01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, April 15, 2006

RIVER LAND PROTECTED

PROVIDENCE -- A price tag of $555,000 for 62 acres of undeveloped riverfront, by any standards, is a steal. But that is just what the state Department of Environmental Management found in the towns of Foster and Glocester. The State Properties Committee on Tuesday approved the DEM's request to enter a purchase and sales contract for four parcels that straddle the boundary between the two towns. The land is owned by members of the Tucker family, who have owned parts of the property since 1928.

When the deal is finalized, it would be another milestone in the creation of a continuous swath of green along the Ponaganset River, according to Lisa Primiano, supervisor of the DEM's land conservation program. The goal is to create a greenway spanning the length of the river to protect one of the most popular recreational fishing rivers in the state and also one of the main tributaries of the Scituate Reservoir. The reservoir provides water for more than 600,000 state residents, according to the DEM. Conservation groups, including the DEM, Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy and the Foster Land trust have a combined 750 acres along the river. The new acquisition would increase the amount of protected land along the river to more than 800 acres.

COMMUNITY FARMERS SOUGHT

EAST GREENWICH -- The tenants of the town's historic Briggs-Boesch Farm are inviting people to invest in summertime and the good earth of East Greenwich. For the second year in a row, the farm is operating a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, under which people buy shares in the farm in return for a full growing season of bounty that ranges from radishes to raspberries. The shares, which the farm is selling now, cost $525 and entitle participants to 20 weeks of fresh-grown produce from June through October.

There is no set quantity to the weekly harvests, but farmer Erik Eacker said there is always an ample supply of fresh organic vegetables, augmented later in the summer by raspberries and melons. Early in the summer, he said, shareholders will find broccoli, beets, lettuce, spinach and scallions, while July and August will give them onions, tomatoes, garlic, peppers, basil and melons. The program is open to residents from all communities. Those interested in signing up may call Eacker at (401) 884-5118 or visit the farm's Web site, www.ledgeendsproduce.com.

UTILITY SALE INTERVENTION

TIVERTON -- Like two state agencies and two other municipalities, the town has filed a request to intervene in the proposed sale of New England Gas to National Grid, Town Solicitor Andrew Teitz told the Town Council this week. The sale requires the approval of the state Division of Public Utilities and Carriers. Teitz said he thinks the sale should be contingent on the approval of a plan for remediation of contaminated soil in the Bay Street neighborhood of North Tiverton as well as the creation of an escrow account with money to pay for the cleanup. The state Department of Environmental Management, which has filed its own motion to intervene, cited New England Gas as the agent responsible for the contamination about three years ago. The DPUC has scheduled a hearing on the motions to intervene for April 25. Besides the DEM and the town, would-be intervenors include Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch, the cities of Providence and East Providence, and the organization representing the Bay Street residents, ENACT (Environmental Neighborhood Awareness Committee of Tiverton.)

NEW CEMENT, ASPHALT PLANTS OUTLAWED

CRANSTON -- Responding to complaints from a Western Cranston neighborhood, the City Council has unanimously passed an ordinance outlawing new cement and asphalt plants in the city. The ordinance was drafted in response to a recent proposal by D'Ambra Construction Co. to establish a rock-crushing and cement-mixing operation on Plainfield Pike.

The council took the action, by an 8-to-0 vote, at its March 27 meeting, with Councilman John E. Lanni Jr. absent due to illness. (Lanni had co-sponsored the ordinance.) Although the city solicitor advised against the measure, saying it could be vulnerable to a court challenge, Mayor Stephen P. Laffey allowed it to become law last week without his signature.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING ZONING PROPOSED

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- The town has historically blended working class with wealthy homeowners. In a move meant to preserve that diversity as house prices climb, the Planning Board is recommending that zoning regulations requiring developers to include low- and moderate-income housing in their projects be adopted. The board on Tuesday night agreed to forward proposed "inclusionary zoning" regulations to the Town Council. The town's affordable-housing plan identified inclusionary zoning as a key strategy for reaching the state's goal that 10 percent of housing in each community be classified as affordable by 2025.

Currently 5.2 percent of South Kingstown's housing -- or 497 units -- meet the state's criteria, 459 units short of the goal. A housing unit must have a government subsidy, which can include a density bonus, in order to be considered affordable in Rhode Island. The median price for a single-family house in South Kingstown was $374,000. The proposed changes to the zoning ordinance would require that 20 percent of all subdivisions of six or more lots be affordable to people of low and moderate income. Developers would be granted density bonuses to offset the cost of building the affordable units.

WATER PLANT CONSTRUCTION SLIPS FURTHER

PAWTUCKET -- Construction of the city's new water treatment plant has fallen so far behind schedule that the $45-million project isn't expected to be finished until late December, Earth Tech, the company hired to build the plant, says. The news, delivered in closed session at a Water Supply Board meeting Tuesday evening, shocked and dismayed Water Supply Board members, who had been bracing themselves for a delayed opening but never imagined the plant would be finished so late.

Dawn Pace, a spokeswoman for Earth Tech, said a number of factors have contributed to the delay, among them the need to remove arsenic-contaminated soil, the difficulty of scheduling subcontractors on the crowded construction site, and delays obtaining stainless-steel pipe. "Earth Tech is engaged in ongoing negotiations with the Pawtucket Water Supply Board," about the delay, Pace said from company headquarters in Long Beach, Calif. "We are having productive discussions and expect to reach an agreement."

ANTI-JUNK CAR ORDINANCE MEETS OPPOSITION

WARREN -- Farmers and car enthusiasts have come out in opposition to a proposed junk-auto ordinance. In a public comment forum this week for the ordinance, which targets unregistered, unserviceable and undriveable cars that some neighbors claim have become eyesores in the town, residents asked where officials stand concerning old farm vehicles and antique cars. Such vehicles are not included in the proposal, but building official Bill Nash said both items would be exempt in a revision of the ordinance, which he developed after receiving several calls a week from residents upset over unsightly junk cars in neighboring yards.

Currently, residents can leave old cars on their property for as long as they want, as long as the car is registered. Under Nash's proposal, all cars must be registered, have a valid inspection sticker and be drivable to be stored or kept on visible public or private property. If the proposal is approved, officials who see or receive complaints about junk vehicles would give the owner a period of time to remove it before the vehicle is towed at the owner's expense and the owner is fined. If the vehicle remains unclaimed, the town would sell it and submit any proceeds to the town's general fund. Town Manager Michael Abbruzzi and Town Solicitor Fausto Anguilla will present the revised junk auto ordinance to the council next month.

SIGN CLUTTER CLEANUP MOVE STIRS BATTLE

SOMERSET -- Being picturesque has its price, at least in this town. The quest to clean up the clutter of business signs throughout town, many of them in violation of the town's bylaws, has sparked weeks of sometimes-bitter infighting among the Board of Selectman, the Town Administrator, and some residents. And with some local businesses and the building inspector's office playing supporting roles, the drama shows no signs of abating.

As a result, while many owners simply took down their signs, several showed up at a board meeting this week to complain. And, over the objections of town lawyer Clement Brown, who said he was reluctant to stop enforcing a law the voters had approved at Town Meeting, the board voted to ask the building inspector to delay enforcing the bylaw for 90 days.

NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT WINS AWARD

WOONSOCKET -- Eight years ago, officials at the Woonsocket Neighborhood Development Corporation sat inside an old Chinese restaurant on Front Street and stared out at the vacant lot across the street, wondering how much work it would take to convert the land to housing. Today, the once-abandoned swath is home to 43 new condominiums, office space and cozy signs of family life.

This week, Citizens Bank gave its 2006 Housing Heroes award to the Woonsocket Neighborhood Development Corporation in recognition of its work on the complex. The award, now in its second year, honors an innovative housing development -- one that shows a creative use of financial resources and leadership in creating affordable housing. The prize includes a $50,000 grant from the Citizens Bank Foundation, $10,000 of which must be used for beautification purposes at the new development.

UNION PROTESTS ALLEGED ILLEGAL WORK

PORTSMOUTH -- While workers held signs for passing cars, carpenters union organizer John P. Murphy Jr. said his group would continue demonstrating until Shawnlee Construction pays its workers standard wages. "We're not going to go away in a week or two; we'll stay on it for months or even years," he said while about 50 union workers picketed again yesterday at a Navy housing construction site in Melville, alleging that the subcontractor hires illegal immigrants, pays wages Below federal mandates and evades withholding taxes.

Murphy said the New England Regional Council of Carpenters wants the Plainville, Mass., company to give its workers the federal Davis-Bacon provision -- about $18 an hour in this region and $32 an hour including benefits -- for the project building 22 single-family houses for Navy officers. Murphy said his group, which demonstrated here last week, has talked to laborers on the site who said they were illegal and making $10 and hour.

GMH Military Housing, which is managing all of the Navy's housing in New England, hired Centex Corp. to oversee its construction projects. Centex then contracted Shawnlee, a major woodframe contractor in New England, to frame the houses. Centex senior project manager George Uschold sent a letter March 23 to GMH executive Sean Kent assuring the company that Shawnlee had performed an audit of its employees and that it did not employ any illegal immigrants or violate any federal hiring policies. In a statement released Wednesday, Centex said that all subcontractors hired by Centex "must provide a letter for each employee working on-site that confirms all minimum Federal 1-9 requirements have been met." Murphy said the National Labor Relations Board is investigating the issue.