New Charlestown border control policy apparently violated by the state. Again.

DEM plans to buy Audubon land in Charlestown without Town Council's advice and consent

By Will Collette

If our Charlestown Town Council members are consistent with their stated principles, we are about to see another outbreak of hostilities between Charlestown and the state.

According to the Providence Journal, the state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) has a deal with the state Audubon Society to buy the Kimball Wildlife Sanctuary outright for $300,000 out of state open space funds that have been approved by state voters.

The Kimball property is 29 beautiful, unspoiled acres abutting Burlingame Park on Watchaug Pond.

Under the “Slattery Rule,” established by CCA Party Town Council Dan Slattery at the Council’s July 17 meeting, whenever a state or federal “agent” comes to Charlestown to conduct official business, they are expected to give advance notice and check in with Town Hall first and must present the details on the reasons for their visit.

Further, if that state or federal agency conducts business within Charlestown, they are expected to seek and accept the Charlestown Town Council’s advice and consent. Which DEM has apparently failed to do on this land deal.

As a former "federal agent," Dan Slattery knows what's
right is right

Don’t bother looking for any state, federal or even Charlestown law that legitimizes the “Slattery Rule.” All he needs for it to be a rule is the votes of the other two CCA Party Council members, Boss Tom Gentz and George Tremblay.

The “Slattery Rule” arose from the displeasure of Charlestown Planning Commissar Ruth Platner with the decision by the RI Water Resource Board (WRB) to sign a purchase-and-sales agreement with Frank Glista and his siblings to buy undeveloped land near Old Post Road that the Glistas had inherited from their parents.

The WRB would use only state funds to purchase the land from the Glistas which it would hold as open space to protect the potable water below the surface to address a future need. The WRB action was applauded by Peter Ogle, chair of Charlestown's Wastewater Management Commission.

Platner characterized the WRB purchase of the land as a pre-cursor to a public water supply which she said will inevitably lead to huge, dense development. Yes, I know you’re thinking “huh?” but that’s what Platner said. I suppose she means massive developments just like Shady Harbor or Quonochontaug Central Fire Districts or Shannock Village, all of which already have public water systems. 

Even though this is a private transaction that does not involve Charlestown’s funds or affect Charlestown’s zoning laws or comprehensive plan, Platner and the Planning Commission conducted a two-hour “grilling,” as Town Planner Jane Weidman put it, on May 28^th of WRB Director Ken Burke. This was followed by an even longer and more intense attack by the CCA Party Councilors on Burke at their June meeting.

Boss Gentz (L) apologized for being a jerk at the June meeting;
Slattery (R) doubled down

Their grilling was so over the top, that it motivated Town Council Boss Tom Gentz to issue a rare apology for his bad conduct.

Not so Councilor Dan Slattery, a self-described former “federal agent,” who insisted that any state or federal agent doing business in Charlestown must follow his particular set of rules.

Well, once again, the State of Rhode Island’s jack-booted “agents” seem to have flouted these rules by doing business with another private land-owner in Charlestown, this time the non-profit Audubon Society of Rhode Island. They did so with no apparent notice to the town and without the Town Council’s advice and consent. 

I e-mailed Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz this afternoon after I read the ProJo article. I asked "Did DEM or Audubon interact with Town Hall on the deal announced in today’s Journal?" and said I was running this article tonight. I did not hear from him.

In my July 27 article on the meeting where the new “Slattery Rule” was announced, I raised the hypothetical question about what the Town Council would do if a non-profit group the CCA Boys like (such as the Charlestown Land Trust or certainly Audubon) was doing a deal with an outside government agency. 

Would it make a difference if the deal didn’t involve somebody they don’t like, such as Frank Glista and his family (which, by the way, includes Town Council member Paula Andersen)?

It didn’t take long for that hypothetical to become reality.

There is virtually no difference between the state WRB purchase plan of the Glista property and the state DEM purchase plan of Audubon's Kimball Wildlife Sanctuary. 

Both transactions are being done with voter-approved state funding, involve no Charlestown money, set aside strategic blocks of land as open space, make no changes in those property's current use and Charlestown has no legal basis to interfere or claim any rights, other than through the “Slattery Rule.”

At its July 17 meeting, the three CCA boys on the Council, who constitute a majority, passed a resolution directing that the town send a snarky set of demands and questions to WRB Director Burke…and copy that letter to Governor Lincoln Chafee and all the Water Resource Board members. All in a last-ditch effort to scuttle WRB's acquisition of the Glista property for open space.

Will we see similar action by Platner, Gentz, Slattery and Tremblay to try to intervene on DEM’s purchase-and-sales agreement with the Audubon Society?

Only if the CCA Boys are consistent.