THIS MEETING CAN BE HEARD IN ITS ENTIRETY ON THE TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN WEBSITE WWW.MIDDLETOWNRI.COM OR THE DVD IS AVAILABLE AT THE MIDDLETOWN LIBRARY.
At a Regular Meeting of the Town Council of the Town of Middletown, RI at the Middletown Town Hall, 350 East Main Road, Middletown, RI in person and by telephone conference call/webinar, on Monday, August 15, 2022, at 6:30 P.M.
Council President Paul M. Rodrigues, Presiding
Vice President Thomas P. Welch, III
Councillor Terri Flynn
Councillor Christopher M. Logan
Councillor M. Theresa Santos
Councillor Barbara A. VonVillas, Members Present
Councillor Dennis B. Turano, Absent
Acting Town Administrator was Finance Director Marc Tanguay.
POSTED AUGUST 10, 2022
REGULAR MEETING AUGUST 15, 2022
TOWN COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF MIDDLETOWN, RHODE ISLAND
The following items of business, having been filed with the Town Clerk under the Rules of the Council, will come before the Council at a regular meeting to be held on Monday, August 15, 2022 at 6:30 P.M. Regular Meeting at the Middletown Town Hall, 350 East Main Road, Middletown, Rhode Island. Said meeting will be conducted in person, by telephone conference call/ webinar, members of the public may access and listen to the meeting in real-time by calling 1-877-853-5257 (Toll Free) or 1-888-475-4499 (Toll Free) and entering Meeting ID: 897 4217 9832 or on the web at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89742179832.
If you chose to join the meeting by zoom or telephone, Council Rules allow for the Public to speak only during the Public Forum and Public Hearings. If calling in by telephone, pressing *9 raises your hand and pressing *6 will unmute.
The items listed on the Consent portion of the agenda are to be considered routine by the Town Council and will ordinarily be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the Council, or a member of the public so requests and the Town Council President permits, in which event the item will be removed from Consent Agenda consideration and considered in its normal sequence on the agenda. All items on this agenda, with the exception of the Public Forum Session, may be considered, discussed, and voted upon in executive session and/or open session.
Pursuant to RIGL §42-46-6(b). Notice – “Nothing contained herein shall prevent a public body, other than a school committee, from adding additional items to the agenda by majority vote of the members. Such additional items shall be for informational purposes only and may not be voted on except where necessary to address an unexpected occurrence that requires immediate action to protect the public or to refer the matter to an appropriate committee or to another body or official.”
Any person not a member of the Council, desiring to address the Council concerning a matter on the docket of the Council, not the subject of a Public Hearing, shall submit a written request to the Town Clerk stating the matter upon which he desires to speak. Persons are permitted to address the Council for a period not to exceed five (5) minutes.
The Middletown Town Council follows the codification of present-day general parliamentary law as articulated in Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised 10th edition (2000), together with whatever rules of order the Council has adopted for its own governance. The motion to reconsider is one of the motions that can bring a question again before an assembly, and is designed to bring back for further consideration a motion which has already been voted on:
If, in the same session that a motion has been voted on, but no later than the same day or the next day on which a business meeting is held, new information or a changed situation makes it appear that a different result might reflect the true will of the assembly, a member who voted with the prevailing side can, by moving to Reconsider [RONR (10th ed.), p. 304-321] the vote,
propose that the question shall come before the assembly again as if it had not previously been considered. (From Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised In Brief, Robert, Evans et al., De Capo Press, 2004)
There were no reconsiderations.
1. Pursuant to Rule 25 of the Rules of the Council, Citizens may address the town on one (1) subject only, said subject of substantive Town business, neither discussed during the regular meeting nor related to personnel or job performance. Citizens may speak for no longer than five (5) minutes and must submit a public participation form to the Council Clerk prior to the start of the meeting. All items discussed during this session will not be voted upon.
No one spoke during this session.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to act as a Board of License Commission.
2. (Continued from the August 1, 2022, Regular Meeting)
Application of Norman Bird Sanctuary, 583 Third Beach Road, for a Class F Alcoholic Beverage License (One day only license) for Beach Bash, Norman Bird Sanctuary private beach on Third Beach Road to be held on Thursday, August 18, 2022 from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to grant said license.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to reconvene as a Town Council.
3. Application for Special Event Permit from the Norman Bird Sanctuary, 583 Third Beach Road, for a Beach Bash, Norman Bird Sanctuary private beach on Third Beach Road to be held on Thursday, August 18, 2022 from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. (Applicant requests permit fee to be waived)
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to grant said special event permit and waive said fee.
4. Application for Special Event Permit from Middletown Prevention Coalition for Middletown Family Day, A national prevention movement to educate about implementation of parental engagement to be held on Sachuest Beach, Saturday, September 24, 2022 from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. (Applicant requests all fees to be waived)
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to grant said special event permit and waive all fees.
5. Application for Special Event Permit from Newport County YMCA for the Newport County YMCA 37th Annual Thanksgiving Day Pie Run, the live race will begin at the Newport County YMCA on Thursday, November 24, 2022 at 8:30 am; Virtual race to be held anywhere beginning on Thursday, November 24, 2022 through Sunday, November 27, 2022.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, to grant said special event permit.
Discussion centered around that the Town does not regulate the virtual portion of the race.
A vote was taken.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to grant said special event permit.
6. Communication of James McKenna, President, Community Blessings-Foundation, Middletown, RI, re: Response to Council’s request for more information regarding Recovery Transport Services provided through Community Blessings Foundation.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to receive said communication.
James McKenna, President, Community Blessings-Foundation was present to answer Council inquiries.
Councillor Flynn inquired the number of clients, number of Middletown Clients, and number of trips weekly and yearly serviced and by Community Blessing Foundation.
Discussion centered around percentage of Middletown clients serviced by Community Blessing Foundation, other communities Community Blessings requested support from, Community Blessings also requested support from foundations and applied for grants, the request for civic support has changed from purchasing a vehicle to milage reimbursement for volunteers, Community Blessings has requested support from the City of Newport and Town of Portsmouth and the Council requesting more data regarding 1) The total number of clients 2) What communities they are from and 3) Projected miles with current clients and Councillor Flynn said that Mr. McKenna could contact her with any questions.
7. Memorandum of Councillor Flynn, re: West Main/Coddington – Middletown Center.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to receive said memorandum.
Councillor Flynn reviewed the memorandum and attachments above.
Councilor Flynn Reviewed and compared development square footage totals of the Middletown Center proposal to the Comprehensive Plan with discussions: indication the development area is the same, whether housing is included, the meaning of buildout and the Town Planner to review in more detail at the next meeting; Evidenced as incorrect the statement that all three RFI responses include a hotel (June 29, 2022 council meeting), indicating successful development options may not necessarily include a hotel use; Discussion that Middletown has a housing problem not a hotel problem and that the public expects, and the council should assure, that the Middletown Center developers include "workforce, senior and affordable housing," as stated in their proposal summary presented last fall.
Melissa Welch, Middletown, addressed the Council noting the formation of the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) for the Middletown Center Project, which will provide an opportunity for residents to convey creative ideas for the non-commercial areas for the project. Ms. Welch explained that she understands some are not in favor of another hotel; however, this may take pressure off of additional short-term rentals in the town.
John Garagliano, Middletown, addressed the Council reviewing the following:
Debra Mack, Middletown, addressed the Council expressing concern with drainage issues in the Maplewood and Wood Road area. Ms. Mack noted that on the Middletown Center plan there is no area for a retention pond.
Discussion centered around the development would have to meet all Town requirements including zero runoff requirements, the drainage issue in the Maplewood and Wood Road areas, and short-term rentals can be prohibited from Middletown Center ground lease.
Karen Biastre, Middletown, addressed the Council noting that the town does not need additional hotels and shopping plazas. Ms. Biastre expressed the need for community space (Town Center for everyone to come together) and affordable housing in the town.
Lawence Frank, Middletown read the following into the record:
Relating to housing, the summary of Chris Bicho's RFI proposal for the West Main
project reads as follows:
“Proposed mixed use development including workforce, senior, and affordable housing” This was dated September 30, 2021.
In June 2022 this is what Bicho had to say;
“This is an opportunity for us to bring workforce housing to Middletown that 80% to 120% of AMI”.
Somehow between 2021 and 2022 the words “senior” and “affordable” went missing.
Here's the problem. Frank Spinella, who authored the market study for the housing plans for the Peckham School, said this in the report: “Once the 80% of AMI is reached, the maximum allowable rents resemble market rents”.
To make it clear, Bicho's 80% to 120% AMI is NOT affordable housing. It is market rate housing. A one-bedroom apartment requires employment that pays $25/hour. A two bedroom requires $29/hour. Bicho has promised 15 market rate apartments that he has characterized as “workforce”.
Not only is there no mixed affordable housing in Bicho's plan as he originally promised, there is no affordable housing at all.
Affordable housing “is for the segment of the people who support everyday life. The neighborhood restaurant worker, the reporter, someone who's not getting paid a lot but is doing the things they like doing, and they're getting shortchanged when it comes to rent”
That quote comes from Dakota Partners, a real estate development firm that is completing a 94-apartment unit in East Greenwich with a maximum AMI 0f 60%. The monthly rents range from $1000 to $1100. This is not a charitable organization. It is a profit-making enterprise.
Bicho and his partners have no interest in providing housing for the people who truly need “affordable” housing. Their profit motive, which has been their touchstone throughout this entire exercise, is discriminatory, designed to keeps certain economic and social segments of our town from being able to find a decent place to live.
This is town owned property. The development of this land should serve the most basic and pressing needs of the town.
The town should require the developers to divide their 150 apartments into four equal rental segments. They should be 30% AMI, 50% AMI, 60% AMI and 80% AMI.
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Finally, the town council has bought into the idea that the town will receive $1 million a year in proceeds from this project. There is no guarantee. To demonstrate the intellectual and financial dishonesty of this and previous councils just recall that over the past two years, Terri Flynn and I twice made proposals that the town should institute a nightly room tax for all hotel, motel, and short-term rentals. A $2.00 a night room tax would have given the town more than $900,000 per year. At no, no cost to the taxpayers. If adopted the town would have almost $2 million dollars that it does not have now. In their infinite wisdom, meaning bowing to commercial real estate interests, the town council rejected these cost-free proposals. Now, here we are again, with an unpopular hotel, and no truly affordable housing, both against the best interests of Middletown.
Bicho and his cohorts demonstrate again their ownership of this council and the town.
Area Medium Income
Vince Cermak, Middletown, addressed the Council noting that everyone is fighting to keep open space and now the Town wishes to cover open space on West Main Road with concrete.
8. Memorandumof Councillor Flynn, re: Ballot Questions Explanation Review.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to receive said memorandum.
Councillor Flynn reviewed the memorandum above.
Town Solicitor Peter B. Regan noted his office is working on the voter guide and will provide a draft to the Town Council at the September 6, 2022 Regular Meeting. Mr. Regan explained that the draft will be no advocacy - no pro’s or con’s to the questions.
9. Memorandumof Town Administrator, re: Amending Council Rule on Appointing to Boards, Committees.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to receive said memorandum.
Town Solicitor Peter B. Regan reviewed the memorandum and noted that the word “or” would need to be added after the word “community”.
Council President Rodrigues noted the change is due to dollars, advertising is very expensive.
Councillor Flynn noted concern that all residents do not use social media, some still read the newspaper.
Town Solicitor Peter Regan noted that he will review the state law regarding advertising in the newspapers (Advertising in a newspaper of general circulation).
10. Application of one (1) member to the Conservation Commission for a term expiring July 2025.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to appoint Alexandra Sassi to the Conservation Commission for a term expiring July 2025.
11. Application of three (3) members to the Library Board of Trustees, terms expiring in September 2025.
Councillor VonVillas nominated Anna Anton.
Councillor Flynn nominated Ruth Donahue.
Council President Rodrigues nominated Mary Johnson.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to nominate and appoint Anna Anton, Ruth Donahue and Mary Johnson to the Library Board of Trustees for terms expiring September 2025.
12. Application of two (2) members to the Middletown Prevention Coalition one (1) vacancy, parent sector, term expiring April 2023 and one (1) vacancy, other organization involved in reducing substance abuse sector, term expiring April 2023.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to appoint to the Middletown Prevention Coalition Danielle Campbell to the parent sector, term expiring April 2023 and appoint Kelly DeMenezes, other organization involved in reducing substance abuse sector, term expiring April 2024.
13. Application of one (1) member to the Zoning Board of Review, First Alternate, to complete a term expiring April 2023.
On motion of Vice President Welch, duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to appoint Judith Rosenthal to the Zoning Board of Review as First Alternate, term expiring April 2023.
On motion of Vice President Welch , duly seconded, it was voted unanimously to adjourn said meeting at 8:09 p.m.
Wendy J.W. Marshall, CMC
Council Clerk
Supporting documentation is available at http://clerkshq.com/default.ashx?clientsite=Middletown-ri