Letter: Nockum Hill was a self-inflicted wound

Posted 1/18/19

To the editor:

The recent avalanche of critical comments on the proposed development in Nockum Hill have fingers pointing towards the developer, North End Realty.  

In truth, high density …

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Letter: Nockum Hill was a self-inflicted wound

Posted

To the editor:

The recent avalanche of critical comments on the proposed development in Nockum Hill have fingers pointing towards the developer, North End Realty.  

In truth, high density development in Nockum Hill was a self-inflicted wound created by an activist Democrat controlled Barrington Town Council going back over a decade. 

The controversy began years ago when the Town Council created an unnecessary local ordinance demanding that all future development in Barrington over 3 units must have an affordable housing component. North End Realty's original proposal of just 4 upscale homes on the 6 acres was rejected outright because one of the 4 homes wasn't an affordable home. So instead, North End simply changed the proposal to 24 clustered units with affordable housing to conform to Barrington's local ordinance.

Town officials were outraged at North End's high density proposal, but North End pointed to the town's own plans to develop clustered housing right up the street at 139 George Street. The State Housing Appeals Board (SHAB) agreed that since the town itself was also deeply invested in clustered housing in Nockum Hill, how could they reject any other project.  

So just how deeply was the town invested in pushing high density development in Nockum Hill?

On Nov. 3, 2008, the sitting Town Council voted in secret to approve the purchase of land at 139 George St. In fact, it wasn't "the town" that purchased the George Street land. On March 29, 2010, town officials quietly moved $275,000 out of the Barrington Spencer Trust to cover the George Street purchase. Years later, the RI Attorney General would make the town put that money back.

Concurrent with town planning for the March 2010 land purchase, Barrington residents approved an appropriation of $25,000 in the 2009 Financial Town Meeting for "Professional Services and Affordable Housing Plan Development". That appropriation kicked off initial work on development plans for a town sponsored clustered affordable housing project at George Street.

Town officials were also quietly depleting money from the Spencer Trust from April 2009 through July 2009 to pay for additional George Street site planning, eight months before the Spencer Trust actually finalized the March 2010 land purchase.

On June 10, 2011, the Town Manager entered into an agreement with Don Powers Architects to finalize the town's plans for George Street. A conceptual plan was submitted containing options for up to 12 units on only 2-plus acres. When SHAB was presented with the scope of the town's own plans for development in Nockum Hill, they had no choice but to approve North End's plan.

The irony is that there is no legal requirement for the Town of Barrington to be active participants in affordable housing development, or to have an ordinance demanding affordable housing on land that meets existing zoning requirements. The law simply requires the town not be an obstacle to reasonable affordable housing proposals.  

So to all who would point fingers at the developer, please reposition that finger where it belongs, to a long line of activist town officials intent on changing Barrington. 

Gary Morse

Barrington

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