NORTH SMITHFIELD – A developer who received initial approval in 2019 for a 126-unit housing project on Douglas Pike received another extension for the proposal this week from the North Smithfield Planning Board, and now says final plans will be submitted within three to four months.
Narraganset Improvement Co. requested the extension for the master plan approval on Rankin Estates, noting required state permitting has taken longer than anticipated. Current approval of the subdivision plan for land totaling 227-acres was set to expire on Thursday, March 6.
“As you know, this is a very large subdivision,” said Attorney Michael Kelly, speaking on behalf of the applicant. “We’re very close to getting this completed.”
Kelly said that the project required between 50 and 60 perc tests, used to measure how quickly soil drains water, and that the developer has had to make additional changes to accommodate a move of the entrance to the subdivision requested by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation and an access road that through wetlands required by the fire department.
“We’ve been in the process of negotiating how we can accomplish that,” Kelly said.
A project at the heart of several town controversies and lawsuits between 2001 and the eventual Planning Board approval of the master plan in 2019, the development has seen little in terms of local government action in recent years. The business received approval from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to clear-cut 17 acres of trees from the wooded property last year, a move Town Planner Mark Carrulo said was completed as part of the investigation of the site, which included checking for ledge and perc tests.
In a letter to Carrulo on Tuesday, Feb. 4, Attorney Michael Resnick of law firm Kelly, Souza and Parmenter asks that the latest extension request be placed on the agenda as soon as possible, noting the developer last appeared before the Planning Board in January of 2023.
“The project engineers are currently working on preparing materials needed to submit the preliminary application package,” Resnick notes. “There are several items that require review and approval from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and Department of Transportation, which has taken longer than anticipated.”
Eric Prive, senior project manager for Cranston-based DiPrete Engineering detailed additional work that’s been accomplished including a survey that encountered title ambiguities, soil testing, archeological research and the digging of some 300 test holes.
“We’ve been working very diligentlly to get this in as quickly as possible,” Prive said.
Kelly said the team plans to meet with the Planning Department to iron out final details within the next two weeks.
Planners unanimously passed a one year extension to the preliminary plan approval.
Editor’s note: The above article was edited following the Thursday night meeting.
