High rating for E. Greenwich

EAST GREENWICH — The town has learned that Standard & Poor’s rating agency has bumped up the municipality’s bonds to AA+, giving East Greenwich the highest S&P rating of any city or town in the state. The town had sought review from S&P and another rating agency, Moody’s, in order to prepare for the sale of roughly $6 million in sewer construction bonds, Town Manager William Sequino Jr. said. Moody’s, which uses different designations for its ratings schedule, kept the town at Aa2, which is the highest ranking that Moody’s has currently assigned to a select few communities in Rhode Island. In upgrading East Greenwich, S&P officials said the decision was based on “the town’s very strong income and property wealth measures and strong financial position.” In its report on the town, it describes East Greenwich as an “affluent suburban community” with strong income levels and sound municipal management that has allowed the town to grow its unreserved general fund balance to nearly $5 million.

Grants to help build parks

Plans to build public parks in three South County towns are moving forward on a surer financial footing this fall, thanks to three $100,000 grants that were recently announced by the state Department of Environmental Management. The money is earmarked for projects in Narragansett, Hopkinton and Richmond, adding to money raised through local contributions. The Narragansett grant is helping to pay for the Casino Courtyard at The Towers, a project that will replicate a courtyard that was outside the historic Towers on Ocean Road before the catastrophic casino fire of Sept. 12, 1900. Also receiving $100,000 is the Depot Square Park plan in the Hope Valley section of Hopkinton that is expected to complement the village’s rich history with a wall of etched quotes about local history, a memorial fountain with a cast-iron urn that was once part of a horse trough at the village’s train depot and a memorial sidewalk made up of individually engraved pavers along Mechanic Street. The third $100,000 grant is going to the Knowles Mill Park project in the Shannock section of Richmond. The park, on the site of the former Knowles Mill, is expected to provide public access to the Pawcatuck River and a footbridge over the river, connecting Richmond and Charlestown.

Hopkinton land snafu

HOPKINTON — Plans to build a park on a triangular tract next to the Hope Valley-Wyoming fire station at the intersection of Spring, Main and Mechanic streets are on hold due to an ownership discrepancy. The announcement came just one day after Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony. The proposed park –– to be known as the Depot Square Park as it was the site of the former Wood River Branch Railroad’s depot –– would comprise two lots, one owned by the volunteer fire district and another whose ownership is in question. Geoffrey A. Marchant, director of East Greenwich’s Community Development Consortium, which manages the project said, “Both the fire district and Mr. [John O.] Matson appear to have warranty deeds to the … land that makes up the rear of the Depot Square Park.” The district’s board of directors and Matson are now negotiating a possible settlement by which the fire district would grant Matson a perpetual easement on its land so that he and the tenants at his Mechanic Street office building can park to the side of Matson’s building. In exchange, Matson would grant the district a quitclaim deed to the land in question, giving up any interest on the land.

Town plaza proposed

EAST GREENWICH — A local developer hopes to transform a poorly used portion of Greene Street into a piazza with quaint cafes and specialty food shops that rivals De Pasquale Square on Federal Hill in Providence. Realtor and developer Leonard Iannuccilli, owner of ReMAX Realtors on Main Street, said he envisions a cozy patio with a fountain, benches, pavers and businesses such as a wine store, a gourmet food store, a cooking school, perhaps an art gallery and ample parking, all called the Courtyard on Greene. “East Greenwich doesn’t have anything like that. It will offer a lot what Main Street merchants have, but it will have parking,” said Iannuccilli. The developer and his partners, his brother, David Iannuccilli, and Joseph Palumbo, under the name 620 Main Street Associates, are set to go before the Planning Board on Nov. 5 for master plan approval.

Developer suing Providence over land

PROVIDENCE — A development group including former Mayor Joseph R. Paolino Jr. is suing the city to block Carpionato Properties from gobbling up part of the street in front of the site of the former fruit and produce terminal on Harris Avenue. Carpionato, of Johnston, knocked down the historical terminal in January after a controversial city ruling that the building was unsafe and had to be destroyed. The developer wants to build a large hotel, office and retail complex but needs extra land because the site is long and narrow. The city recently agreed to sell Carpionato a slice of Harris Avenue for $350,000, allowing the developer to narrow an 800-foot-long section of the street. Carpionato also plans to realign the intersection of Harris and Providence Place. That has aroused the ire of Paolino, who is part of the ownership group for the 903, a 200-unit condominium and apartment complex directly across the street from the site. The group, Athena Providence Place, filed suit in Superior Court alleging that narrowing the street and building a parking lot close to the windows of many luxury condo owners, would lower property values and would entitle the owners to damages. Athena, of New York, and Paolino paid $81 million for the 903 in 2005.

N. Smithfield proposal calls for wetlands

NORTH SMITHFIELD — An economic development plan for Branch Village envisions the existing houses, duplexes and triple-deckers mixed in with small shops and stores, some with apartments on their second floors. But before they can build that new Branch Village, they have to build a swamp. The town is seeking a $174,800 grant from the state Department of Environmental Management to construct a manmade wetland that will serve as a biological filter for storm water that runs off Route 146A in the village before ending up in the Branch River. John Flaherty of the Branch Village Task Force said the wetland will do more than just naturally treat the storm water before it reaches the Branch River. He said the revitalization task force is developing a more detailed presentation for the Town Council, a presentation it hopes to make on Oct. 6. One main sticking point in the plan is whether the redevelopment agency that would oversee land development in the village should have the power of eminent domain — when the government can compel the sale of a piece of property whether the buyer wants to sell or not.

Synagogue moving to East Greenwich

EAST GREENWICH — Rabbi Amy Levin, who heads the Temple Torat Yisrael, marvels at the idea that her house of worship will be the first synagogue in a town more than three centuries old. The temple, a Cranston fixture since the 1950s, will move to a 6-acre parcel on Middle Road, west of Route 2, in a scenic and residential area of town. Temple officials say the move is to better serve the growing number of members who have moved to the suburbs, particularly East Greenwich, the Cowesett section of Warwick, North Kingstown, West Greenwich and Coventry. “This is an area in a town that began back [before] the 1700s. It’s an exciting thing to contemplate,” Levin said during preparations for Rosh Hashanah. “It’s certainly one of the things we talked about when we focused on the point of growth of the Jewish population, in a town that has never had a synagogue. It adds a historical significance to what we are doing.”

New owners for 360 acres in Hopkinton

HOPKINTON –– In two minutes, 360 acres exchanged hands –– on paper –– for $3 million. The land off Dye Hill Road, which had been pitched for more than a decade as a potential golf course and residential development, was auctioned off this week. Bidders were the mortgage holder (and new owner) David S. Allen of Realty Financial Partners, based in Wellesley, Mass.; and Michael Nardella, a Coventry developer who participated via telephone. But Nardella bowed out when the $2-million starting bid was announced. He later said he was hoping to bid up to $1.8 million. The closing is set for Nov. 3 at noon. Allen said that he is already talking to others interested in purchasing the property, including the state Department of Environmental Management. W. Michael Sullivan, director of the state Department of Environmental Management, said his department is interested in buying the land, which abuts the Arcadia Management Area.

Fate of marina still uncertain

EAST GREENWICH — The sun has set on another boating season with no decision on whether a popular marina on Greenwich Cove can remain open because it’s situated on a public right-of-way to the waterfront. For more than a year Kenneth W. Harris, who has owned and operated the Harris Marina for 29 years, has been waiting to hear from town officials or the Coastal Resources Management Council on the fate of his small harbor, home to about 50 boats during peak season. But things appear to stand nearly exactly as they did a year ago: the town says it’s up to the CRMC to decide whether to close the marina or leave it open, and the CRMC says the town is at fault for not taking action sooner and that the decision now rests with them. Reached at his home in Florida, Harris, who is 73, said he has no intention of closing down. He and his wife, Judy, are due back at his marina at the end of the month to close up his docks for the winter.

Condos off the table in North Providence

NORTH PROVIDENCE — Plans by a pair of developers to build 42 luxury condominiums at a 5-acre site behind the Knights of Columbus hall on Mineral Spring Avenue have fallen by the wayside. But if the Town Council agrees, the property could become the home of a new supermarket. Edward Civito, the town’s director of planning, has confirmed that Kevin O’Sullivan and Edward Imondi, who won preliminary approval from the Planning Board in August 2006 to build 42 duplexes and condominiums on the site that was once home to a salvage yard, have decided not to build. “Isn’t the reason obvious?” Civito said, referring to the plunge in the housing market, which has particularly affected sales of condominium units in North Providence over the last couple years. However, early last month, the development firm Churchill & Banks went before the Planning Board seeking preliminary approval for the construction of 40,000-square-foot retail store, initially described on the agenda as a Stop & Shop market. The developers would need a zone change from the Town Council, since only the front portion of the land is zoned for commercial use. Former Town Solicitor Robert Ciresi, a lawyer for Churchill & Banks, said the initial description of the proposed store as a Stop & Shop was premature, and that all the developers intend is to build a grocery store.