Zoning Board - Regular Meeting

oh for you good you're here for the the bar Avenue project no no the grants the grants oh yeah all right ell is coming tonight she is she said she'll be here right at 6 and uh Warren also confirmed so we should have for yeah absolutely just nothing coming up um there is a an ordinance drafted already Happ um yeah I think they're trying to figure out what they want to do with all the members of both parts they want to you

know pick like three from each board and combine them or if they get rid of the only board all the together members yeah the problem is um the mayor appoints the planning board and the Town Council appoints the zoning board so there's like a you know those power strle between the they all want the the power well for the planning that's May recommendation and Council approved yeah the mayor is it the same is it just it's the opposite the opposite yeah that I don't know he wasn't here today make an announcement soon about the continuation good evening everyone um we haven't begun our our hearing yet but uh as people are entering into the um the gallery I just want to make an announcement that if you are here for the uh project located at 114 Barrett Avenue uh that project on the agenda tonight um will be uh they've requested to continue

so that project will not be for it tonight so if you're here for 114 bared Avenue um that project uh will not be presenting tonight minutes from January and February get distributed were they should have been sent out on it was late cuz I had neuro virus all week last week I was that was so sick oh it was on vacation too so my whole vacation too any day didn't so we thought had never got it it lasted for five days yeah were in hotel

I didn't I didn't see them I saw the agenda it was uh labeled as uh number one it's funny my wife she she called and I was too sick I didn't want to go home think I home wasn't s the do too many things visions and I have a few my SP you're on that I put you exactly

hey guys sorry Steve my apologies how are you how are you oh look at you oh okay yeah but he talked to me like right in front of [Laughter] my I'm the minority they got me over here hello are you ready yes all right good evening everyone um thank you for joining us at uh today's uh North Providence uh uh public planning board meeting located here at 2000 uh Smith Street North Providence Rhode Island um the time is uh 6:04 p.m. uh date is March uh 12th 2025 uh may you I ask that you join us in uh saying the Pledge of Allegiance I to the flag the United States of America and to the for IT stand One Nation God indivisible liy and justice for all hey thank you um we'll start off by uh taking attendance of the uh planning board members uh we'll start on my War waren richardy ludio David parenti salvator Council Steve py BR we again Tom planner okay thank you um item number two on oh no I'm sorry item number one on our agenda tonight is

the approval approval of meeting of the meeting minutes from our uh meeting dated January 29th 2025 in February 12th 2025 um they were distributed by our um Town planner um has everybody present here at the board had a chance to review uh the meeting minutes does anybody here at the board have any corrections or comments regarding the meeting minutes do I hear a motion to approve the meeting minutes for January 29th and February 12th 20 can we do one at a time one at a time please all right we'll start off with January 29th 2025 I'll make that motion Mr tielli has made the motion second Mr bassi has second the motion no just call vote for um all in favor I I any opposed the eyes have it um do I hear a motion to approve the meeting minutes for February 12th 2025 I'll make that motion Mr richelli has made that motion second Mr fassi has second that motion uh call a vote all in favor I I any opposed motion is passed second on tonight's agenda um is uh request to comine uh continuance to the April 9th uh planning board meeting for the project located at 114 be Avenue assessors plat lot plat 24a Lot

110 um Brent can you provide a little bit of um background on the request the applicant has to continue the so uh again that's 114 bared Avenue uh the applicant has requested a continuation uh they weren't able to get the uh quite lengthy list of items that the planning board requested at the February 12th meeting so um they still need one more month so they'll be working on that and hopefully coming back uh April 9th at 6 p.m. um I would just uh ask that the planning board condition the approval on written agreement that the time will be extended from the attorney do I hear a motion so moved condition on yeah condition done the uh attorney uh the request from Brent to the attorney do I hear a second second okay um all in favor I I any opposed motion is passed third on the agenda is the comprehensive plan it's a public hearing um which was continued from January 29th uh the intent is for a uh recommendation to the Town Council regarding the new draft comprehensive plan of North Providence um our town planner has uh distributed the comprehensive plan to all planning board members with appendixes A and B

and I believe we have presenter here today sumara from Weston and Samson this year good how are you so Weston and Samson was hired by the town of North Providence to update sorry Susan Mara M A okay I'm a planner from Weston and Samson and we have been working on the comprehensive plan um with Brent and his team so we started late 2022 and so over the course of you know the last few years we have um pulled together existing conditions information about the town we have held multiple public hearings um we have done a survey there's been a website up so engaged the community um sort of understanding what it is they are looking for in the community um using the old plan as the sort of starting point and pulling together um ideas about the vision of the town and the goals and the policies and actions across the seven chapters so if we I'll start just and I don't know how much in depth you want me to get here because I know that we've been working on it for a while and then folks have seen it multiple times um but the the com comprehensive plan is done generally every 10 years with a 20-year Horizon um it's intended to set the vision for the town and to also craft these goals and policies and actions in these chapters which will help to um direct the town as it makes Land Use decisions as it creates new ordinances

considers changes to ordinances um it makes investment with public money goes after grants etc etc um you can see this is I like my upside down triangle because it sort of you know graphically shows how how the process is supposed to work where the vision um in general is is sort of Forward Thinking 20 years ahead where does the town want to be and the way I like to think about it right is that we we look at the existing conditions what you have you know in your town and you know if if you don't change anything when you go from here to hear um but if the town's Vision maybe is something that's different over here so what are the levers that you have to push or the buttons you have to press in order to to sort of change that and those those are evident in the action items that we recommend changes to ordinances um policies Etc um so the vision starts up here and then the goals um support the vision the policy support the goals and then the actions support or are sort of like a very specific action plan that the town can take to to move that forward and we have worked with the community over a series of public meetings where we went through and talked about you know what do you want to see you know in the community and we proposed you know our action items and got feedback from the community on those as well so the next the next page um you know there is a vision statement but the these were some of our overall I don't know guidelines and strategies and um while we were looking at this and so North Providence um is a you know it's it's a town of neighborhoods right and so I think that like a lot of the residents were you know have lived in North Providence all their life and they are they like living here they their kids are continuing to live here they're very happy with the public services and that's that's

something that you know we kind of found early on working with the public um they have a lot of you have a lot of great Recreation spaces I think the community in general was looking for ways to connect them um either through like just information about you know where they are and when they're open and or um you know Pathways to kind of connect them and they were looking for ways to support your you know existing local businesses and um you know again we we heard from a lot of people um they're very very happy with the level of services and they you know they really enjoy working here you know been to a lot of public meetings um this was definitely a town where you know the residents are very you know really enjoy living here and and um you know want to see want to stay here and see it grow so we like working in towns like this um so the chapter one was land use there's two goals in here um and you know these are these are you know not you know the goals are generally you know pretty vague and pretty open and as the policies and actions get developed um they get refined and so I didn't I mean I can read them for everyone who's here if you don't have one but the two land use goals are to provide for the future use of vacant land within the town in a wise and orderly manner taking into consideration environmental and topographic conditions development potential and the need for future space in terms of housing Recreation commercial development and Industrial growth um and the second is protect and enhance successful commercial areas including small village centers and Commercial corridors we did look at the success of centerdale and um you know wonder and and propose ways to maybe replicate that success in other you know smaller villages or smaller commercial areas throughout town that was another theme that that Rose to the top as far as housing there were two goals that the you know Community ended on one is to ensure the town has a

variety of affordable housing options for all residents and to provide services uh to meet the needs of the different types of households including those experiencing homelessness low low-income disabled veteran and older adults among others this plan's been reviewed by the state Statewide planning who will eventually be the organization that approves it some of these goals are in response to their comments um for things that need to be included in here so I just also kind of want to point that out too and I'll talk a little bit more about that at the end what the process is for approval there are a number of Economic Development goals here um you know one is related to alignment of your local economy with the SS and that's the comprehensive the state's comprehensive Economic Development strategy and that's usually a state requirement is that your economic goals want to align with those and that positioned you well for funding um encourage and support Economic Development to expand and diversify the tax base repeat the success of centerdale so that kind of comes up again and again um that the residents seem to really like what's happened here um in the vibrancy um improving the circulation and Aesthetics along Mineral Spring Avenue we did talk also a lot about Mineral Spring Avenue and challenges and you know possible ways to you know start start you know moving the needle towards towards making it maybe a little more walkable maybe a little more green um you know it's a big it's a big issue that's not going to be solved with with you know in a short term with one solution but you know the comp plan D did include some recommendations about how to think about you know Improvement um expand opportunities to link local schools to businesses in the community by offering career days early internships Etc support the state guide plan's goal fostering a more inclusive e economy for typically underserved populations and finally expand access to resources for small businesses

consistent with the goals and objectives of rhod islands sets again because the state has already reviewed the draft of this we've we've molded our goals to make sure that they're in alignment with the state policy because that was those are some of the comments that we got if you're wondering why we have so many goals related to the you know State's comprehensive Economic Development strategy it's because that's a comment that we got back from the state is that it you know need to be very clear and intentional about that alignment um re buildings facilities and services one of the chapters is you know sort of grabs all of the public services and facilities and that includes infrastructure and buildings and social services and I don't know if I need to read all of these um but again you know the town was was very complimentary of the existing services that the town provides um and the goals and the the goals under you know the different categories here are essentially aligned towards maintaining the current level of service um and making improvements where necessary we did um at the state's request also include some goals around energy conservation and Energy Efficiency um because are also required now and then for natural resources um you know one of the main goals is to protect the town's natural resources for current F future residents they had a goal um around improving water quality of all the water bodies um stabilizing the town's overall Forest cover at its present level and then um including some language about being resilient and resistant to hazards and you do have a hazard mitigation plan so we made sure that the goals that are in here will align with will align with that plan as well

so we also included a chapter on historic and culture resources and that includes your historic buildings and structures but also includes groups and events you know the photo here is from the centerdale festival like those are those are all the sort of things that that are in this chapter that um you know we look at ways to promote them and preserve them so promoting and preserving these existing you know infrastructure in buildings for future Generations doing some work around documentation um preserving information was another goal listed here um as was education and I think that these goals um came from your previous plan as well so these are these are goals that were set the last time you you know sat down and and did a plan and would like to you know residents seem to think that they were good goals to continue into the future um promote inclusivity and preservation practices and provide Ed educational resources actually that um were the rest of the goals for the historic and cultural resources and then open space and Recreation um a lot of the residents noted that that's one of the things that they like the best about the town is the the high quality and the availability of open space and Recreation and so their their goals were pretty simple to improve and maintain and expand and then to create connections between between the between the resources then transportation and circulation um they proposed a trans you know they were looking for a transportation Network to support all modes and prioritize safety for all users and that can include things like making Mineral Spring more pedestrian friendly invest in transportation infrastructure that facilitates Economic Development and enhances connectivity prioritize investments in non- single occupancy vehicles um to reduce

environmental impacts and that's a goal that goes towards you improving access and usage of Transit and bikes and walkability um develop and Implement policies to improve bike infrastructure um ensuring safety and integration with other Transportation modes think that that was also a result of of folks talking about wanting to connect the resources and making sure that there are you know walking paths and possib you know ways to bike between resources and between neighborhoods and resources um expand and enhance public transit services for all residents needs and ensure the transportation infrastructure is accessible to all residents including those with disabilities so those are those are the chapters and the proposed goals um chapter nine implementation we just included some information here so each chapter will have a very specific table that looks exact actly like this and so we talked about the goals and then this table will include the very specific actions um for for each of the for each of the chapters that help the town to achieve the vision achieve the goals that they set out throughout this process and so next steps so tonight is a is a public hearing where the planning board will will do a referral hopefully to recommend approval of the plan to the Town Council the plan has already been reviewed by the state they have um received it and requested comments from all the different state agencies and so we do that so that when it becomes in front of you it comes in front of you in a form that's not going to require many edits and so once it hopefully gets approved by the city council it goes back to the state for final approval um but again they've already seen it and they've already had their comments and we've already integrated their comments into the plan so we think that you know if there are any comments they will be

minor um anyway so the next so the next step you know is is to vote hopefully on a Rec a positive recommendation to the city council to adopt this it's an ordinance that gets approved by the city council for the update of the comprehensive plan thank you for summarizing that extremely long document yeah there's a lot it's it's big there's a lot of data um and and also preparing it I know you gave us the highlights I have um uh just one one question before I open it up to my peers um Miss Mar can you just uh kindly explain the um uh the the public Workshop um workshops that were um facilitated in the preparation of this plan sure there were two major ones we held them at the um the governor n um facility and they were evening meetings and so the first one was you know we we put the word out and Brent um and the the chair of the advisory committee did a um opinion um piece in the local newspaper to try and get people to come we sent emails out to the planning board and Zoning Board and advertised um in town hall and so the first one was a workshop um we did a presentation similar to the beginning of this presentation where we talked about what the comprehensive plan is and what it's supposed to do and we broke into small groups and we talked about you know we went through and had group discussion of what are the things that you really like about your town and we recorded that and then what are the things that you maybe would like to improve about your town we recorded that and then you know just had just a general discussion in terms of you know what the what the comprehensive plan plan process means when we came back to them a few months later we had

put together goals policies and AC s that spoke to those those um strengths and weaknesses that they had identified in that initial meeting and we did um also start with an overall presentation and then broke into smaller groups and we had um you know they were able to see on you know a big on a big format like those tables of what the what the proposed actions would be and you know give us comment on you know that's that's probably not going to work anymore maybe it's an you know something that came from the old plan or you know think that this one you know is really important and so we got feedback on the specific action items from the public at that second meeting okay thank you you're welcome um do any of my fellow board members have any questions one question I had uh when we started doing the comprehensive plan it was five years every five years it had to be renewed and the last time uh the state changed the ruling and right now under this is good for 10 years it is okay that's that's it I heard 10 years with a 20-year Horizon yeah that you're supposed to contemplate you know what like look look 20 years into the future in terms of what you're you know working towards the hazard mitigation plans are in a fiveyear cycle still that's all you Sue I do have a um a few changes that need to be made uh Lou found several and I found a few just minor typos uh like page nine the lot sizes are uh describing what was previously the lot sizes in the zoning orance okay those are a little less now so um I actually have a page if you want it perfect I will take that yeah right but everything else is just minor typos

so Mr pitassi yes I have a a couple of questions and comments uh on page 4-13 regarding the Water Systems you talk about the East Smithfield water district in the Greystone neighborhood that as far as I know and I could be incorrect but I believe that was purchased by Providence water okay we'll take that out um yeah many years ago now you you also site in here um about the pump and State uh on Fruit Hill but there was a pumping station for the east east smouth field water district on North Elmore that was subsequently well that was closed can you see that one more time because I want to take I want to make sure I get this yeah it's it's on the pumping station was on North Elmore Avenue but it was closed several years ago by the Providence water supply board they've been trying to uh other measures they've been thinking other measures to increase the pressure in the Wood Haven Neighborhood but that pumping station's been closed and I I just I I noticed in a couple of spots you mention it but it's kind of a little confusing sure if you could just take another look at 13 14 and 15 those are the basic three pages that discussed that no that that's great thank you I mean this is why we you know put it in front of everyone because you have that kind of knowledge that you know hard to hard to get otherwise oh no the report was well done it's just I saw a couple of things and I'm familiar with that because I live in their neighborhood okay and Wood Haven yeah Steve thank you yes you're welcome I just want to say that Susan actually transcribes all of these meetings so I know you're taking notes but we can send you the

transcript and uh it's also live on YouTube so you can watch it over on online okay a lot no that's that's great that's very very good feedback thank you you're welcome I have no further questions so we'll open up thank you very much so at this time it's uh 6:29 PM we'll open it up for the public hearing um for item number three review of the comprehensive plan if anybody here in the audience would like to come up and uh speak uh regarding uh this specific agenda item you're more than welcome to come yep there you go can you just kindly state your name and address for the sure uh Kathy Lanny 23 craigy Street um I really just have a couple questions I don't know how this works so forgive me um this is this is great um to see something like this put together I'm sure it's something you do all the time um questions I have are um this seems pretty high level and like something that could apply to a number of different cities or towns and all is there like a Next Step where you get to a next level of detail and action plans as to how you're going to meet these goals and then how these goals get measured uh so for example for the last comprehensive plan that was in place is there has that been summarized like have we have we talked about the last set of goals that were set and if they were met and those kind of things so just wondering and again I'm not familiar with the process so there's a um it's like a full draft comprehensive plan that has all the details about that okay what she gave was a very brief summary

of everything so if you want we have copies you can take a look at oh that'd be awesome or I can email to you is it on it's not online but I can email to you if you'd like that'd be awesome yeah yeah so we'll we'll upload it once it's uh available to upload and uh you can access that or you can take a look at this copy right now while you're here uh you can email it that's fine I'll I'll leave you my email address that's great um so that'll go through um you know the data how was collected uh it lists out all the action um and whatnot so um that page but second to last page there's the uh each section has this chart that kind of summarizes all the the items that they want to accomplish and the goals policies whatnot oh that's awesome and then as far as funding is that generally achieved through grants like to to do some of this work like some varies yeah it could be anything so this just lays out the goals and what we intend to do and um any way we can accomplish it we will in the next 10 years awesome thank you very much thanks I'm sure this is a lot of work are there any other members of the public that would like to um come up and speak regarding this specific agenda item for tonight okay I'm seeing none we'll close the public hearing at 6:32 p.m uh members of the board um I think you might so sue I do you you want to vote tonight or do you want to wait until the um State comes back with final comments you got to come up yes we have the state's preliminary comments at this point we want to approve and submit officially and this

is a recommendation to the Town Council correct right we didn't gets passed by ordinance I don't know if that matters yeah it does well it it does get passed by ordinance um I I just heard you say that there might be additional comments from the state so that may happen but this is the process that it has to go through like some towns don't even send it to the state ahead of time yes I know it needs to get locally approved and then it gets submitted officially to the state that's that's how the process works okay um and and submitting it ahead of time is is a measure to try and minimize that so you don't have to change it enough that it has to go back like if it's minor stuff you can do it without redoing the public hearings um that that's sort of our goal here okay um and remember it's three three successive weeks of notice for the comp plan ordinance for the council yes so yeah so Bren I hope is working with the town clerk on that yeah I know you guys know this I'm just you know it's easy to miss because everything else is two two times yeah so you so what there're uh what Susan is asking for is um a recommendation to the council to approve as you know as You' as you've reviewed sorry does anybody have um anything else they'd like to discuss or uh are we prepared to make a motion I just want to uh Brent the uh the comments that I submitted to you yes she has them that's fine thanks so we're looking for a motion to approve and I would suggest with the comments that you've provided to Susan tonight so it's kind of a recommendation with conditions and if somebody wants to say

make that motion you can say so uh so moved so moved do I hear a second second okay Mr patasi has made the motion L has made the second um uh we'll take a a r vote Warren l i i chair votes I motion is passed for a positive recommendation uh to the Town Council regarding the new draft comprehensive plan uh with uh comments um provided by the planning board me tonight thank you item number four thank you very much so all right uh I I did see some some people come in um during that presentation uh if you missed it just just FYI item number two um the proposal for 114 Barett Avenue has been continued to the April um 9th planning board meeting so if you're here specifically for that project um that project will not be heard tonight it has been continued item number four on tonight's agenda um is cdbg uh which is Community Development block grant hearing um announcement for fiscal year 2025 and fiscal year 2026 Community Development block grants available funds requests for competitive application funding

proposals how many do we have on this just one so was that how how many grants are we hearing tonight so we're we're trying to find grants to apply for so we're looking for ideas tonight okay how how many ideas are we hearing tonight uh I'm not sure yeah okay whoever's in the okay hi good evening can you state your name yes hi H good evening so my name is Maria Rosa takuma from CBD project manager from North Providence yes takuma ta t a k thank you Maria Rosa so the presentation today for the hearing public hearing is to be able to announce H more formally about the CBG funding that we do have available for cities and towns 33 cities and towns of the 39 and the rhod island will be able to compete formally for uh funding from py23 and p24 which was the years who will be competing right now and basically it is about uh different funding for different type of projects so one of the areas that we want to be able to talk about it for CBG and what is important for the town to be able to pursue to it is the art funding granted for cities and towns there are actually no entitled communities which is our case we are no enti community and we will be able to participate for uh funding in py23 of 5,429

$837,000 you know million dollar so and five in py 24 it would be 5,655 and $134 so those are around like more than $10,000 101 million that we will be able to participate and it will be two years of P to participation because of last year they didn't launch the competition as usually they do every year sometimes they happen they doing it every two years um and the rolling applications they do have rolling applications in different uh sectors for example affordable housing which will be an lmh which is the part of the goals for helping housing opportunities we did have in the town because we didn't count with that um data for here and we we don't we don't personally as nor Providence and have an office who will be able to help in all of these constituents so we are doing through the CBD so CBG is one of the tools the major have been using in order to supply the needs for the centiles and as well for the constituents of nor Providence what we do in the CBG office is to be able to gather people teach them how to be able to have affordable opportunities for housing and as well renting problems that they have in all this type of items in the housing market as you know it's been very fluctuant and it's more harder to be able to afford rent or buy a house or fix a house we help them and we have right here last year and we do a workshop with homeowners renters public and everybody else to teach them how to be able to get access

to these opportunities how to be able to you know work around with you know with uh the different agencies that we recommending to it so we using other agencies that we are actually in our toolbox to be able to refer them and help them guide in through the process that's part that we do in our affordable housing part and the economic development part which is the job creation and the residential Rehabilitation part as well we refer them to it and we giv them you know to the public uh regular meeting for it and this competition although we have the opportunity to actually change some items that we can be able to do and this meeting is about um to know h heard the public which projects they will f that we will need to get attending to it and which ones we want to compete so I'm the person who was in charge to put together the package to competitions towards presenting the state federal level so we can be able to get awarded War you know get award their grants and be able to get the process not only to compete and to win the funding but as well to get into the part where I helping everybody who will want to compete which will be nonprofit organizations organizations that want to participate into it project from our town that we want to in tell as the public that we want to be able to improve for for example public facilities that we need to get attention to it or areas of development that we want to be able to enhance in in our city and towns and and that sense and this Hing is basically so the public will be able to speak the major in Fe did in the last council meeting in February he announced about these CBG grants will coming over the CBD grants

in February we have a meeting in the February 11 with all managers of the cities and towns where actually was announced the competitions um saying that right now we are announcing today actually the governor mck actually announced today official the competitions for every everybody even though we are as a North Province very proactive and we already working on it and the call that we did have in February 3rd with the major and the major open to all constituents to be able to participate one of the constituents who participate is the organization of forger so I will be announced to forgery they already developed the project that they want to Pro my goal and my job as North Providence um CBG project manager is to help every every different group organization or member or get the projects from the city working together help them to develop that proposal so we can be able to win and you will see part of what it have been done with them and how we can manage all these projects and and this part I want to just be able to just mention one more thing and is the C limits the C limits is for the applications um we we don't have a limit but we would like to limit it to 500,000 at most because that's for years that we are participating that we have more successful applications so and and that public facilities and improvements the towns will have three proposal for three p year uh which is important for us because we can tackle different areas uh for essential Services um up to four proposals which can be able to get considered Consolidated individual or

nonprofit requests uh for planning we had one proposal allowed to be able to participate all this proposal has to be aligned with the national objected eligibility criteria which must be Bond and be able to participate and have the required foll not only to win the project but as well to develop the project and pursue the project Until the End um as well for um so as well I think that is important to be able to know because these different categories that we have we can actually be able to compete and formulate projects project that I've been talking to the mayor directly and he have interest into it but you guys are the public and we want to be able to know which ones are the projects that you guys want to pursue if there any other project that you guys perhaps and sorry I give you my back I don't want to give you my back to anybody um just please be sure the you guys your voice will be heard all these projects will be actually condensed together in this Gathering today as a hearing the project will be have proposals proposals will will do by a a date um we have a date of April 7 for all project submissions for public for public selection ER April 7 I received all those proposals and the planning and Department envelop seals so we can open it up presented to the second public hearing so the public will be selecting which project they want to go for competition um the April 9 will be the second public hearing I believe is the April 9 the second okay thank thank you

thank you Brent and and then in the April 9 we will select in here in public which the projects are actually you guys feeli and the town on North Providence field they are already in the level to be presenting in Pursuit those teams they are selected I will be personally guiding through but more toor in order to competition April May 6 the project will be presenting to the ccil um will be able to get the resolution approval and in May 13 is when the town has to submit for the federal and state H applications and and that's when there are applications do and our order we will be able to have all the towns um participants who wherever are selected in are meeting in May 6 they will have to be able to giving us the all all the proposals already way I mean they will be selected in April 9 I'm sorry for the second meeting and in April in in the end of April they will be actually be able to provide us to us so we can submit it to the estate and and as well in federal so we can comply with the May 6 um deadline May 13 deadline you open the public hearing any any so just to reiterate what Maria has said so far this is a public hearing tonight for cdbg uh you're able to propose projects tonight that are able to get funding from the state or the federal government really uh to fund these projects uh we'll be holding one public hearing tonight uh if you want to think about it and come back with a proposal we will be holding another public hearing on April 9th at 6m and um on that note do you want to open it up to the public abely and then

and so did you mind if I complemented two two more items um the projects that the major will like to be able to um consider from the public it will be projects in central Dale area because he feels the central Dale area will need some beautification projects and Lighty projects they can be able to use this type of funding perhaps uh projects for a naughty Park and because they need parking back there in the area and he would like to be able maybe to work work into those areas um as well he would like to be able to see if you guys um want to propose any other projects and they have other projects that he feels that is important but he wants to hurt the public he doesn't want to impose any projects um any District business or anything like that we do have however one of the organizations who already proposed one of their projects so we want to hear from the public we want to hear from the agency what is they proposing and the public will be able to know if this project that this agency is already working and I have been working with them that's the first agency come through H to asking for the city for the town or Province to help them since a February meeting last council meeting so I did you mind if you heard them the proposal so now you know exactly how that goes and the public will be see if project made sense as well what other projects they want to suggest how many projects do you have prior to the public hearing beginning for the public hearing this is the only so far they have been come to us and then um well they'll be wouldn't they be just part of the only one project so far so we're gonna Maria thank you so much for that explanation um we we are going to open it up to the

public hearing the um the project that that that you have um uh tandem with is is more than welcome to participate in the public hearing so um with that uh 6:50 p.m. we're going to open the public hearing um to uh allow uh proposed projects to be um s heard tonight uh that are applicable to the um Community Development block grant uh applications thank you so I want to introduce uh first the first project which will be Maria mar mar this is a public comment so good evening Chuck Pollock Town Council District 2 which represents Douglas Avenue down to merville um I'm here to advocate for the people in merville to get some grant money we need beautification we need lighting um we have sidewalks that could use attention some Street ways could use attention I didn't hear marville mentioned it all in the presentation I speak for myself I speak for councilman family gletty who unfortunately couldn't be here nor our council president AEL who's council at large but we would like to be have a seat at the table to represent the people in marille um you come into to North Providence Chow Street pet Lincoln we need lighting we need proper signage we need beautification we need to assess the sidewalks in that neighborhood we need to assess the streets in that neighborhood we have a little bit of open space maybe some beautification over there but we would like to respectfully have a seat at that table so we could represent the people of our district I didn't hear them mention tonight but I'm here to advocate for that and I'd like to be you know notified of the next meeting and

anything we could do to meet with whoever to discuss this in the future so uh along that line I would like to just uh make you aware today actually I um I F that an application to apply for $200,000 for beautification for the Charles Street Corridor so that's right up your I appreciate that sobody didn't know that and I I can give you updates on that appreciate you doing that but we would still like to have a seat with this some of this grant money of course to have the people in District Two primarily marville but all district two but we like uh I think this was discussed before I got on the council a few years ago and I don't know what came of we have a lot of lighting that's out we need proper lighting for the down Chow Street further down M Spring Avenue comes from the Tucket but like I said we'd like to have a seat at that table maybe consideration for some grant money we can discuss from there BR doesn't the application get approved by the council so yeah the application will eventually have to be uh there's a resolution that's I just want to public put that out because I didn't hear marville mentioned at all yeah so um yeah um we propose a rization project appreciate your time absolutely thank you thank you thank you how are you Melissa sampo s a m p a IO and I'm with the moms of Maryville we are a um nonprofit Food Pantry on the merville side of town um we would just like the opportunity to be considered for the simple fact that you know all the big people get considered there's just two of us but we're the first ones that the school calls when you social workers find out that kids come in with no coats kids come in with no school supplies there's food insecurities in the house you know we respond that day we bring them food we bring them

everything they need um Christmas last year we helped 225 children um we helped when the school only adopted one child and not the other children in the family and the parents didn't know where the other gifts were coming from um we helped at Thanksgiving the mayor was generous this year helping us but normally we do the funding all our on our own and fundraising has been even more difficult since covid than ever before um you know we Supply them with turkeys we Supply them with an entire basket not only to make breakfast Thanksgiving morning the next morning and their entire meal um for that day we provide them with food at Christmas when they pick up their gifts um so we try to be 247 year round someone calls us they need food food within a half hour we're meeting them we're giving them food um it's harder and harder to supply food to the families that we're finding so we just want to know if it's an option for us to be considered yes thank you thank you good evening hi state your name Kieran odonnell k i e r n a n k Kieran yep last name odonnell good evening thank you members of the board uh I have the pleasure of coming before you again uh I work for the Fogerty Center we're a local 501c3 nonprofit We have uh two locations in town one on wosco Tucket and one on the Char Street Corridor actually on volno street and uh we have successfully partnered with the town of North Providence twice already on two cdbg grants in py 17 and 18 the first one was called employment first we support adults children and everyone in between

with disabilities and the employment concept was to empower people to be able to be supported to be out part of the working class like anyone else there is a huge investment that we had spent successfully in training of our staff to have them nationally certified and best practice standards and also being able to engage with local business businesses it really is a win-win with our two customer approach when we Empower people with disabilities to be part of working class like anyone else we're lessening their Reliance upon both state and federal uh subsidies and funds while they're also paying into the system by way of taxes and also creating economic stimulus with the money that they earn spending it in local businesses in our community so we thought it appropriate to pursue a sister Grant in py8 called travel training and this was to enable people to be as independent as possible going to and from the places that they actually work in the community it also helped freed up capacity with our team so that we could serve more people both within the greater Province North Area and especially during the pandemic uh kept people out working in essential businesses so we're very proud of of those initiatives and the success again we've had partnering with the town of North Providence cdbg we're very grateful for both the mayor's support as well as uh the town planning board in the past and we really look forward to continuing our partnership to which I'll will pass it off to Heather our coo and talk about py4 in py23 funds for infrastructure thank you good evening my name is Heather algae Al G um and as key said I'm the chief operating officer at the Fogerty Center um we're going to be talking about our application is specific to the building that we refer to as the pacillo building is the pillo it's p i c c I'm sorry p i c i l l o

pillo um it's located at two volno Street in North Providence um so we as key had mentioned we um we're the largest nonprofit agency in the state providing um support for people with developmental disabilities we were established in 1952 um we had a grand 70th Anniversary a couple years ago brought everybody in um but we were originally started as a Grassroots effort by families of people with developmental disabilities who needed Support Services um we were we named the agency we dedicated it to Johnny Fogerty he was a congressman who he took Human Service legislation um to a whole new level on the federal side um which we definitely benefited from in Rhode Island in 2017 the Johnny Fogerty Center combined with the ocean state Community Resources to merge into the company that we know as today which is the ferty center we provide support to over 2300 people with developmental disabilities um in which we have a Workforce of 400 four 4,000 employees so over 70 years we have shifted our services to meet the needs of the people we support as well as to support different changing Styles within the state and the country um um in 2020 during the pandemic many traditional center-based congregate care day programs closed their doors um at the same time the state of Rhode Island was also engaged with a consent decree with the state you know with the state of Rhode Island the Department of Justice to further uh community supports and employment services for people with disabilities so in 2020 we closed the doors um to the pillo building we did keep open um we leased a portion of that building to uh a day a daycare a child

daycare so that remained opened but the portion where we had day Services did close in 2020 um we have decided that we want to return and we we have since returned to them so what we're hoping for um with the pacillo building is we have really two goals um one is we want to centralize our clinical support team so our clinical support team um up until very recently within the last month they were located at multiple offices throughout the state we might have a behavior specialist at one location and a nurse at another and a community Le on at another and while we love email and zoom and all those types of things we did see a significant value to bring us all Under One Roof and so we did that um we we actually all just moved in probably about a month ago um and it's great we we have lunch together we we strategize things that you would never be able to pass along over email um have been really nice we actually all went out last Friday um for for drinks and apps over at Arna and that was a lot of fun to to welcome into the community so the other goal is to bring back our day Services um we are hopeful that we can do that within the next couple of years the reason why it's going to take us a little bit of time is because again day Services have changed changed over the years traditionally day Services would be congregate care you might have multiple people in one room um doing some type of inhome activity or in or in building activities today day services are much more person centered they're one-on-one oftentimes very Community Based many times we are really just kind of looking for a location for people to maybe touch base in the morning see what they're going to do for the day go forth in the community maybe stop back at lunchtime and then go back

out again um so it's really nice to have an opportunity for that so in doing so the building traditionally has been large classroom style rooms we would be looking for things that are more are smaller and really more specific to the task that the people are going to be working on whether it be computer building skills or maybe a sensory room um opposed to just group uh rooms um on the third page is a copy of the current floor plan for the building the blue side is the original portion of the building that was we built in 1988 and then in 2006 we had um some significant support from Senator Reed to put an addition onto that building the addition which in this packet I do refer to as the east side of the building that is what we currently lease to a daycare there are some on here um regarding the construction date the square footage the occupancy I did just want to mention the occupancy is an estimate as we have not had we have not utilized many of those rooms over the years and so we have recently reached out uh to the town to bring someone out to get a more accurate number on there but there's a little bit of information on here as far as um where the the building is located so again it's at two Vol herno Street it there's there's a church right across the street from us it's right along the Canada river um I I'm not I'm not I don't not live in North Providence um I actually commute from hopkington every day and so I'm learning it all myself um I mispronounced maraville many many times um and but I'm getting it so I was it was really nice to hear past presenters and the the town council member talk about wanting to beautify the area um we agree I I think that there there's a lot

of potential I was I did know it in here I looked on realor.com just to get some more background information and it seems like there's a lot of potential there um my office is there now and it's very quiet um I see geese walking by my my office every day and it's it's very nice out there um okay so on the next page we're just talking about stage one how we centralized the the clinical support team so the portion shaded in purple um that is the area of the building that we renovated for for that stage one uh we actually started planning last summer for it and then construction started last December it went very quickly uh we were able to move in in early February so we've been there for about a month now um and it was fully financed by the Fogerty Center for that project the next two pages are just some before and after photos so um it can give you just a little bit of taste about about how we able to transform this portion of the building um we we've been using the building ever since then um many of the people that we support who live in our group homes or they have apartments nearby they've been coming by we had a number of people stop in today and it it's just it's so nice to be so close to the people that we support um as K had mentioned we do have the building on W askot taket as well um so that has always been a nice area but I think just in Rhode Island it's it's so nice to at an arms length from everything and so people have really appreciated having the space on volno street so for stage two that is where um we are coming in with the cdbg request so for stage two we want to bring the day programming back um again on this presentation there are purple shaded areas to show you where I'm hoping to do

some work for that building so for stage two we actually have it broken down into two different sections the first one is going to be to replace the roof as well as to fully renovate one of the multi-stall bathrooms um as far as the roof goes it is about 20 years old um and we have been patching it significantly I think over the last few years it's been kind of almost like a wacko mole situation um depending on the way the storms are and we're kind of now that we've put a significant amount of money into a portion of the building when I come in and I see um you know ceiling tiles that have water on them it's it's very frustrating so but we are doing our best and we have um our Roofing compan out there all the time as far as the multi-stall bathroom goes um it is original from 1988 and so there are many updates that need to be done in order to make a ADA Compliant the second part of stage two is actually going to be renovating the program spaces um to meet the needs of today's day Services taking large style classrooms and actually building walls and dividing them up and so they're not such significantly um so big the estimated occupancy we hope to support um 60 plus people in that building again people will come and go They're not going to be there all day and we'll have about 42 support staff um on hand on the next page key talks about um our past support with cdbg uh you know receiving those grants have really brought us to the next level with Employment Services um Employment Services is something that we have always taken quality over quantity and so when you actually take a person take their take their strengths take their goals and then you go find them a job instead of just plucking a job out and trying to match a person to it it takes a lot of work um there's a lot of training that goes in both for the

person receiving services to gain independence with Transportation as well as for the support staff on how to best assist someone with navigating Employment Services on the following page it just talks about how um so really for stage 2A is what we're looking for for the cdbg it's going to be the renovation it's going to be the renovation of the roof as well as the multi-stall bathroom um I'm going when in here I do have a couple of quotes that I've already received that just talks about all everything that will be required there is some drainage that needs to be done in the bathroom um replacing the roof adding a little bit of a pitch so that way we can help with some drainage on it it is a flat roof um a flat rubber roof and so we want to put a little bit of a pitch just to help some of the drainage on there and an estimated budget and again the purple just shows exactly where those bathrooms are on there regarding timeline and Milestones so I'm the kind of person that I typically only look as far as my nose and so so to look into winter of 2026 just seems light years away for me but I I recognize especially the project that we've done so far at picillo you blink your eye and before you know it it is um next year so so this is kind of where we are now um the support the clinical support team including myself we are in pillo so we are as of today we are on time um submitting the application for this hopefully um if it does get approved then we can start construction this fall this winter um and then following then then when we would be taking a step at the the next stage on there so um I will say that many of these documents that you have on here um we've put a lot of effort into these documents but I can say for myself that I I know the Fogerty Center I don't know cdbg grants and I definitely don't know anything about roofs and I've been learning but I will

say that many of these are still in a draft form so I'm sure that over the next few weeks before we actually do submit the final application um things will be changed and and I would welcome any sort of feed feedback um that you may have about things that you know as far as especially regarding roofs I really don't know too much I've been leaning on many many other people to get that information so um there are a couple other documents that are in here we do have a draft of our RFP um again I appreciate Cade for really just looking online and just scouring everything we can get about how to best support and how to develop an RFP and then the other one is going to be an intake form so we've as you as you've heard we've submitted previous cdbg grants um and we were able to utilize the fact that the people that we support are all receive Medicaid funding um it is presumed that they are all going to be lowincome and so we're hopeful that we can actually use that intake form um to show the income levels for the people that we support so um with that I I know it was very lengthy um we are open to any questions feedback um comments that that the planning board has I don't have any questions at this time but I do um want to acknowledge the the the effort um that it took your organization to prepare this um document and uh just your time tonight in explaining the the services that F Center um does provide and um specifically um your your um your goal in the um opening up the pillo building again um but I'll open up to my fellow board members if you guys have any questions or comments at this time I'm hearing none so thank you very much thank you very much thank

you so the public hearing for um the cdbg uh Grant applications is still open if there's anybody else in the public that um uh would like to speak or have a um Grant application in mind or a project please do so now I'm seeing none so we'll close the public hearing at 711 okay um next on the agenda is review of the Capital Improvements budget um like we can't hear you can you come up Maria one team regarding the CBG the I forgot to mention the early presentation that the major want to consider is the historical society building the roof is about to you know to collapse so they are in very precour conditions and he would like to have the public to be able to know if that will be another project that they will be like to be able to include into this CBG rounding so that way they can help them because they haven't reached out thank you thank you thanks for updating us on on the three projects that the mayor yep has in mind um okay item number five um on tonight's agenda Capital Improvement budget recommendation to the Town Council regarding the town's Capital Improvement budget fiscal year year uh 2026 to 2030 uh we do have the um proposed budget in our packet and um Brent can you remind me um who um prepares this budget so I prepare this budget um all the department heads throughout Town send me their proposals I compile it

into this spreadsheet um and yeah I invited all the uh department heads tonight but unfortunately I don't see me here so so you're you're you collect the data that is given to you and um organize it in this Matrix um all the information here is is provided to you by other departments and nobody you know is anybody from um the town departments who prepared or provided um for this budget present and would like to um present I'm seeing none um well I think um the precedent is for this board in regarding this specific agenda item is that it's uh very challenging for us to understand I think um the Genesis of of um uh of the budgets and the various line items without um without being I think better informed or presented to us um but I'll open up for discussion um we can start on this side Steve uh no questions no thank you no questions Warren do you have any thoughts or questions on the matter um no no um Brent thank you for inviting the various departments to come and and present um uh they elected not to so

um again this is just a re recommendation to the council I think in in years past um oh I'm sorry there is no public hearing this correct no there's no public no public hearing so okay if you can if if we can so um I think in years past we have had precedent where uh where're we have three options here um or a positive recommendation um a negative recommendation of course both of those can come with comment um and I do believe the third is um neutral no recommend no recommendation um so I'll open up to uh my planning board members to ponder that discuss and and or make a motion I think in in years past Brent correct me if I'm wrong we've never had any department heads here we haven't I've uh I believe the board initially started requesting the department heads attend the meeting um maybe three years ago but since then I've invited them every year and appar we don't have any attendance yeah which is disappointing y the only comment that I have is uh um

this is the capital Improvement budget this is we're looking ahead Five Years on what it's going to cost us and I'm going to say that most of the Departments have uh they continue to budget themselves a certain amount each year building up to the point where uh I brought it up last year I remember Library wanted to buy a $200 typewriter and they put in the budget every year for $40 or something so that when they got enough money they buy the typ r uh um some of the Departments just okay we need $200,000 this year for this one item instead of budgeting um you know is it our job to police this before it gets to the council or is it do we do um we make note that some departments have not budgeted for the capital Improvement budget over a a fiscal over fiscal periods um waren I I don't I don't know necessarily that it is our responsibility to to polias the the budget I think we're we're found in a um in a in a in a challenging um spot that uh we we we see line items and uh budget allocated to the line items yet we we have no further explanation other than other than what's presented to us on on paper um so do we we give it um a positive and send it to the council and say hey we approve what they are doing but we I I don't me personally I I I don't see how we can make a recommendation in in one manner or the other

um without without further information so in years past previously we we have um voted for uh not to provide a recommendation to the council with a note that said says that you have no context correct um um so so my suggestion would be that um we could uh make a motion to um uh not decline to to decline to recommend um decline to provide a recommendation to the Town Council with comment that we have no context to um the budget presented before us so do I hear a motion I I'll make that motion and do I have a second second um all in favor I any opposed I'm hearing none the eyes have it that takes us through our agenda for tonight um do I hear a motion to um I don't know Brent do you have any was it right no report uh do I hear a motion to adour so moved do I have a second second all in favor I any opposed none thank you very much members of the public for joining us tonight