Votes 4-1 to grant preliminary approval to
carve-out of two house lots from the Whalerock property
Another step closer to slaying the monster |
By Will Collette
The Charlestown
Planning Commission under the leadership of Commissar Ruth Platner continues to
give special treatment to the proposal by Whalerock wind project partner James
Barrows to carve out two house lots from the
81 acre Whalerock site before the town buys the remaining acreage.
There are probably a
hundred projects that have crashed and burned, or have been altered beyond
recognition, when they came before Platner’s Commission. Many projects died a
slow and painful death of a thousand cuts as Platner and her Commissionaires
nit-picked them into oblivion.
But because the
Barrows’ subdivision proposal is the linchpin – indeed, it is the deal-breaker
– for the deal for Charlestown taxpayers to buy the Whalerock site for $2.1
million, this development is getting extraordinarily gentle and rapid
treatment.
Here are the two lots tucked in the far southwestern corner of the Whalerock parcel |
I understand the
reasoning – Barrows is in a position to kill the deal if his two-lot subdivision is not
approved.
In fact, the sales agreement with the town for the remaining acreage lists final and complete government approval of this subdivision as a precondition for Barrows and the town to close the deal on the rest of the land.
In fact, the sales agreement with the town for the remaining acreage lists final and complete government approval of this subdivision as a precondition for Barrows and the town to close the deal on the rest of the land.
However, town leaders
and in particular Town Council Boss Tom Gentz (CCA Party) misled the public about the
urgency attached to the Council’s August 22nd decision to vote to approve
the $2.1 million land purchase without a town vote, despite Gentz’s prior
promises.
Gentz cited an
“ultimatum” from Barrows’ lawyer to that effect, even though Barrows and his
Whalerock partner Larry LeBlanc suffered a major courtroom defeat earlier that
same day that substantially reduced their power to back up their ultimatum. But
Gentz withheld information about
that court victory from the audience at the public hearing, even though I’ll bet he was
busting a gut wanting to brag about it.
Further, Gentz said Barrows wanted to go to closing on the deal on August 27, citing this as
yet another reason why the Council had to approve the deal on August 22. Gentz did not tell the audience
that the deal was contingent on “all necessary FINAL permits and
approval for the two building sites” and that the Planning Commission was
not even scheduled to discuss it until August 28.
The Planning
Commission’s preliminary approval came after extensive discussion about the
alignment of various features on the property with lots of attention paid to the location of the driveway that will exit onto Route One. But Platner
and her Commissionaires, who were themselves under the watchful eye of Boss
Gentz during their discussion, were more accommodating than they have ever
been.
The Commission
attached a list of conditions and findings of fact that presumably must be met
before they will issue their final approval at some future meeting. Boss Gentz told the Westerly Sun that the Barrows
project will also need a number of other state approvals before the town could
set a date to close on the property.
He brushed off
suggestions that all these factors – which were not told to the audience at the
August 22nd – would have provided time to hold a town vote. He said
that residents’ demands for a referendum were “a political statement that people are trying to make.”
The final vote had all four CCA Party-endorsed
Planning Commissioners (Platner, Gordon Foer, Kathryn O’Connor and Jan Knost)
voting to grant preliminary approval and Brandon Cleary as the only no vote.
In an e-mail to me, Cleary said he voted no because "by
voting yes would [I] would have condoned the purchase of the remaining 70 acres for
2.1 mill without a vote from the community."
Cleary is an Alternate on the Planning Commission who doesn't get to vote unless one of the full-term Commissioners is absent which in this case was CCA-Party-endorsed Commissioner Connie Baker.
Cleary is an Alternate on the Planning Commission who doesn't get to vote unless one of the full-term Commissioners is absent which in this case was CCA-Party-endorsed Commissioner Connie Baker.