Planning Board – Special Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, December 13, 2022 - 5:00 p.m.

Westerly Town Hall | Town Council Chambers

45 Broad Street, Westerly, RI 02891

 

A. CALL TO ORDER –

Mr. Hopkins called the meeting to order at 5:01 p.m.

 

B. ROLL CALL AND ATTENDANCE

                                                                                                          

Members present:           Chair Justin M. Hopkins, Vice Chair Richard W. Constantine, and Members Andrew Delisio, James Hall IV, and Matthew O’Neil

 

Members absent:             Member Tabitha Harkin and Auxiliary Member Karen Lentz Madison

 

Staff present:                   Assistant Solicitor for Planning & Zoning Atty. Scott Levesque, Town Planner Nancy Letendre, Principal Planner Alyse Oziolor, Information Technology Technician Lanny Fuller, and Minute Taker Stephanie J. LaSota

 

C. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – There were no minutes to approve.

 

D. NEW BUSINESS

 

 1. Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Review, discussion, and Recommendation to the Town Council by the Planning Board on the Capital Improvement Program.

 

Ms. Letendre said improvements to the CIP process have been made. She reviewed that at the last meeting, a Finance Board member encouraged the Town to develop a five to ten-year capital plan and the Planning Office agrees to focus on this process. Before the Board tonight was a draft report of the CIP and Ms. Letendre asked the Board to review and possibly approve it, allowing the Chair and staff to complete the report and submit it to the Town Manager.

Ms. Oziolor reviewed that there was a request from the Recreation Department for the acquisition of property on Atlantic Avenue. She spoke with the director who submitted the request and Planning staff supports the idea for passive recreational purposes but it is environmentally sensitive so should be used only for those purposes and not for expansion of the parking lot. Staff suggests by the close of this fiscal year they should add it to the next fiscal year budget. Ms. Oziolor explained that the property is not currently for sale and at this time they are unsure at what price it would be listed.

Staff explained the CIP also includes a considerable amount of capital requests from the School Department which appear to be operational expenses. Ms. Letendre said in the past the Board has made a statement about maintenance costs being part of a long-range plan so that these things do not appear in the CIP. Mr. Hopkins said the School Department does have a detailed five-year capital plan that is part of a stage two application to the State. He shared this knowledge as a member of the School Building Subcommittee. He said the State requirement is that each district use three percent of the overall budget for capital improvements. He said the Board may take some issue with requests for projects slated for six to ten years from now.  

Ms. Oziolor said they also asked finance staff for more details on Capital Equipment Replacement Fund (CERF) requests but that these funds are not specified for exact expenses.

The draft recommendation to the Town Manager (presented on page 8 of the draft report) is that there is general support for the requests with some caveats regarding the future acquisition of the Atlantic Avenue lot and a statement that a fully-developed capital plan extending 5-10 years, rather than annual requests, is needed.

Mr. Constantine read into the record a motion as written from page eight of the CIP draft report attached to a Planning staff memo dated December 8, 2022 that included six general findings. Mr. Delisio seconded the motion. The motion CARRIED by unanimous vote with no abstentions.

 

I. ADJOURNMENT –

Mr. Delisio made a motion to adjourn the special meeting at 5:22 p.m. Mr. Constantine seconded the motion. The motion CARRIED by unanimous vote with no abstentions.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Stephanie J. LaSota

Minute Taker

 

 

Approved by vote of the Board on January 24, 2023