Ruth L. Platner – Planning Commission

Ruth grew up in Oregon, Idaho, and Utah and studied in Switzerland and New York, but from the first day she saw Charlestown in 1977, she knew she was home. The beauty of Charlestown’s historic villages, farms, forests, and ocean beaches have kept her here for nearly 50 years.

Ruth has worked hard over those years to protect this beautiful place. Her work in land conservation has led to the preservation of many of our parks and open space properties. She has extensive experience as a microbiologist in environmental research related to water pollution. She was a lead member of Solarize Charlestown, a program to make roof-top solar more affordable for Charlestown homeowners. She was and is an invaluable leader in the multi-community effort to stop the Federal Railroad Administration’s plan to bisect northern Charlestown with new rail lines. Her leadership was critical in the successful effort to stop Invenergy from withdrawing water from Charlestown and trucking it to northern Rhode Island.

Talk to Ruth just once about Charlestown, and she will tell you how important conserving our remaining farms and natural places is and about the important connection between natural resource protection and our relatively low tax rate. 

“How Charlestown develops has a direct impact on our financial stability and our tax rate. Land owners have a right to develop their land, and those rights are defined in state law and the town’s subdivision and zoning regulations. However, our land use regulations are under constant pressure from lobbyists at the state legislature who seek laws that would overturn these regulations. Although most developers follow Charlestown’s regulations, a handful of applicants push plans that far exceed what is prudent. With the increased density proposed in these plans, and the associated expensive infrastructure that would be required as a result, we could see extreme impacts on our spectacular natural resources, a diminished quality of life, and much higher tax rates.”

We need Ruth’s knowledge and experience on the Planning Commission to continue to protect our environment, our economy, and our quality of life.

If reelected, Ruth will continue to use her time on the Planning Commission “to serve the people and environment of Charlestown, by protecting our natural resources and subjecting changes in our land use regulations to long-term financial analysis.”