1. Myth: The town MUST have 10% LMIH or the state will take punitive action against Barrington
- Fact: There is no enforcement or punitive provision in the law against towns that do not have 10% LMIH. The recourse for any developer who is denied a building permit is to appeal to the State Housing Appeals Board, and from there to the R.I. court system. (RI Gen. Laws Title 45, Section 45-53-5, backup source)
2. Myth: The Sowams Nursery is a good location for a $14.5 million Corporate owned multi-unit apartment rental complex because it is supported by compatible infrastructure.
- Fact: The Division of Planning, Rhode Island Department of Administration produced the “Rhode Island Five Year Strategic Housing Plan: 2006-2010” in June, 2006. The goal of the guidelines was to “stimulate compact development, increase the supply of affordable housing, and preserve scarce resources and land”. At Appendix D (page 116 of PDF), the plan provides Guidelines for both "Siting” and “Density” of projects.
- Guidelines for Siting Affordable Housing include the following
- Proper Site Planning can decrease auto-dependency and congestion, while making each community more robust economically with a workforce supply near employers and commercial/business centers. (p. D-2, PDF page 117))
- Locate Affordable Housing Near Community Assets
- Locating affordable housing near community assets can decrease capital costs and improve the workforce/employment proximity by increasing density near existing business, commercial, and mixed-use zoning. Proper location of affordable housing can turn commercial/business zones into ‘new urbanism’ style growth centers with long term economic rewards (p. D-2, PDF page 117)
- Discourage Housing Development Sites with Constraints
- Poor topography and critical environmental areas (i.e. floodplains, wetlands) (p. D3, PDF page 118)
- The guidelines conclude with the following:
- All development should take into account infrastructure availability, soil type and land capacity, environmental protection, water supply protection, agricultural and open space, historical preservation, and community development pattern constraints. Higher density must also take into consideration adjacent land uses, soil quality, availability of water and the density of the overall watershed. Actual density will depend on the specific site location (p. D-4, PDF page 119)
- The proposed Sowams Nursery Project stands in opposition to almost every standard for siting and density established in the Five year Plan. Nowhere in any plan or study or statute that we have been able to discover has there been a mention of the appropriateness of a high density development being placed in the center of an already dense residential community far removed from supporting infrastructure which is accessible only by car.
3. Myth: The proposed EBCDC plan can easily absorb increased traffic, so traffic isn’t really an issue.
- Fact: Our own Municipal law doesn't agree. Barrington Ordinance Section 185-27 allowing mergers of substandard lots, provides:
- The town of Barrington is primarily a residential community with approximately 85% of the land area either already developed, or unable to be developed due to physical or legal constraints. The residential dwelling and traffic patterns, which were originally created for a less dense population, are already excessive in many areas of the Town, and the need for preserving the open space that is yet available is evident. In keeping the land use goals contained in the Comprehensive Plan, including that to preserve the essential character of the community, and to ensure that future development is compatible with adjoining land uses, the natural environment, community services and existing historic and cultural features, the merger provisions of Section 185-26 hereof shall apply to all areas within the Town of Barrington.
- It is evident to anyone who has ever driven on New Meadow and Sowams Roads, particularly during the two daily rush hours, that intensive congestion is standard, particularly at the intersections with County Road. Sadly traffic lights would only contribute to the congestion and do little for those choosing to cross County Road on several crosswalks. And there are additional existing and potential problems:
- The inevitable gridlock that will occur as a result of construction of a new bridge at Massasoit Avenue. (We have all learned quite a bit about bridge building in Barrington)
- Massive development at the recently acquired 14 acre, 535,000 square foot former American Tourister property on the East side of the Palmer River Bridge.
- See the East Bay Report on March 11, 2013 that the buyer, The Brady Sullivan Development Company, “specializes in turning old mill buildings into apartments.”
- The absence of sidewalks on almost all of Sowams Road which, essentially, forecloses walking by all residents, this:
- Creates a danger for students going to and arriving from school (a present danger)
- Inhibits use of the bike path at any time
- Renders extremely dangerous the over 1/2 mile walk to the County Road bus stop from within the proposed complex (extremely dangerous in the winter after a snowfall, even with sidewalks) .
- The incapacity of the bike path to serve any residents after snowfall
4. Myth: The proposed EBCDC project will resolve steadily declining population and school enrollment
- Fact: RI Division of Planning projects roughly flat population growth through 2014 state-wide and in most towns including Barrington (page 16 of their 2010 RI Population Projections report, table). Further, if the population is projected to decline, it does not make sense to build additional houses.
5. Myth: The only way to do affordable housing is to develop new housing
- Fact: Existing housing can be converted to LMIH-compliance through renovation, donation and reclassification. We have many such candidate properties in town. Further, with no projected population growth through 2040, conversion of existing units is more economically feasible than construction of new. We already have a situation with the Walker’s Farm development on County Road where there isn’t a market for the LMIH-compliant housing built there.
- The Town recently turned down a request by managers of the Walker Farm development to cover $123,000 losses experienced by the managers of the project due to an inability to sell houses.
6. Myth: The proposed multi unit rental apartment complex on Sowams Road won’t burden Barrington’s schools.
- Fact: An analysis of school costs was provided in the first Sowams Nursery application in 2006 for construction of 9 residential units. That study estimated the additional cost would be $10,364 per student.
7. Myth: Barrington doesn’t support affordable housing
- Fact: Barrington does support affordable housing but not the one size fits all concept and not at the expense of existing taxpayers and limited natural resources. Like many towns in RI, we pursue the LMIH goal through careful consideration of each project. We are already over 25% of the way towards the goal.
- Fact: Only 8 out of 39 Towns in RI have achieved the 10% goal. And of those 8, four had already achieved it when the the LMIH Mandate was passed and 2 achieved it through a reduction of the number of available housing units in town. Of the 31 remaining Towns under the 10% goal, there are 8 towns with a smaller percentage of Barrington’s LMIH-classified housing (source, table).
8. Myth: The Town has an "arms length" business relationship with the EBCDC as required by our Comprehensive Community Plan
- Fact: On April 2, 2012 the Barrington Town Council unanimously approved a Community Development Block Grant awarding $125,000 to the EBCDC for construction of the Sowams Nursery project. This is almost one year before EBCDC’s Application for a building permit. The grant proposal, which is rife with errors of fact, states that “As of the 2002 update to the Comprehensive Community Plan, Barrington was represented on East Bay CDC’s Board of Directors”. The grant proposal also refers to the Town of Barrington as a “nonprofit partner” in affordable housing development and preservation”.
- See this document for details on the errors and other issues.
- Fact: The Barrington Comprehensive Community Plan (BCCP) Amended as of December, 2011 states that “Barrington is now represented on the board of the East Bay Community Development Corporation”. (Appendix, II)
- Fact: In response to a request by CODDER 02806 dated 4/1/13 for records from the Town concerning, among other things, representation of the Town on the Board of the EBCDC, the Town Planner stated in a Memorandum to the Town Manager: “it is noted that the Town has not had a representative on the East Bay CDC Board since the early 2000s”.
- QUERY: Are we still “partners” ? There is every appearance of a conflict of interest.
10. Myth: This is Sweetbriar all over again
- Fact: The Sweetbriar project is located in the Bay Spring area of Barrington in a Business zoned area. Barrington Ordinance Section 185-27 characterizes the area as “a combined zoning district whose developed areas consist primarily of R10, Neighborhood Business, Business, and Limited Manufacturing Districts”.
- This description is accurate, and completely opposite to the characterization of Hampden Meadows (recited in the same ordinance) as follows:
- A. Hampden Meadows: This is a heavily developed residential district where development has resulted in costly expansions to both elementary schools, Hampden Meadows and Sowams, and an increase in traffic on the road systems making them inadequate to service the dense populations therein. Likewise, this district is in need of preserving what little unprotected open space is left. It is also environmentally sensitive in the portions adjacent to the Barrington River, Hundred Acre Cove and the Palmer river.
- It is the stark difference in the character of each neighborhood that dramatically distinguishes the Sweetbriar development, and was an underlying cause of failed litigation. Truth be told, the Sweetbriar development was compatible with both the siting and density guidelines of the State’s Five Year Strategic Plan recited above. Sowams Nursery certainly is not.
