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Landfill Operator Sues Town Over Business Park

Posted on: Thursday, 14 July 2005, 12:00 CDT

Jul. 14--JOHNSTON -- It's a mounting point of contention. A point of contention between the town and the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation has led to a lawsuit.

On more than one occasion over the past couple months, Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation has asked the town to abandon portions of four roads near the landfill, which run through parts of a planned 185-acre industrial park.

The quasi-public agency has pointed to an advisory opinion that the Planning Board issued in April, which said that abandoning portions of Scituate Avenue, DiMeo Drive, Macera Circle and Simmons Lake Drive would fit into the town's comprehensive plan. The roads are surrounded by land owned by the corporation.

But the Town Council has postponed the vote, saying it wants to see the entire park plan before it makes a decision.

The council's hesitation has prevented the corporation from moving forward with a sale-and-purchase agreement that would bring the first company to the Lake Side Commerce Park.

So the corporation last month filed a lawsuit in Superior Court, saying the town is violating the 1996 Host Community Agreement and state law, which delegates the responsibility of developing the park to the corporation.

The lawsuit, among other things, asks the court to:

--Declare the commerce park a state project that is not subject to local zoning ordinances.

--Declare that the town's involvement in and support of the park has in effect made the roads abandoned.

--Require the Town Council to approve the corporation's petitions for road abandonment.

--Declare that the town has breached the Host Community Agreement by failing to work with the corporation and failing to assist in the sale of real estate within the park.

The lawsuit was filed three days after a June 13 council meeting that was characterized by distrust.

That night, Christopher Mulhearn, the corporation's attorney, told the council that Reeb Millwork, a window manufacturer, was interested in securing land in the park. The problem was that the parcel chosen was intersected by town roads.

Before Reeb could receive the title for the lot, portions of the roads needed to be abandoned, Mulhearn said, adding that it had to be done within a short time frame in order for the company to get financing for the project.

"A crucial element is that they be able to move forward in a compressed time period," Mulhearn told the council. "If not approved, they will not come to the town of Johnston."

That prompted some council members to ask whether Mulhearn's comments were "a threat."

Members of the council, along with Democratic state Rep. Stephen Ucci, asked whether the corporation was trying to sneak the proposal through without giving the town the proper amount of information or compensation.

"The only thing I can see is that someone is trying to hide something," Councilman John DiMaio said.

"We finally have the advantage over the landfill that we have been fighting to get," Ucci said.

Although council members pledged their support for bringing businesses into the park, the responses appeared to frustrate a representative from commercial real estate brokerage firm CB Richard Ellis, which was hired to market the park.

"You have a funny way of showing it in this town," he said.

The two sides have scheduled a special meeting July 21.

And the park, a potential revenue boon for the town, remains decorated with dirt, scattered trees and rocks.

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To see more of the The Providence Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.projo.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Providence Journal, R.I.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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CBG,

Source: Providence Journal

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