At the Planning Board meeting held on March 10, attorney Peter Regan presented a plan by clients DXD, an LLC which is under contract to purchase the property at 180 Mount Hope Ave., the former site of Tweets Family Restaurant.

The plan includes developing the large lot into two conforming lots, constructing an indoor, climate controlled self-storage facility on one and a day care facility on the other. Both proposed uses are permitted at the location, which is zoned General Business (GB).

Currently there are four buildings on the site, all of which would be demolished and removed. They include the two-story former restaurant fronting on Mount Hope Ave., a one-story structure on the eastern side of the site, a two-story daycare just south of the restaurant, and a two-story structure further south which has served as a mixed-use space. The remainder of the large lot includes a 96-spot parking lot and underutilized land which served as a boat storage facility.

The proposed self-storage facility would contain 700 storage units with a total of 62,000 square feet of rentable space over three floors, with access to the site from both DeWolf Avenue and Mount Hope Avenue. According to Mr. Regan, the facade of the proposed facility has been designed to be sensitive to the streetscape of the neighborhood.

The site also currently contains an active daycare facility, and DXD would like to construct a new facility so that the daycare may continue to operate on the site. The remainder of the property, roughly a third, is freshwater wetlands subject to the jurisdiction of the RI Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM); that will be cleaned and allowed to return to its natural state.

The public comment period heard neighbors expressing their concerns, chiefly about traffic impacts along Mt. Hope and DeWolf Avenues, as well as about the safety of the intersection of Mt. Hope and Metacom Avenues, just due east of the proposed development. A traffic study conducted by the developers determined that traffic impacts would be minimal, and almost certainly less than the days when a busy restaurant operated on the site.

The Planning Board approved the preliminary plan, which now needs to go before the Zoning Board and the RIDEM, then another pass through the Planning Board before obtaining demolition and building permits.