After hours of testimony, no vote on Bristol’s Belvedere

By Scott Pickering
Posted 5/11/18

After three-and-a-half hours of testimony, questions, posturing and procedural debates, the Bristol Planning Board and Bristol Historic District Commission ran out of time and continued the …

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After hours of testimony, no vote on Bristol’s Belvedere

Posted

After three-and-a-half hours of testimony, questions, posturing and procedural debates, the Bristol Planning Board and Bristol Historic District Commission ran out of time and continued the application of Jim Roiter and his controversial Belvedere at Thames project to another night.

They took no votes on the proposal and heard from no one in the public, aside from one attorney hired to represent a group opposed to the project.

The boards will reconvene on Thursday, June 7, to continue the discussion and debate over Mr. Roiter’s proposal for a large building at the corner of Thames and State streets in downtown Bristol.

By the time the meeting closed at nearly 11 p.m. Thursday night (May 10), no private citizens had been given a chance to speak, though the Colt School auditorium was standing-room-only. The audience was packed into most of the available seats, with more sitting in the historic balcony above.

Developer of the neighboring Belvedere condominiums facing Hope Street, Mr. Roiter is proposing a three-story building on what is now a half-vacant lot, with a steel parking deck. The new building would house a Providence Coal-Fired Pizza restaurant, 20 rental apartments (averaging 1,000 square feet), a rooftop amenity deck with pool, and 66 covered parking spaces.

Mr. Roiter brought a team of experts to Thursday’s hearing, with two attorneys, two real estate professionals, a land use/planning expert, an architect and a civil engineer. They all made presentations and answered questions from the board members.

A couple of times, Mr. Roiter himself answered questions, at times giving impassioned explanations of what he’s doing and why.

Planning Board member Charles “Chuck” Millard had a number of objections to the proposal. He said the housing is too dense, the building is too big, the apartments are too small, the future is too worrisome, and the precedent it will set is too frightening.

“This is not what I would consider ‘high-end’ apartments … With a 10’ x 10’ bedroom, you can forget about a king-sized bed,” Mr. Millard said. He predicted that if Mr. Roiter cannot fill the apartments with “high-end” empty-nesters and professionals, as predicted, they would end up going to graduate students.

“You’ve got Gillary’s on one side and Judge Roy Bean’s on the other. If I’m a graduate student, I can’t think of a better place to live,” Mr. Millard said.

Throughout the night, several people on Mr. Roiter’s team testified that there is a very active market right now for smaller housing units, especially rentals, and those renters are definitely not students.

Ian Barnacle, broker at Residential Properties in Barrington, said, “there is an actual need, a demand, for high-end rentals” and the covered parking is a great amenity. His office has either sold or rented most of the 18 units in the Belvedere complex, and Mr. Barnacle said they were surprised, during the sales process, by how many people were asking to rent instead of buy.

Real estate expert Peter Scotti testified that with one- or two-bedroom apartments, the building will not be attractive to students. With a lifetime of experience on the East Side of Providence, near Brown University, he said bedrooms are what attract students.

“If you want students,” Mr. Scotti said, “then build 2,100-square-foot units.” In other words, more bedrooms leads to more students, as they cluster into apartments and share the cost burden.

Planning expert Ed Pimentel, a consultant hired by Mr. Roiter, urged the planning board not to focus on the number of housing units, but to focus on the number of bedrooms, cars and economic impact of those tenants. He argued that by offering mostly one-bedroom units, the building will attract fewer people, with fewer cars, demanding fewer resources (no children in public schools), who spend money locally.

“This creates the economic vitality and residential density that your comprehensive plan calls for,” Mr. Pimentel said.

Passion from the developer

The most demonstrative speaker was Mr. Roiter, who talked to the boards about the economics of the proposal, including the $1.67 million in tax credits he has been awarded by the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation. He said that the most important measuring stick for the state agency was the economic impact on the region. “They want there to be a catalytic impact from these tax credits,” Mr. Roiter said, and he’s proud that this project met all their criteria.

“These apartments will have no resource demands from the town of Bristol,” Mr. Roiter said. “These are childless units. This is the ideal demographic, I would assume, for what Bristol wants.”

He went on to say that the major cost of this building is not bedrooms, bathrooms or kitchens — in other words, the difference between building 10 apartments or 20 apartments is negligible. “The major cost of this project is infrastructure. This building will be here 100 years from now. I’m not sure any other buildings on Thames Street will be here 100 years from now.”

Mr. Roiter also responded to critics who say he’s trying to profit at Bristol’s expense. “This can’t be built at 10 units. Because I don’t have the funds. I wouldn’t expect you, Mr. [Chuck] Millard, to build something at a loss. And I don’t think you should expect me, as the applicant, to build something at a loss. And yes, it’s ultimately your decision. It’s in your hands … But this isn’t some ruse. This isn’t some money grab. This isn’t me carpet-bagging the town. I came here with good intent. I’ve delivered in the first phase, and I want to deliver in the final phase. Please give me some respect. I have worked hard for two years to get the financing … I’ve spent a lot of money to get to this point. And it’s up to you. It’s your decision.”

He also responded to suggestions that he should be putting more commercial space on Thames Street.

“I would love to do more retail, but you know what? Do you know what retail goes for on Thames Street? $11 per square foot. That’s what it’s going for. This building is going to cost $350 to $400 a foot. I ask you, does that pencil out? No. Can those people even get insurance on a [flood-zone] street front? No.”

In response to Mr. Roiter’s remarks, planning board member Armand Bilotti said, “I appreciate that the answer you just gave is a far superior answer than I personally have received in the last four months. So I commend you.”

Planning board member Anthony Murgo also gave support to the project, saying “I’m totally comfortable with the mass of the building and the number of units … And I think having all that parking being concealed makes total sense … I like the way it looks.”

Attorney for the opposition

After Mr. Roiter and team were done with their presentation, the boards took a short break and then allowed attorney Stephen MacGillivray to lead the proceedings for more than an hour. He said he was representing two corporate entities, Gladding Realty and Federal Properties. Asked to identify the people behind those corporations, Mr. MacGillivray said they were both corporations who are abutters to the proposed development.

According to Rhode Island Secretary of State records, the president of Federal Properties is Stephen DeLeo of High Street. Gladding Realty is listed as Gladding Shops, LLC, with president Benjamin Bergenholtz of 385 High St.

Mr. MacGillivray said he also represents a group of private citizens who are opposed to the project, though he did not identify them despite several requests from board members. At one point, a group of people stood up, including Keith and Susan Maloney of Griswold Avenue, to say he was representing them.

During his hour-plus presentation of letters and witnesses, Mr. MacGillivray focused most of his attention on how the projects fits within the historic district and both federal and Bristol historic guidelines. He said Mr. Roiter and team had a “complete failure to represent historic standards” in their application.

One of his witnesses was Shantia Anderheggen, director of preservation for the Newport Restoration Foundation. She testified that this proposal would violate historic standards in numerous ways. “This is a very urban-style property in a neighborhood that has a very small-town character,” she said.

She also said, “The scale of this project is extraordinary compared to everything around it.”

Ms. Anderheggen warned about setting precedents in the historic district. “It’s critically important to think about this project on your entire district, because, yes, it will set a precedent.”

When Mr. MacGillivray was at the end of his presentation, he warned board members to protect Bristol’s historic assets. “The people who live here have preserved a unique waterfront town … You only have one Bristol. Don’t ruin it.”

No time for the public

When he was done, the boards decided to convene for the night and continue the hearing until June. Planning board member Mr. Bilotti, among others, was frustrated by that. “I’m disappointed that this is the second meeting in a row that we’re not going to hear from taxpayers.” His remark sparked applause from the large crowd that had sat through nearly four hours of testimony from lawyers and experts.

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