right and just, are we going to take him seriously and negotiate a fair purchase price on that land? We bought the piece of crap YMCA campground when (a) it was grossly over-priced; (b) not really open space and (c) did not pose ANY THREAT to anybody if we just left it alone. So why, will somebody explain this to me, won’t we end Charlestown’s decade-long migraine?