GLOCESTER – A project to create an industrial park on six lots comprising 92.69 acres along Putnam Pike will have another year to move forward following a decision this month to grant an extension on the project to the properties’ new owner.
J.R. Vinagro Corporation applied for a one year extension for the “Glacier Ridge” project originally submitted by Adler Bros. Construction. A master plan for properties first approved in 2017 envisioned a mixed use development, with small local retail, restaurants and professional offices in the front portion of the lots, and manufacturing-type businesses toward the back.
According to plans prepared by DiPrete Engineering seven years ago, six lots would become ten in the major subdivision, with all accessed by Putnam Pike, as well as a proposed new private street. The properties, adjacent to the Pinewood Park area, are zoned Highway Commercial and Industrial.
The first approval for the project expired in 2019 and planners granted a request for a one year extension. When asking for a second extension in 2020, Attorney David Ursillo speaking on behalf of the developer noted that the applicant had recently obtained approvals from the Rhode Island Departments of Environmental Management and Transportation, and pointed to delays due to the pandemic. He stated that preliminary plans were in the final draft stages.
Adler Brothers obtained a last extension for the project in September 2023, just before selling the properties to J.R. Vinagro Corporation for $6,250,000.
In testimony at meetings with the Town Council, neighbors have more than once observed that the activity on the Putnam Pike lots appears to be more of a quarry or mining operation than a construction project, an assessment Building and Zoning Official Dennis Begin also appears to have made in August, when he issued Vinagro a notice of violation for earth removal on three of the properties.
“You are not allowed to remove any soil or gravel from any of these three properties,” Begin notes, ordering the company to cease and desist.
No further communications to or from the business were recorded with the town clerk prior to a unanimous decision by planners to extend the project at a hearing on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
The latest vesting period for Glacier Ridge is set to expire on August 7, 2025.
