EXETER ZONING BOARD OF REVIEW
Meeting Minutes Approved: April 14, 2022
675 Ten Rod Road
Exeter, RI 02822
401-294-2592
A Regular Meeting of the Exeter Zoning Board of Review was held on Thursday, February 10, 2022 at
7:30 pm, via Video Conference on Zoom.
Members present: Richard Booth, Tom McMillan, Tim Robertson, Richard Quattromani, Loren
Andrews, Susan Littlefield and Susan Franco-Towell
Members absent: None
Others present: Peter Ruggiero, Solicitor and Dixie Foisy, Clerk
Meeting called to order at 7:36 pm by Chairman Richard Booth
Chairman Booth requested a motion to open the public hearing. Motion made by Tom McMillan;
seconded by Tim Robertson. Voted all in favor. MOTION PASSED.
A. Exeter Renewables 1, LLC (Morris Farm Solar), Applicant, and John P. Morris III Trust, Owner of property located at 89 Ten Rod Road, Exeter, RI; Zoned RU-4, and further designated as Assessor’s Plat 26, Block 1, Lot 1; a second request for a (6) month extension of the special use permit for a proposed solar facility.
Chair Richard Booth introduced the request for extension and asked if anyone was present to speak on behalf of this request.
Nicholas Solitro, Attorney representing Exeter Renewables 1 and Morris Farm was present. He explained that they are requesting a 6-month extension of their special use permit which is their second and final request. He shared that they are very close to the building phase; they have worked closely with the Planning Board and received their final plan approval. Attorney Solitro stated they have also received the required permits as follows: RIPDES permit from RIDEM, Physical Alteration permit from RI DOT and an electrical permit has been submitted to the Town. They are waiting for final approval from National Grid and hope to receive by March or April. Chair Richard Booth stated he has no problem with this request, and asked if the Board had any questions.
Tim Robertson asked Attorney Solitro if they were held up due to National Grid, as they were in the past.
Attorney Solitro replied in the affirmative and stated that it was partially due to National Grid and also due to the number of permits required.
Chair Richard Booth stated that if there were no more questions, he would entertain a motion.
Susan Littlefield made a motion to approve their request for a 6-month extension; Loren Andrews seconded the motion. Voted all in favor. Motion passed.
A. The petition of Renew Solar RI Exeter Mail LLC.; Applicant and Rina and Lee Stamas; Owners; property located at 148 Mail Road, Exeter, RI; Zoned RU-4 and further designated as Assessor’s Plat 71, Block 4, Lot 14; a request for a special use permit under Zoning Ordinance, Article II, Section 2.4.1.69 and dimensional variance under Zoning Ordinance Article IV, Section 4.5.6 b for a proposed photovoltaic solar system.
Chair Richard Booth introduced the petition and asked if anyone was present to be heard for this petition.
Attorney Jon Restivo from DarrowEverett introduced himself and stated he was before the Board to represent the applicant, Renew Solar RI Exeter Mail LLC. As stated, they were present to request a special use permit (SUP) and a dimensional variance for an 8.4 mw solar project proposed at 148 Mail Road. Attorney Restivo noted that, as the Board is aware, utility scale solar is no longer a permitted use in Town, or at least in the zoning district where this property is located. However, he wanted to explain why the Board has the authority to make a decision on the application. In August of 2018, an application for Master Plan approval was submitted for this project, and at that time the so called “Green” Ordinance was in effect. He noted that under State law, this project is vested under zoning that was in effect at the time that the application for Master Plan approval was certified as complete and that zoning ordinance still applies to this project. Mr. Restivo went on to state that was also the case when a prior application for this project was submitted in February 2019 for a SUP and a dimensional variance were heard. Under that zoning ordinance a SUP was required for a utility scale solar project, both because the project is in an RU-4 zone and because the project is in the ground water protection overlay district. The project was also granted a dimensional variance in 2019; under the zoning ordinance there was a requirement that fire access lanes provide a minimum of 24 feet of unobstructed width, where the access lane for this project requests 20 feet. Attorney Restivo noted that the SUP and variance were granted for this project previously and in granting those approvals, there was a condition that either a building permit be obtained or an extension applied for within a year. After receiving one extension, a completed application requesting another extension was not submitted prior to those approvals expiring. Accordingly, they were back before the Board asking to re-approve this project. He stated that the project itself has not changed, nor has the surrounding areas; the laws that apply to the project or the Town’s Comprehensive Plan all remain the same as in 2019.
Mr. Restivo then reviewed the details of the property and explained the project details. Jon
Restivo then introduced the members of his team as follows:
Matt Regan, an Environmental Scientist from TRC Companies; Jason Gold, Civil Engineer for this project with the ESS Group; Ed Pimentel, a Certified Planner and Consultant; a representative from the developer; and Rina and Lee Stamas, the property owners were all present.
Matt Regan then proceeded to share his screen and reviewed a power point presentation and described the site plan and details of this project.
Jason Gold shared his screen to review the site plan and design layout.
Ed Pimentel then spoke about an assessment that he was asked to perform on all the elements of this project. Mr. Pimentel stated they have received a recommendation from the Planning Board, and shared that his determination is that this project is still compatible with the Comprehensive Plan and is compatible with the surrounding areas.
Chair Richard Booth asked for any public comment. Hearing none, the Chair asked for a motion to close the public hearing. Tim Robertson made a motion to close the public hearing; Loren Andrews seconded the motion. Vote was all in favor. Public hearing was closed.
Chair Booth asked if the Board had any questions.
Tim Robertson asked the Clerk about receiving green cards and receipts from the abutter’s
notices. The Clerk replied in the affirmative.
Tom McMillan spoke about the impact to the abutters which he stated there doesn’t seem to be
any negative response. He is satisfied with the proposal at this time.
As there were no other questions or concerns that the Board had, the Chair asked for a motion.
Loren Andrews made a motion to grant the petition of Renew Solar RI Exeter Mail LLC.; Applicant and Rina and Lee Stamas; Owners; property located at 148 Mail Road, Exeter, RI; Zoned RU-4 and further designated as Assessor’s Plat 71, Block 4, Lot 14; a request for a special use permit under Zoning Ordinance, Article II, Section 2.4.1.69 and dimensional variance under Zoning Ordinance Article IV, Section 4.5.6 b for a proposed photovoltaic solar system; Tom McMillan seconded the motion. Voted all in favor 5-0. Motion carries.
A. Appeal of Asa Davis, Applicant and Owner of property located at 0 Ten Rod Road; 85A Hallville Road; 740 Ten Rod Road, Exeter, RI; Zoned RU-4 and further designated as Assessor’s Plat 36, Block 2, Lot 2. Grounds for appeal based on the following: 1.) refusal of the Zoning Inspector
to issue a zoning certificate; 2.) revocation of a zoning certificate by the Zoning Inspector; 3.) failure of the Zoning Inspector to explain his revocation of a zoning certificate; and 4.) failure of the Zoning Inspector to reply to questions regarding the DPW garage property.
Chair Richard Booth introduced this appeal and explained that the Zoning Board will be sitting as the Appeals Board for the Zoning Inspector on this matter. The Chair then asked if Mr. Davis or his representative were present to speak on this item.
Mr. Asa Sanford Davis, III announced he was present and was sworn in by the stenographer. Mr. Davis thanked the Board for their time and then began to read a prepared statement and noted that his engineer, Bill Dowdell was also on the call. He reviewed the four reasons for this appeal and covered each one as noted above with some discussion in between.
Further discussion ensued between Chair Richard Booth and Mr. Davis to review each item #1-4. At this time, the Chair called on Hal Morgan to testify and was sworn in by the stenographer. Chair Richard Booth asked Mr. Morgan some questions regarding Mr. Davis’s grounds for the appeal. Mr. Morgan replied and there was discussion that took place regarding each item that has been raised in this appeal.
Chair Richard Booth then asked if the Board had any questions for the Zoning Official.
Tom McMillan asked Hal Morgan a series of questions about the zoning certificate in question and the addresses listed; he also inquired about the dates and sequence of emails. Further discussion ensued.
Tim Robertson stated in looking at the four points for the grounds of appeal, he’s confused and reviewed the facts as he understands them to be.
Richard Quattromani reviewed some of his notes with Hal just to confirm his findings.
At this time, Chair Richard Booth recognized Michael DeFrancesco who had his hand raised to speak.
Mike DeFrancesco of 87 Hallville Road, Exeter, was sworn in by the stenographer. Mr. DeFrancesco thanked the Board for the opportunity to speak and stated that he wanted to clarify some misleading information that was on the abutters notice for this hearing. He shared that the notice states that Mr. Davis is the applicant and owner of property located at 85A Hallville Road, and stated that 85 and 87 Hallville Road is his and his brother’s address and has been for almost 50 years. He asked to have the record show that they own 85 and 87 Hallville Road, and that Mr. Davis is not the owner of this property. Mr. DeFrancesco also raised concerns with a recorded right-of-way and wetlands that are located in this area. He feels this warrants further investigation as to what Mr. Davis means when he says he owns 85A Hallville Road and stated that any attempt to use this land, he would consider this a trespass of his property.
Asa Davis then asked to respond to Mr. DeFrancescos concerns and stated that the 85A Hallville
Rd. was reflected on the notice as a 911 address which was requested from the Town’s 911
coordinator based on the deeded right-of-way, which he has in his deed.
Mr. Davis then proceeded to ask Mr. Morgan questions regarding each item that’s been raised as grounds for this appeal. A lengthy discussion and series of questions and answers ensued between Asa Davis and Hal Morgan.
Chairman Booth interjected and asked that Mr. Davis wrap it up and stated that he has been given a lot of latitude and opportunity to speak.
Asa Davis stated he had nothing further and thanked the Chair and the Board for their time. At this time, Chairman Booth asked if there was anyone from the public that wanted to be heard. Hearing none, he asked for a motion to close the public hearing.
Tom McMillan made a motion to close the public hearing. Loren Andrews seconded the motion. Vote was all in favor. Motion passed.
The Board members all made statements of opinion on the grounds for this appeal and the
Zoning Inspectors actions.
There was some discussion on the best way to state the motion, and it was agreed upon that there should be two motions made.
Tim Robertson stated that he would like to raise a motion to deny the appeal on points 1, 2, and
3 regarding the action or inaction of the Zoning Inspector as follows:
1. Deny the appeal of the refusal of the Zoning Inspector to issue a zoning certificate because a zoning certificate was provided;
2. Regarding the revocation of the zoning certificate by the Zoning Inspector, evidence was provided as to why that revocation had occurred; and
3. Failure on the Zoning Inspector to explain said revocation of the zoning certificate, and that was shown as well, as there were multiple e-mail messages presented and other evidence that provided an explanation.
Accordingly, on points 1, 2, and 3, Mr. Robertson raised the motion to deny the appeal. Tom McMillan seconded the motion. As there was no discussion, a roll call vote was taken. The vote was all in favor to deny the appeal; 5-0 (Booth, McMillan, Robertson, Quattromani, Andrews). Motion carries.
Tim Robertson made a second motion not to vote on point 4, failure of the Zoning Inspector to reply to questions regarding the DPW garage property, as it is not under the jurisdiction of this Board. Loren Andrews seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken; the vote was all in favor. Motion carries 5-0 (Booth, McMillan, Robertson, Quattromani, Andrews).
A. Approval of Invoices: Chair Richard Booth approved the following invoices: Esquire Deposition
Solutions $300.00, Southern RI Newspapers $125.00 and Solicitor Peter Ruggiero $1,053.00
B. Approval of Meeting Minutes: October 14, 2021 - Tom McMillan made a motion to approve the first portion of the October 14, 2021-Planning Board of Appeals meeting; Loren Andrews seconded. Voted all in favor. Motion passed.
Tom McMillan made a motion to approve the second part of the October 14, 2022 meeting minutes; Tim Robertson seconded. Voted all in favor. Motion passed.
January 13, 2022 – meeting minutes were tabled until next Zoning Board meeting on
3/10/2022.
C. Review, discussion and possible approval of Zoning Board Meeting Calendar for 2022. A brief discussion took place and a motion to approve was raised by Tom McMillan; Richard Quattromani seconded. Voted all in favor. Motion passed. The Clerk will email the finalized calendar to the Board members, Solicitor and Zoning Inspector.
D. Future Meeting: March 10, 2022; the Clerk stated there is at least one application for the
March meeting. Solicitor Ruggiero reminded everyone that the current Executive Order ends on Monday, February 14, 2022 and we won’t know until then if the Governor will decide to extend this order or not.
Motion made by Tom McMillan to adjourn the meeting at 10:04 pm; seconded by Tim
Robertson. Voted all in favor. MOTION PASSED.
Meeting Minutes prepared by: M. Dixie Foisy
Zoning Board Clerk