A
brief, recent history of open space and recreation issues in Charlestown
By
Linda Felaco
 |
| We all love open space |
Land
use issues are highly contentious in Charlestown. In fact you could say that
pretty much every issue of any magnitude somehow involves land use. Here’s a
brief rundown of some of the major open space issues that have come up in the
past few years. In each of these battles, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance
(CCA), the town’s ruling political party, has repeatedly demonstrated the
lengths it will go to to prevent town residents from having any say over how
town-owned properties are used.
THE BEACH
PAVILIONS
 |
| The CCA Party preferred no toilets than building this. And they refused to allow Open Space/Recreation bond money to be used. |
This was 2011’s big land use battle. Given the age and condition
of the restroom facilities at the town beaches at the time, you wouldn’t think
building new ones would have been controversial. You also wouldn’t have thought
of the beach pavilions as an open space issue, except that the Charlestown
Citizens Alliance opposed building them at all but especially opposed paying
for them with the existing Open Space/Recreation bond. They ultimately forced the
issue to go to referendum, which sort of backfired on them when people voted
overwhelmingly in favor of the pavilions, although it did mean they got to keep
the full $2 million of bond funding available for future use (see “Whalerock,” below).
During the course of the heated debate over whether to build
the pavilions and how to pay for them, the CCA made no bones about the fact that
unlike most town residents, they view open space and recreation as being in
opposition—and while they can’t ever get enough open space, they’re implacably
opposed to recreational facilities. CCA supporters openly declared that they had
no need of public restroom facilities at the town beaches since they can just
walk to their beachhouses when nature calls.
Selected
background:
Voices
of Greed: Beach Toilets Anonymous
commenters at the CCA website weigh in on the proposed beach pavilions
CCA
breaks its silence with more “Voices of Greed” Anonymous commenters continue to use the CCA website to air their
grievances about the beach pavilion referendum
What
do open space advocates have against recreation? The sparring over the beach pavilions exposed a fault line between
those who think open space should be enjoyed recreationally and those who think
open space is pristine wilderness that should remain untouched.
THE BATTLE FOR
NINIGRET PARK
 |
| Charlestown has a town-approved Master Plan for Ninigret Park. The CCA Party won't fund it or carry it out, preferring to trash it. |
This battle started in 2011 and spilled into 2012, running
side-by-side with the YMCA camp fight (see below) for almost a year. It cost
Town Administrator Bill DiLibero his job and put Parks & Recreation
Director Jay Primiano on the CCA Party’s list of people who eventually had to
go. It started innocently enough with Primiano’s effort to get some state
funding for “dark-sky friendly” lighting at expanded sports fields called for
in the Ninigret Park Master Plan.
Since the CCA Party had zero tolerance for any new lighting,
even dark-sky compliant, or for expanded youth recreation at the Park, then-Councilor
Dan Slattery and local federal Fish & Wildlife chief Charlie Vandemoer
concocted a totally false premise that the federal government had to approve of
any new human activity in town-owned Ninigret Park, or else the feds had the
right to take the land back.
The proposed remedies were to give the federal Fish &
Wildlife Service as well as an ad hoc group of neighbors and CCA Party
supporters veto rights over activity at the Park. Plus, the parties responsible
for committing this assault on the natural peace and serenity of Ninigret Park (formerly
a World War II naval airfield and one-time site of a proposed nuclear power
plant) had to go.
In the end, Bill DiLibero was forced to resign in 2012; Jay
Primiano hung on until 2015. The effort to roll back human activity in Ninigret
has now begun in earnest, as evidenced by the battle over the ballot questions
facing voters on June 1.
Selected
background:
Kill
Bill, Part 6: the final installment Taking
a hard look at the CCA's convoluted comments [includes links to all 5
earlier installments]
Who
owns Ninigret Park? Testimony
presented by Deborah Carney before the Charlestown Town Council, April 9, 2012
Who
owns Ninigret Park, Part 2 Hint: it’s
not the US Department of the Interior
The
Fateful Fifty-six Days Kill Bill,
Part Seven: when not even hindsight is 20/20
An
alternative “Kill Bill” narrative One
that I think is better supported by the facts
The
Ninigret Park Giveaway Why would
anyone give away their rights to use property they own?
Slattery
lives in a different world Slattery
recreates facts concerning Ninigret Park motions
Cummings
challenges Slattery’s Ninigret attacks “We
have always been open and honest”
Deputy
Dan Slattery gets SPANKED by the Westerly Sun Sun Editorial condemns Slattery’s conduct on Ninigret Park
What
do the Ninigret Park deeds REALLY say? Next
Monday night may be the last skirmish in the Battle for Ninigret Park
Who
REALLY owns Ninigret Park? Confused
Consensus, continued
Help
us polish up this diamond in the rough Charlestown’s
Crown Jewel
Memorial
Day Feature - Searching for a home for the “Ninigret Bomb” Charlestown and World War II, Part 3: No
Room at the Ninigret Wildlife Refuge Headquarters
No
good deed goes unpunished Planning
Commission tears into children’s play shelter at Ninigret Park
YMCA Camp
| Y-Gate was one of the CCA Party's boldest scams |
This red-hot issue started in 2011 and continued into 2012. When
the Westerly YMCA put its old abandoned campground on Watchaug Pond up for
sale, one of the neighbors came forward with a plan to purchase the property
and build a conservation development with a cluster of homes on the most
heavily used part of the property, leaving most of the rest of the land
untouched. Such cluster developments are highly favored by the CCA-controlled
Planning Commission. Yet somehow this plan was unacceptable to Planning Commissar
Ruth Platner and was subjected to the usual death by a thousand cuts until the
purchaser withdrew his bid.
The CCA then put together an “ad hoc” committee of cronies
in favor of the deal and tried to ram through a plan for the town to buy the
property at an inflated price and then give it away to the Charlestown Land
Trust. One small problem: Several members of the ad hoc committee were not
actually town residents as required by the Town Charter. This attempted insider
deal was ultimately blocked by the courts, and the property was eventually sold
to a private individual at a price much closer to its actual assessed value.
Ironically, this ultimately worked out to the CCA’s benefit, since it meant the
bond authorization was still available to spend on the Moraine Preserve (see
below).
Selected
background:
Somehow
we’ve always got enough money for open space Strangely, the same people who were so violently opposed to the
homestead tax proposal—which would have been revenue-neutral to the town—at
Monday night’s town council meeting had absolutely nothing to say about the
town spending half a million dollars or more to acquire the YMCA camp. Even
though they themselves suggested that rather than offer a new tax credit, the
town should cut back on expenses.
Our
mixed-up open space priorities Why
one and not the other?
Ten reasons why the Y Camp Deal is a BAD deal
for Charlestown taxpayers Let the Charlestown Land Trust buy the land
themselves
NEW:
Now there are ELEVEN reasons why the YMCA Camp is a bad deal for Charlestown
Taxpayers Conservation Commission
gives the YMCA Camp an “F” for flunking as open space
Getting
by with a little help from my friends Reason
#12 why the Y Camp deal is a bad deal for Charlestown taxpayers … as if we
really needed more reasons.
Why
spend $475,000 in Charlestown taxpayer money for a junkyard? There must be better uses for that money
Y-Gate
Scandal reaches critical point Will
Charlestown voters get to decide on $475,000 payout to Charlestown Land Trust?
The
YMCA camp deal: Ripoff, foregone conclusion, or both? The only real news to come out of the
Planning Commission’s discussion last night of its advisory to the Town Council
on the proposed purchase of the YMCA camp was that Commissar Ruth Platner and
Commissioner George Tremblay read Progressive Charlestown.
WHALEROCK
 |
| Even though most people agreed that Whalerock wasn't right (too big and not enough wind), the CCA Party turned it into a jihad against all wind-generated energy |
When the Route 1 property now known as the Charlestown
Moraine Preserve was owned by developer Larry LeBlanc, it was a constant source
of angst for the town. Over the years his proposals for developing the property
included a large affordable housing complex, selling it to the Narragansetts so
they could build a casino, and most famously, the Whalerock wind turbine
project.
This last proposal ultimately drove the denizens of the
Sachem Passage Association (SPA), whose neighborhood abuts the property, into
the arms of the CCA. They hitched their wagon to the CCA star and began busily
fundraising for their election campaigns. And wouldn’t you know it, the
CCA-controlled town council then decided, after having previously turned down
offers from LeBlanc, to buy the property. Funny how that worked out. Though
there’s also an alternative narrative in which the CCA actively recruited the
SPA to file suit against the Whalerock project and promised them free legal
representation at town expense.
Another odd coincidence: After originally asking for $3
million for the property, LeBlanc offered to sell it for the exact amount of
available open space/recreation bond funding. Meaning he only needed three out
of the five votes on the town council to close the sale rather than a townwide
referendum. Which is why the CCA is now asking for a new line of credit to feed
their open space habit.
Selected
background:
A
purchase of this magnitude should not be decided by five people I support the purchase – and town ownership
– of the Whalerock property
Breaking
News: Town Council approves Whalerock land purchase Land deal will be completed without a public referendum
Town
Council makes one good decision, one bad one and opens up a can of worms Classic example of how to screw up a
consensus
Post-Whalerock
document dump Town unloads lots of
records about the Whalerock deal AFTER
the deal was done. These documents raise questions that should have been
addressed
“Absolutely
flabbergasted” Boss Gentz can’t
understand why not everyone thinks he’s a hero for the Whalerock deal
Gentz’s
Legacy? Why does Council Boss Tom
Gentz feel the need to give away Charlestown property rights?
Moraine
plan – an issue of trust Who you are
determines who you trust