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Charlestown is a great community, rich in beauty and natural and historic resources. For Charlestown to continue as a wonderful place to live, we need an engaged community and volunteers who will work in the community’s interest.
Please consider filling out the form in this post to learn how you can be more involved!
How would Charlestown’s surplus (unassigned fund balance) maintain financial stability and capacity to recover from a major hurricane or other disaster? On January 10, the Charlestown Town Council will consider this question and potentially take action upon a fund balance policy, a policy containing principles to guide present and future financial decisions.
The five new open positions were announced in January and appointments will be made by the Town Council at the February Council meeting, and interested Charlestown residents may submit applications at any time between now and early February.
Vintage postcards of Quonochontaug from about 1908 make up this 2 minute video from Carla Ricci
On the agenda at the December 13 Town Council meeting is a renewal of the Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between the Town of Charlestown and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge. Ninigret Park is on land that was part of a WW II-era naval air training base. The base closed in the early 1970s. Approximately 380 acres became the USFWS’s Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge and the remaining 230 acres became Ninigret Park, owned by the town.
Charlestown’s Town Administrator, Mark Stankiewicz, has written again to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) asking for clarification on the New Haven to Providence Capacity Planning Study. The concern is that the study leaves open the door for new rail alignments that could negatively impact Charlestown’s residents and natural resources. The Town has had no response to its August letter to the FRA. The text of Mr. Stankiewicz’s newest letter to the FRA is in the post.
What: Public Hearing on the creation of the Charlestown Climate Resiliency Commission
When: Monday, December 13 at 7 p.m.
Where: Town Council Meeting, Town Hall, 4540 South County Trail
In part, the commission will work to protect the quality of life for Charlestown residents and minimize climate change effects on the community as much as is possible.
Bob Petrone has created this beautiful year-end video of seasonal scenes of Quonnie. The video takes 6 minutes to watch, but you’ll wish it was longer.
RI DEM owns and manages a public boat launch and about 40 acres of property in Charlestown to the west of the breachway that connects Quonochontaug Pond to Block Island Sound. An informational meeting, hosted by DEM, presented a recent assessment of the breachway and the access road/parking lot and focused on ways to improve the pond and breachway’s resiliency in the face of rising sea levels and other climate-crisis impacts.
Food insecurity continues to rise nationally due to the pandemic and our town is no exception. The Rhode Island Center Assisting Those In Need (RI CAN) is a local lifeline to many. We are asking you to join CCA’s fundraising campaign with a financial donation that will be presented to RI CAN.
The Charlestown Town-Wide Survey has been completed. Citizens favor the low tax rate and keeping Ninigret Park as it is, and they do not favor more residential growth or a national company’s commercial development.
On November 3rd, 2021, a meeting took place between representatives of Charlestown and the RI DOT Director Peter Alviti and RI DOT Intermodal Programs Chief Stephen Devine. The meeting was requested to provide an update on the NEC Connect 2035 plan and specifically the New Haven to Providence Capacity Planning Study.
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 problem is, according to Haberek, Kenyon Industries is not currently capable of meeting the new, stricter standards. He said DEM and the company would therefore need to negotiate a consent agreement that would set a timetable for Kenyon to comply with the state’s new effluent limits.”
Members of the Charlestown Police Department will join in what is now commonly referred to as No-Shave November. If you see Charlestown officers on the road sporting a beard and/or mustache, they have donated to the cause and are participating in the fundraiser. Charlestown Police Department’s goal is to raise at least $2500.
Town Councilor Susan Cooper recently proposed forming a Climate Resiliency Commission dedicated to studying and analyzing the issues surrounding climate change as they impact Charlestown. To that end, she and Town Councilor Cody Clarkin have interviewed town staff and other experts and are proposing the ordinance language in this post to create the new commission.
Kenyon Mill is located on the edge of the Pawcatuck River in both Richmond and Charlestown and is engaged in the manufacturing of natural and synthetic textile products. The mill has been discharging to the river for centuries, since the early American industrial period. For over 30 years the discharge has been regulated by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management and is now under the Rhode Island Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (RIPDES) Program.
Donate a coat and share some warmth with people in need.
The Town of Charlestown has placed a large bin at Town Hall, right inside the main entrance door, where you can place gently worn or new coats to donate to the Jonnycake Center. The coats will be distributed to those in need to help them stay warm this winter. Charlestown Town Hall is located at 4540 South County Trail.
The Frosty Drew Observatory in Ninigret Park has just finished the installation of their new telescope, a model “CDK 600”, made by PlaneWave Instruments of Adrian, Michigan. The research-grade telescope will be the best telescope in Rhode Island. This bigger, better, and more modern telescope was funded in part with a $107,541.00 grant from the Champlin Foundation.
Out of the 39 cities and towns, Charlestown had the 14th highest number of new homes. When existing population is factored in, we had nearly the highest rate of growth. Despite this growth, our political opposition claims that Charlestown is growing too slowly, that our regulations are burdensome, and that we do too much to conserve Charlestown’s natural resources.
When: Wednesday, October 27 at 7 p.m.
Where: Charlestown Town Hall
What: Pre-Application Meeting for the redevelopment of the Shoreline Plaza with addition of three new commercial 8,000 square foot buildings.
“Shoreline Plaza” is a 9.12 acre parcel and is the last parcel on Old Post Road next to South Kingstown line.
When: Friday, October 29th from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Where: Charlestown Town Hall, 4540 South County Trail (Rt. 2)
What: Visit the Charlestown Town Hall with your little witches and ghosts and go trick or treating through all of the Town Hall departments. Enjoy the spooky decorations and pickup some extra candy.
Cost: Free for all
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.
Contestants were asked to submit photos taken on one of the five National Wildlife Refuges in Rhode Island. The Refuges are Ninigret NWR in Charlestown, Trustom Pond NWR in South Kingstown, John H. Chafee NWR at Pettaquamscutt Cove in South Kingstown and Narragansett, Sachuest Point NWR in Middletown and Block Island NWR.
Statements that Charlestown Town Councilors, duly elected by voters, have repeatedly refused to place items on agendas are simply not true. There is no requirement that any item brought forward by a Town Councilor must be put on the next agenda. The Council may consider whether other items need immediate attention, whether an item is ready for discussion or whether it needs further research, and whether the item can be better addressed in another way, such as administratively.
During its September 7 special meeting, the Zoning Board of Review took public comment that included testimony about the Route 91 operation and included numerous complaints. The board voted unanimously, 5-0, to reject the appeal and found Charlestown Farms provided insufficient evidence for the applicant’s appeal and affirmed the decision of the town’s building and zoning official, Joseph Warner.
Charlestown’s Zoning Official has determined that the nonconforming legal use does not apply to lots 3 and 4-1 because the company has not done enough to prove the burden of a nonconforming legal use. Next meeting regarding the appeal of the ruling of the Zoning Official before the Zoning Board will be held on September 7 at 7 p.m. at the Charlestown Town Hall.
At the Council meeting, I proposed a motion “to authorize Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz to take whatever action is necessary to protect the town” from changes to rail alignments or other proposals that may be made as part of the New Haven to Providence Capacity Planning Study. The authorization is needed so that the Town can be nimble as circumstances unfold.
On August 10, The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management issued a notice that approximately 30,845 square feet of wetlands at the quarry on Rt. 91 in Charlestown had been altered. The notice requires the land owner to restore the wetland and provides the methods and plant species necessary to achieve that.
Three lots of land owned by a gravel company on Rt. 91 abut the National Wild and Scenic Pawcatuck River, the Nature Conservancy’s 1,100 acre Francis Carter Preserve, and the Tucker Woods Preserve. On July 14, 2021, Joe Warner, Charlestown’s Zoning Official, issued a notice of violation and a cease and desist order to the owners of the quarry at 565 Alton Carolina Road.