Ruth Platner

At the November 14 Charlestown Town Council meeting, the Town Council voted 4 to 0 to release the $400,000.00 grant that the town had received to purchase the Saw Mill Pond Watershed and transfer the grant to the Charlestown Land Trust, which will now pursue additional funding needed to protect the land.

The banner image is an aerial view of the subdivision on Cedar Meadows Road (off of Shannock Road) that shows a subdivision with approximately 70% open space. This subdivision was built under the current cluster ordinance and would still be possible under the proposed changes for conservation development. But with the flexibility provided by the new ordinance, a developer could reduce further the impacts to wildlife, wetlands, and groundwater and reduce long-term impacts to taxpayers.

Since the Town Council first advertised the proposed Conservation Development in March, our political opposition has spread intentionally false and misleading information about the proposed ordinance. In this post is a table with some of the disinformation that is being spread and a response to each.

When: Saturday, June 18 at 10 a.m.
Where: Tucker Woods Preserve, between 639-719 Alton Carolina Rd. (Rt. 91) near the intersection with Hill Top Drive
What: Grand Opening Celebration with speakers, refreshments, tours and more by the Charlestown Conservation Commission
Trails and parking have been developed and the land is now officially open for hiking!

When: Monday, July 11 at 7 p.m.
Where: Charlestown Town Hall
What: Town Council meeting to discuss, and possibly vote on, amendments to the Zoning Ordinance proposed by the Charlestown Planning Commission
Conservation development is a type of Cluster Subdivision that prioritizes the protection of natural resources, open space, and agricultural lands.

Those in Charlestown who oppose land conservation and the resulting protection of wildlife habitat, ground and surface water and other natural resources continue to misrepresent a good land deal for our town. Acquiring a property that protects important natural resources at a price well below its retail value is a good deal for our town and a good use of funds dedicated to land conservation by the voters.

The real estate closing to purchase the property took place on September 30th. The land was acquired with funding from a $400,000.00 Natural Heritage grant from the state and the remainder in town open space funds approved by voters in a 2015 referendum. Trails and parking still need to be developed, but the land now officially belongs to Charlestown! Because the property was funded with a grant from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), public access and passive recreation is assured permanently.

This newest Comprehensive Plan has been developed entirely in the Internet age, and we have fully used those tools. The agendas, minutes, and videos of the meetings are available online. Drafts of chapters have been available online as they were first written and as they changed.

The Charlestown Town Council will hold a public hearing at their regular meeting on April 12 to discuss the potential acquisition of 66.5 acres of mostly forested land that lies along Alton Carolina Road (Rt. 91) between The Nature Conservancy’s Francis Carter Preserve and the State’s Carolina Wildlife Management Area.

On the Town Council agenda for Feburary 8 is a vote to allow the Town Administrator and Town’s attorney to negotiate a price for the property. DEM also has to approve the price and will not be involved in the sale if they believe the price is greater than the market value. If a sales price can be negotiated that the seller, town and DEM all agree on, the Town Council will hold a public hearing at a future meeting and then vote on the purchase.

Charlestown is part of the only undeveloped area along the Eastern Seaboard that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the inland forests of New England and Canada. Charlestown contains critical wildlife habitats and recreation areas that are important in their own right, but in a regional context they are even more important. Fragmentation of this corridor diminishes the importance of the entire corridor for both wildlife and recreation.

Red-Spotted Newts are a species of salamander that are found in Charlestown. They help to control mosquito populations by eating their larvae. The biggest threat that newts and other salamanders face is habitat loss and fragmentation. They are considered indicator species, meaning the health of their populations tell us about the health of the environment in general.

If the Legal Defense Fund is unneeded, the money stays there unspent, costing the taxpayers nothing. Even if it did lower taxes, what would be the goal of making Charlestown weak in defending against big developers? The big developers of course will want to see this money removed from the budget, but why would we?

There is much misinformation now circulating about the proposed budget, characterizing payments of debt obligation to the police pension as frivolous spending. Money put into the pension system will earn more long term than holding it in the surplus account.

Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge is permanently protected, but more intense development on nearby public land and thoughtless destruction of forests and shrubland elsewhere will chip away at the value of the refuge to those species it was created to protect.

Bill is a native of Charlestown, graduating from CHARIHO in 2002. When Bill is interviewing politicians for his podcasts or appearing on PBS or radio he brings with him an understanding of the natural and cultural history of Charlestown.

When the camp was created, Charlestown had a small population and Charlestown like much of South County was mostly undeveloped. But land use has changed dramatically over the decades and the importance of the remaining large unfragmented forest parcels has greatly increased for species that depend on these large parcels.