The proposed development consists of changes to the existing commercial building that has a floor area of 9,444 square feet, and construction of six new one-story commercial buildings, with a total of 23,892 square feet of building floor area, new parking areas, a new septic system (OWTS) and a new public well.
Rhode Island PBS has created some short segments called Trail Stories that they show between longer programs. This one features the fabulous Carter Preserve, the 1,100 acre preserve located in Charlestown and owned by the Nature Conservancy (TNC). The film opens with the Tarzan Brown Trail and is narrated by TNC’s Tim Mooney.
As it has for a quarter of a century, Rhythm & Roots will return to Charlestown, this Labor Day Weekend, August 30, August 31, and September 1. This year, the festival showcases music on three stages (the Roots, Rhythm, and Dance Stages) and will feature a variety of music styles, including Cajun, Zydeco, blues, country, bluegrass, Americana, and many other genres.
There is a plan to increase the resiliency of the breachway so it can support critical habitat for flora and fauna and help to ensure the continued viability of Ninigret Pond for the future. The plan would involve repairing the west seawall to help prevent future filling of excess sand in the pond and to enhance the barrier dune habitat. Dredging will also be needed to clear out the current sand blockage in the breachway.
Currently, the Planning Commission does not have enforceable standards for commercial development. It still won’t have. The Town Council insisted that the required zoning ordinance language would not be included in the consultants’ work; it was just to be a design document. This leaves us at the mercy of a developer to follow or not follow these guidelines.
The excellent candidates for Town Council and Planning Commission who are endorsed by CCA in the upcoming election will listen. They have heard your concerns, and they will work to return Charlestown to the path to long-term sustainability by protecting our natural resources on which our economy and our future depend.
My election campaigns always seem to present unexpected challenges. I declared my candidacy for Charlestown Town Council in June, and a biopsy on July 15 found a small tumor in my throat. I had, and have, no symptoms except for a swollen lymph node. I will get through this and be okay. My voice may be quieter for a short time, but it won’t be silent and I will continue doing my best to protect the beautiful, natural character of our community.
When: Saturday, August 24 at 9:00 am
Where: Meet at Quonochontaug Yacht Club, 155 West Beach Road
Preregister: The tour will be limited to 20 kayaks. Preregister on a first-come-first-served basis by emailing: alicia@joinsaltponds.com or angela@joinsaltponds.com
Rain Date: Sunday, August 25th at 9:00 am
When: Saturday, August 17, at 10:00 am
Where: Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge
Cost: Program is free
Registration: Please pre-register as space is limited
Hands-on experience that introduces children and their families to a variety of aquatic creatures living in the salt ponds.
When: Wednesday, August 21 at 7:00 pm
Where: Charlestown Town Hall, 4540 South County Trail
The Charlestown Planning Commission is hosting a public workshop to present a draft of commercial and village standards to promote good design for new development in commercial areas in Charlestown.
Protecting our groundwater will involve preserving enough land for our septic systems to treat wastewater and for the rainwater to re-charge aquifers and thus will involve protecting more open space, careful use of impervious surfaces, and reasonable control over the density of our growth. The failure to learn these lessons could be very challenging and expensive for Charlestown.
When: Monday, August 19, at 7 p.m.
Where: Kettle Pond Visitor Center, 50 Bend Rd., Charlestown
Cost: Free and open to the public
The featured speaker, Steve McCandless, will discuss the issues the breachways are facing and what is being proposed to address the issue at Charlestown Breachway in Ninigret Pond.
Where: All activities will be held on tribal land off of Rt. 2 and Old Mill Road in Charlestown
Cost: Admission is $10 for adults and $3 for children.
When: Saturday, August 10, and Sunday, August 11, 2024
In the 1960s and 70s, on about 5 aces of what is now the 1,100 acre Francis Carter Preserve, the United Nuclear Corporation recovered uranium from contaminated wastewater at its plant. On July 24, 1964 an accident resulted in the tragic death of Robert Peabody, a worker at the plant. You can read or watch accounts of the accident that happened just off Narraganset Trail in Charlestown at the links in this post.
What: Wildlife Wednesdays Lecture Series sponsored by Friends of the National Wildlife Refuges of RI
Where: All lectures held at the Kettle Pond Visitor Center, 50 Bend Road, Charlestown (map in post)
When: All presentations are on Wednesdays at 7:00 PM
Cost: Admission is free and all ages are welcome
When: August 2, 3 & 4
Where: Ninigret Park, Charlestown, RI
What: Three days of food and entertainment
UPDATE:Meeting cancelled late on July 29 just before meeting was scheduled to begin. We don’t know yet when it was rescheduled to.
When: Monday, July 29 at 7 pm
Where: Charlestown Town Hall
What: Town Council special meeting to discuss and possibly adopt the new 2024 Master Plan for Ninigret Park
The Town Council will discuss the 2024 Ninigret Park Master Plan that its consultant, VHB, developed in accordance with the directions given to the company by the Town Council. The $39.5 million cost estimates that were handed out at the April 15 meeting are included in this post.
For some reason, a Charlestown Democratic Town Committee member appears to believe that taking personal potshots at a former town employee who was honest and worked hard, one who did an excellent job for 10 years, is OK. It’s not. Unproven, and untrue, assertions that live online can be damaging to a person’s career and should be out of bounds.
The League of Women Voters of South County will publish Voter Guides in early October featuring local candidates for State Representative, Senator, Town Council, School Committee, and Planning Commission. They want to ask questions that relate to the current issues in our town. Please submit up to 3 topics/questions for local candidates. The League will use this input from the community to develop questions for live candidate forums and voter guides. The deadline to submit questions is July 27.
Each year, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) asks the public to assist with their Turkey Brood Survey by reporting sightings of female turkeys, or hens, and their babies, called poults, from July 1st though August 31st. These citizen reported sightings of wild turkey hens, both with brood and without, help with research efforts.
On Friday, July 12, Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Sarah Taft-Carter issued a preliminary decision, siding with private property owners who seek to overturn the state’s new shoreline access legislation passed last year by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Dan McKee. The RI Attorney General disagrees with the decision. Story at ecoRI News.
When: Thursday, July 25 from 6 pm to 8:30 pm
Where: The Nordic Lodge, 178 Nordic Trail, Charlestown
What: Live music by “Jus Tus”, hors d’oeuvres, cash bar, raffle
Why: Support open space preservation and protection in Charlestown and have a fabulous evening with live music
There may be some misunderstanding of what the phrase “going to court” means, but the effect of trying to remove the voters’ right to vote is the same, no matter what vehicle is used. Seeking a Declaratory Judgment is an action to overturn the elected Planning Commission. It is an action with serious legal consequences. An article in the Providence Journal dated November 30, 2007, included in this post, described the earlier attempt to get a Declaratory Judgment regarding the legality of Charlestown having an elected Planning Commission.
Proposed Charter change question number 9 was written and sent to public hearing without any plan for ratification by the General Assembly. As explained by the Town’s solicitor at the Charter Public Hearing, “if it is not ratified you will put the Planning Commission’s legal authority in limbo … and undermine their position.”
On July 8, the current Charlestown Town Council majority got rid of a highly qualified and experienced member of the Budget Commission, Dick Sartor. Mr. Sartor had applied to be reappointed, and he was not. This sacking of Mr. Sartor was carried out by a Town Council majority that says institutional knowledge, and qualifications, are of utmost importance in government. One can only wonder why the Town Council majority would remove Mr. Sartor’s practiced eye from oversight of the town’s budget.
In early June, Charlestown’s land-use community lost its most qualified member with the passing of Walter “Peter” Mahony. Peter was undoubtedly the most qualified person to ever serve on the Charlestown Planning Commission. He was an Architect, a Landscape Architect, and a professional Planner with architectural and planning degrees from Princeton and Cambridge Universities. He had a successful career working on important projects that focused on the sustainable balance between development and land preservation.
When: Thursday, July 11 from 6 pm to 8 pm
Where: Ninigret Park at the New Pavilion
What: Concert by Will Evans, whose album “Rise” was nominated for three categories by the New England Music Awards; movie Jaws; and 7 food trucks providing dinner
Who: Brought to you by Charlestown Parks and Recreation Department
Cost: Music and Movie are Free. Dinner – pay for as little or as much as you want to eat
Thank you to everyone who gave up a part of a summer day to visit us at the Charlestown Mini Super and sign 10 different nomination papers for the candidates the Charlestown Citizens Alliance is supporting in the November election. Thank you especially to the Mini Super for generously allowing us to set up our nomination papers in front of the store!
Although there was plenty of bad news for Charlestown’s environment in new laws passed by the Rhode Island Legislature in 2024, there was good news for the 47% of RI voters who are unaffiliated. Legislation which was passed by both the House and the Senate and was signed into law by the Governor on June 25, allows unaffiliated party voters to vote in either party’s primary without becoming affiliated to a party.
Proposed Charter changes would concentrate power in the Town Council while taking it away from the voters.
When: Tuesday, July 9 at 7 pm
Where: Charlestown Town Hall, 4540 South County Trail, Charlestown
Some are merely administrative changes, but others reduce the Town Council’s accountability to voters and reduce the effectiveness and perhaps even legitimacy of the Planning Commission. Another creates a new Town Department without any analysis of long-term cost.