NORTH SMITHFIELD – In one of few votes everyone on the board has seemed to agree on over the past term, members of the North Smithfield Town Council denied a request last week to abandon a section of a paper street in order to make way for development of two lots on Mendon Road.
Vincent Mesolella, principle of Liz Development requested the change, which would have seen a 2,794-square-foot section of undeveloped roadway utilized to make his properties less non-conforming.
“Briden Street is an unimproved public right of way but does not provide any access to any destination for public use,” noted a letter to the council signed by Mesolella.
The developer hopes to build homes on the two currently vacant lots, but area residents objected to the proposed road abandonment, including one Woonsocket neighbor who would have been landlocked by the action.
“Approval by this council would cause financial hardship if I was forced to construct a street to access the rear of my lot,” said Richard Capastran of Uxbridge, Mass., who owns another vacant property just over the town line. “It would definitely affect the value of my land. The land would be totally useless.”
Capastran also questioned who had performed a recent water study on his property, leaving behind blue flags.
“I have never authorized such a study on my land,” he said. “They trampled all over the back side of the lot.”
Also objecting at a public hearing on the developer’s request on Tuesday, Sept. 3 were several residents of Elizabeth Avenue, which sits on the opposite end of the paper road back in North Smithfield. One cited concerns that development of the properties would increase traffic.
“We just think it’s going to be unsafe for the children that are out there playing,” said Christopher Johnson, presenting a letter signed by around 20 neighborhood residents. “Someone’s going to get killed by adding more houses up there.”
Abutter Steven Gingras expressed concerns about the environmental impact.
“There’s a ton of wetlands and there’s wildlife everywhere,” said Gingras. “It’s directly behind my house.”
Mesolella disputed the idea that the project would affect traffic on the road.
“I certainly don’t think you understand what we’re proposing here,” Mesolella said, adding that some development would take place regardless of the council’s decision. “This is project has absolutely no – zero impact – on any traffic on Elizabeth Ave.”
Councilor John Beauregard questioned the wisdom of giving a piece of town-owned land to a developer. Members of the Planning Board had previously voted unanimously in favor of the proposed abandonment.
“When we do this, we do it for residents and sometimes we will allow the residents to split the road,” Beauregard said of the council’s past action regarding paper roads. “When we usually do this, it’s for people who actually live at that location and they’re getting some kind of benefit from it.”
Beauregard noted that if approved, the move would essentially amount to giving Mesolella a gift, suggesting that the council should instead get an assessment and offer the property at fair market value.
“It’s a difficult ask,” he said.
Councilor Douglas Osier agreed, also noting the council should have answers regarding who performed the water study.
“I think giving it away is probably not a good precedent,” said Osier. “I can’t vote moving forward.”
Councilor Paulette Hamilton noted that she was not comfortable making the decision without more information, particularly since she’s not running for re-election.
“For me, to make a decision right now without taking all of the other things into consideration, I think would be ill advised,” Hamilton said. “I am elected for the people. I would have to pause on this right now.”
Council President Kimberly Alves agreed.
“There’s a lot of questions that we don’t have answers to,” Alves said.
“I think it should stay status quo,” added Councilor Claire O’Hara.
Councilors voted unanimously to deny the request.
Planning Board not Zoning.
It’s not confusing at all. You nailed it. This is a crap developer who cares nothing for the residents but only for the profit he makes on the homes he builds. There are several lawsuits against him for shoddy work.
Two of my neighbors on Elizabeth Ave are looking at tens of thousands to repair sinkholes that are only now showing because he backfilled lots with trees and brush that have since rotted. The town had to sue him to get a required bond for the cistern he installed. Shady doesn’t begin to describe how this guy operates his business.
So it sounds like things were quite confusing at the Town Council meeting, so let me make sure I got this straight… Mr. Mesolella is trying to take a tiny 3,567 sq. foot lot and a second larger 16,000 sq. foot lot that each have frontage on Mendon Road but are separated by the Briden Road paper road that runs in between them and get the town to give him the entire 2,794 sq feet portion of Briden Road that runs in between his 2 lots COMPLETELY FOR FREE so he can then re-partition the two lots and suddenly have 2 buildable lots he can sell instead of just 1 lot — doubling the value of the land he owns overnight at ABSOLUTELY ZERO expense to him.
And to top it off, Mr. Mesolella’s self-serving request would also result in his neighbor who is located directly behind Mr. Mesolella’s lot no longer having easy access to his own land via the 60-foot section of Briden Road Mr. Mesolella wants the town to abandon and just give him for free.
Did I get anything wrong? If not, wow, how does someone honestly even have the guts to publicly propose this? Talk about a naked ask for a big government handout, and something also completely unneighborly! And what was the town zoning board thinking when they previously approved this??
What is Mr. Mesolella planning to sell the 2 lots for the day after the town gives him the Briden Road land for free, $150k each? $200k each? Maybe even more??
Here’s a wild idea — if Mr. Mesolella wants 2 buildable lots to sell instead of just 1, then how about Mr. Mesolella pays the town an amount of money that’s actually reflective of the difference in the value between him having only 1 buildable lot to sell versus 2 buildable lots to sell, and also agree to compensate his neighbor for the loss of value to his land?
Who is Mr. Mesolella expecting to pay the town’s legal bills after the town does this favor for him if his rear neighbor then tries to sue the town over the loss of value to his own land?
Why the heck is the town going to give its land away for free or even sell it to Mr. Mesolella for pennies on the value to him personally, just so he can suddenly make a killing and pocket an additional $150k-$200k when he then turns around and sells these lots??
In the meantime, it also looks like the larger apparently already-buildable lot that Mr. Mesolella seems to have been boasting he is going to develop no matter what the town council approves has also been extremely undervalued on the tax rolls for decades and he has already been getting a sweetheart deal from the town and only paying taxes on an assessed value of $8,500.