When: Monday, April 1 at 3 p.m.
Where: Room 313 – State House
Why: Let the legislature know you support a Bottle Bill that can make our roads cleaner and safer, reduce litter and marine debris, increase recycling rates, protect our environment and natural resources, and save taxpayers money.
2024 Earth Day Celebration
When: Saturday, April 20 from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: Ninigret Park
What: Free activities for the whole family
Submit your information at the “Make the Green Bond Greener” link in this post, and the Rhode Island Land Trust Council will deliver a postcard on your behalf to your RI state legislators to let them know you support returning money for land preservation to conserve important landscapes, watersheds, and farms to the “Green Bond” that will be on the 2024 state-wide general election ballot.
Susan Cooper argued for setting the appointment date for April 22 to give citizens time to find out about the opening and apply. The other Councilors disagreed that the period was too short with Councilor “Rippy” Serra saying that “everyone knows there is an opening.” We doubt that “everyone knows,” so we hope that our readers will share this post with anyone who might be a good moderator before the April 3 deadline.
Thomas Danbo will soon direct the installation of two trolls in Ninigret Park. Mr. Danbo’s Trolls are intended to have a message of environmental stewardship. The Trolls have the full support of our Town Council, but this is a Town Council that doesn’t always make choices that protect the environment.
With the sad and sudden passing of Town Moderator Charlie Beck on March 19, the Town Council will now appoint a replacement until the election of a new Moderator in November. This is on the agenda for the March 25 Town Council meeting.
When: Tuesday, April 9 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Where: Charlestown Town Hall on Route 2 (4540 South County Trail)
What: All-day referendum on 2024/2025 Chariho Regional School District Budget
Under the state law governing Chariho, a majority of the citizens of Charlestown, Richmond and Hopkinton must approve the Chariho School District Budget by referendum in order for the budget to be adopted.
Approximately 70% of all bird species are migratory and 80% of those that undergo migration do so at night. As countless numbers of birds pass overhead as you sleep, many of them will be drawn off course by bright lights scattered across the landscape below them, leading to fatigue and increasing risk of collisions with buildings.
When: Wednesday, March 27 at 6 p.m.
Where: Cross Mills Public Library, 4417 Old Post Road, Charlestown
What: “A Small Town’s Brush with Nuclear Power”, presentation by Journalist Brian Mitchell who was hired as the first editor of the Chariho Times in 1977, when plans to build a nuclear power plant in Charlestown were well underway. Brian will recount the story of reporting on this controversial proposal.
The final plan includes an appendix with comments, but missing from the comment collection is an important letter from the Audubon Society of Rhode Island in opposition to the installation of any lighting near the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge. Also missing is a 2012 letter from the US Fish and Wildlife Service in opposition to lighting in Ninigret Park sent as an attachment with other correspondence. The missing letters both clearly state that there is no lighting that will not impact nesting and migratory birds in the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge.
The Chariho School Committee voted to adopt the Fiscal Year 2024-25 budget. The period for amendments has now ended, and the next step will be to present it to voters in April. During this final opportunity to make revisions, some items, such as the $434,000 that the committee had restored to Hope Valley School at a previous meeting, were cut from the spending plan. The final budget total, before state aid, is $58,341,117. Even if voters reject the bond in May, Hope Valley School is slated for closure.
The Department of Environmental Management is reminding Rhode Islanders to remove potential food sources from their properties as black bears emerge with warmer weather. Bird feeders, unsecured trash cans, livestock feed, and other easily available household and backyard food sources attract bears primarily in early spring, during droughts, or in the fall when they are trying to put on weight for hibernation.
With the passing of Charlestown Town Councilor Grace Klinger in January, there was an open seat on the Town Council. By Charter, because there was less than a year to the next election, it was up to the Town Council to decide how they wanted to fill the seat. The Council chose to fill the position by appointment, accepted applications until March 1, and made their selection on March 11.
The Town just released the final Ninigret Park Master Plan. Missing from the final version, dated March 4, 2024, is the page detailing the $33 Million cost to execute the plan. These cost estimates are available in the December 22, 2023, draft of the Ninigret Park Master Plan that was reviewed by the Parks and Recreation Commission. We have included the missing cost estimates in this post.
The 2024 bills are meant to build on the shoreline access legislation of 2023. The 2024 bills will give the Coastal Resource Management Council and local communities tools to preserve access not just to the shoreline, but also to historic trails and recreational sites. Links to each bill’s text and progress in the post.
UPDATE: This cleanup was canceled and has been replaced with a clean-up at Schoolhouse Pond Preserve also at 9:00 a.m.
When: Saturday, March 16, at 9:00 a.m.
Where: Meet at the Preserve parking lot on Railroad Ave. in Carolina
What: Join with the Charlestown Conservation Commission to help them maintain this beautiful property.
Patricia Sprague Forest Preserve is owned by the Town of Charlestown with a conservation easement held by the Charlestown Land Trust.
When: Saturday, April 20 at 9 a.m.
Where: Ninigret Park
What: A 5K to commemorate Deerfoot (Tarzan Brown)
Cost: $25 – Link to register in post
The Corps advised that the town coordinate with the Army Corps throughout the Ninigret Park planning processes, and should either of the troll statues require any soil disturbance below the ground surface, the Town should perform that work with full-time oversight by a munitions professional and perform soil testing to properly characterize and manage the disturbed soil.
The Army Corps is investigating areas of Ninigret Park and the National Wildlife Refuge to understand the nature and extent of chemicals of potential concern and munitions and explosives of concern relating to former Department of Defense operations at the Charlestown Naval Auxiliary Landing Field. Video of meeting in the post.
Rhode Island’s shortage of housing that is affordable is blamed on decades of insufficient home construction. While that may be true generally for the state, home construction has proceeded apace in Charlestown. Between 1970 and 2020, Rhode Island’s population grew from 946,725 to 1,097,379 – a 15.9% increase in population. In those same decades, Charlestown’s population grew from 2,863 to 7,997 – a 179% increase.
“Because they had such a failed public process before, and because what they proposed was so devastating to the environment, historic resources, to people’s homes, they ought to want to start with a really open process, because people will assume that they don’t have any other ideas, because I’ve only heard of two, and one has been taken off the table. So if they have another idea, no one knows what it is, and the people in the path of that other idea ought to know, too.”
When: Wednesday, March 6 at 4 p.m.
Where: Room 35 – State House
Why: Let the legislature know you support House Bill 7550 which would return money for land preservation to conserve important landscapes, watersheds, and farms to the “Green Bond” that will be on the 2024 state-wide general election ballot. Attend the hearing in person, or send written testimony.
What: The public hearing on the Chariho Regional School District’s 2024-2025 budget
When: Tuesday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Chariho Middle School Auditorium
Why: The public hearing will concern the proposed school budget for the 2024–2025 budget year and any and all other business that may be lawful at said meeting.
Details in this post …
I am constantly amazed at the lack of fealty demonstrated by some acknowledged graduates of Chariho High School to their alma mater. They are a subset that proudly proclaim that they graduated from Chariho as they propose to cut the school system’s budget, programs and staff.
The Charter presents the Town Council with three options: leave the position vacant, hold a special election to let voters decide, or appoint someone to fill the position. The Council has chosen to fill the position as soon as possible and decided against holding a special election. The members of the Town Council will, therefore, vote to appoint Councilor Klinger’s successor. Anyone who wants to submit an application for the empty seat must do so by March 1.
The Carolina Management Area forms part of the northern boundary of Charlestown and the Great Swamp Management Area is partially inside Charlestown on the eastern edge of town. Prescribed, or planned, burning is a tool that natural resources managers use for maintaining habitat diversity and to protect communities from extreme fires by reducing hazardous natural fuels.
When government officials make decisions that seem to serve a minority interest or that do not seem to serve the interest of the public, it is not unusual for members of the public to assume a corrupt influence. That is an unfortunate distraction because it moves the public’s focus away from what government officials are doing to their often-unknowable motivation for doing it.
CHARLESTOWN — Years after a proposed “Kenyon to Old Saybrook” high-speed-rail bypass through areas like the historic district of Old Lyme and and Stonington’s Olde Mistick Village sparked public outcry in Connecticut, few realize the pivotal role that Charlestown played in stopping the plan, or at least delaying it until now. Story at CT Examiner.
A bill introduced by Rep. Megan Cotter, D-Exeter, would inject $16 million into this year’s Green Economy Bond to fund four separate programs to protect land from development and provide a healthy boost for the state’s environment. The bill already has more than 30 co-sponsors and bi-partisan support. Story at ecoRI.
Charlestown’s Zoning Ordinance contained a simple and fair method of determining setbacks for substandard lots. Replacing that with the state mandated formula will result in nonsense calculations, an increase in neighbor conflicts and a decrease in public safety.