Planning Commission continues special, kid gloves treatment of Whalerock developer

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.

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 22^nd 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 22^nd – 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.