Regular council
meeting to be held Monday, Sept 14
By
Will Collette
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| We're going to have to wait another month to find out what's going to happen to the General Stanton Inn |
The
Inn is one of Charlestown’s most prominent and important historic buildings, as
well as being the anchor for Charlestown’s grand, though far-fetched, scheme to
turn Cross’ Mills into some sort of a back-to-nature cum Sturbridge Village.
Janice Falcone and her late husband Sonny worked hard for decades to keep the
General Stanton as a functioning hotel, dining and meeting establishment - as a place that has been the pride of Charlestown. But
Janice is at that stage in her life where she really needs someone else to take
over.
I
would love to see the Inn become a center for arts and culture, meetings,
dining and entertaining. Ideally it would run by a non-profit and would provide
all Charlestown residents with a place we can all be proud of and for visitors
to be introduced to all Charlestown’s past, present and future.
Sure,
that’s a pipe dream especially since it would take a lot of money to set up and
maintain over the long haul.
Probably
not on anyone’s Top Ten list is the idea of a residential drug rehab center as
the new owner or even as a neighbor. Personally, I have some misgivings about a
drug rehab program run by Pentacostals that seems mostly based on prayer.
But
that is not a good enough reason to ignore the potential up-side, such as the
prospective buyer’s pledge to keep the Inn intact and to maintain it. Add to
that the critically needed upgrade to the Inn’s aging septic system that a
change of ownership will bring about.
The
worst case, but very possible, image of the General Stanton Inn is that it
becomes unused, vacant, and falling into ruin – or far worse, torched by
arsonists. I hope the Council members hold that image in their minds and try,
really try, to consider this proposal on its merits, rather than on bias that
it will invite “people from Providence”
to come to Charlestown.
But
the prospects for this project being approved by the all-CCA Party Council are
dim indeed, especially after the all-CCA
Party Planning Commission voted unanimously to give the Council a negative advisory opinion. Indeed, the negative decision was written even before the Planning Commission held its own "hearing."
If the
Council votes “No,” that’s it for the project. No appeal, since this would be
considered a “legislative decision” not subject to appeal to the CCA
Party-controlled Zoning Board or to the court.
We’ll
now have another month to ponder this project on its merits.
Talk
about too little, too late. But it gives the CCA Party another chance to show
how much they love their own totally
ineffective, libertarian-Republican state Rep. Flip Filippi who represents
District 36 which includes all of Charlestown even though he
doesn’t live in the District. But the CCA Party has always been the party
of non-residents.
Anyway,
Filippi promised immediate and decisive action on Copar during his 2014 campaign but accomplished
absolutely nothing. Nothing. So let’s give him another chance to make more
promises he isn’t going to keep. All the Flipper really wants is the media
attention.
The
Council will also discuss other matters such as toxic waste at Ninigret Park,
using the last of the Affordable Housing bond to cover the completion of
Shannock Village, and other issues that the Council will probably dispose of
quickly and unanimously as they have for the past several months.
It’s nice
(for the CCA Party) to control all the levers of power in Charlestown, as it
makes for very short and very predictable meetings.
Here
is the official agenda from the Town’s IQM2 system with imbedded links to
back-up documents.
Charlestown Town Council
Regular Meeting 9/14/2015 7:00 PM Council Chambers
Town Hall 4540 South County
Trail Charlestown, RI 02813
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Downloads:
 Agenda  Agenda Packet
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