Attention readers: NRI NOW met with the property owner on Thursday, March 6 to tour the lot and hear about future plans for the area. He contends that all local regulations have been followed and that there has been no clear-cutting of trees. A follow-up on this story has been published here.
NORTH SMITHFIELD – From Victory Highway, the property once seemed something of a mystery, with a long, winding driveway leading into thick woodland that obscured whatever structure might be hidden on the land.
The 27 plus acre lot at 275 Mechanic St. was famously deeded to the Legion of Christ in 1993 by former owner Gabrielle Mee, just a small part of $60 million charitable initiative to the Catholic congregation that would ultimately lead to a lawsuit by her niece decades later.
The property was acquired last September for $850,000 by Michael Mongeon, owner of North Smithfield Tree Service. Real estate listings at the time described the lot as a “personal paradise,” nestled on acres of lush, wooded land of “mature trees and vibrant flowering perennials,” with a deck overlooking a “serene, private pond.” The property features a six bedroom, four bathroom colonial with two fireplaces, built in 1940 according to town property records, along with a 600-square-foot boathouse.
But in the months since the purchase, Mongeon appears to have clear-cut acres of trees from the land that surrounds the massive pond. From the nearby highway, which provides a second entrance to the property, heavy equipment and stacks of lumber have replaced what was once a dense covering of trees providing privacy.
And according to Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management spokesman Evan LaCross, the Office of Compliance and Inspection is now investigating suspected violations of environmental laws and regulations on the property in response to a complaint.
In the 1950s, the property was owned by devout Roman Catholics Timothy and Gabrielle Mee. Timothy was a successful businessman who accumulated significant wealth serving as a director of Fleet National Bank, and died in 1985. Gabrielle would go on to allow two Catholic brothers with start up religious order Contemplatives of Our Lady of Joy to reside in the residence rent-free, later evicting them after one was accused of soliciting sex from another male.
Gabrielle made another Roman Catholic congregation, Legion or Legionaries of Christ, the sole beneficiary of the Mees’ estate, directing millions to the organization. Legion founder Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado would later be found to be a duplicitous con-man who secretly fathered children and sexually abused young boys. Court records in a lawsuit challenging the donations filed by her niece, Mary Lou Dauray, in 2013 questioned if the scandal was intentionally concealed from Gabrielle, noting that starting in the early 1990s, she lived at the congregation’s Regnum Christi facility in Wakefield, where her visits from outsiders were monitored.
The North Smithfield house would ultimately remain with the order, which would later change its name to the Ocean Pastoral Center. Starting in 2019, the property is listed with the Secretary of State as the organization’s corporate office in Rhode Island, with a mission, “to provide material support and assistance to lay Catholic volunteers dedicated to the active apostolate of preaching, defending, promoting and teaching the Catholic faith.”
Ocean Pastoral Center Inc. withdrew registration as a non-profit operating in Rhode Island in 2024, just before putting the property up for sale.
The lot holds wetlands, but LaCross noted that neither DEM’s Freshwater Wetlands Program nor Forest Stewardship Program have received any applications or notices, or issued any permits, since it has been under Mongeon’s ownership, including a notice of Intent to Cut.
“A Notice of Intent to Cut is required by law for properties over five acres, but that is only a notice pertaining to a timber harvest,” said LaCross. “ITC forms act as an informational document to make DEM aware that a logging operation is taking place at a specific location.”
“In response to a complaint that DEM recently received about suspected violations of environmental laws and regulations at this location, DEM’s Office of Compliance and Inspection has on ongoing investigation,” LaCross said.
Mongeon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NRI NOW, but Building Inspector Leo Cote said he has inquired at Town Hall regarding what would be needed for construction on the property.
“He’s going to be looking to have a building put there,” Cote said.
Cote said the property owner was advised to obtain a zoning certificate, which has not yet been requested. The lot is zoned REA, or rural estate agricultural, and Town Planner Mark Carruolo said no applications for the property have been submitted to his office.
Gee the town and state seem to be acting on this faster than all the quarry issues …….
He paid for the land and property. He should be able to do what he wants with it. More governmental BS getting involved where they don’t belong.
You can pay for it, think you own it, but you never really do. They can take it whenever they choose if it’s in the way of a town’s plans, and pay you only fair market value after you’ve paid in yrs of taxes and maintenance.
They ought to care as much about the quarry issues but rather go after a new homeowner cleaning up his property when others made a mess of it. Same issue I had with my late elderly parent’s neighbors dumping on the property when a house was built across the street….and they could no longer dump in the woods. I had to pay to clean up all their nightly junk dumping. Same area as this new owner too….
This owner is going to have a beautiful property when he is done. Just not too sure about houses along Connector Rd though. It’s a beautiful rural area. Narrow streets. Gorgeous houses. Would hate to see it become congested and noisy. Connector Rd is tricky up that hill and four-way landing as well. Add more traffic, and you’re going to see accidents.
There’s nothing tricky about Connector Road, it’s actually rather wide, terminates on a state highway and it serves as a freeway underpass, not exactly rural nor congestion prone. Also, that neighborhood already has fairly dense housing and many multi-unit homes.
We need more housing, this would be a good idea.
That neighborhood is not dense housing, maybe dense for the town, but does not qualify as dense housing in comparison to a city/definition of the term. There are many multi family units on the Massachusetts side of W. Harkness however. The only things that are tricky right now are the roads falling apart in that area that you have to weave around, the 4 lane intersection that mechanic street drivers like to pull out without looking for oncoming traffic due to line of sight issues, and the wells that are contaminated.
Yes BM, I do believe the wells are contaminated. Too many cancer deaths in the area of Harkness and Willerval, and Old Great Rd.
My reply above was to Josh BTW, as to that area, clarifying a few things he disagreed with. My parents lived there since 1977. I think I can speak very well on how things have evolved….and how there are some crazy fast drivers and trucks up and down Harkness, esp afternoon time as they go home.
The roads are getting patched within the last year. And the Mass side has seen a trimming truck clear brush, along with tree trucks on the RI side cut down trees. But it does not change the narrow roadway….one has to pause for safe passage when another comes in opposite direction many times. Willerval is better travel, Dorene, and others there since newly built.
Oh I know it was. I’m in agreement with you for the most part. I was also responding to them as well.
Thanks BM! Just wanted to clarify who I was trying to reply to at same time you did, so you don’t think I was being rude! It then was placed below yours….hence my concern.
Will be interesting to see what all happens as to this business and his plans for houses! Has electric tower lines near there too….and saw his labeled work truck parked nearby a few times on side of road near underpass of Connector Rd. We shall see!
I have traveled it enough that when you get to that 4 way at hill top, it is somewhat blind. You can get smacked if some do not slow down. And the homes are widespread enough not sardine canned. Even the townhomes on W Harkness Rd,Mass side are not sardine canned but spaced nicely. Have driven it since 1977, all hours, and days. Going up Connector Rd narrows down as you continue straight. And side street is narrow as well at Harkness. I respectfully disagree with you.
I was wrong, Connector Rd ends at Mechanic St where it becomes Old Great Rd before becoming Providence St at the state line – so it doesn’t go under the highway.
That said, both Connector and Old Great roads are wide with two lined lanes of traffic; Connector even has sidewalks. It is the opposite of narrow or tricky.
Why is it so wide? It was widened when they build 146. As the name suggests, that was the original route for the Great Road and when they built 146 they reconfigured the flow of traffic through Carpenter’s corner instead of by Providence Street because Millville never widened Providence St. This is why there’s a light at Carpenter’s corner with a tiny park where the road used to be, why Connector and a portion of Old Great is so wide, and why Old Great Road is in multiple noncontiguous pieces.
Again, going up Connector, from the minute you hit where Old Great Rd comes in on the right, and Mechanic on the left, the 4 way, presents a danger should someone just zoom in. Again, respectfully disagree.
Going straight, you have narrow Mountain Rd coming in on the right, go straight still, still on Old Great Rd, begins to narrow. And recent trucks working in that area of the end of Harkness presented a traffic issue. As I said, traveling it as often as I have, I respectfully disagree as to having to pause when a truck or car comes by to ensure you do not sideswipe or hit a mailbox. Especially with school busses and lge trucks. It is tricky as to who has right of way should impact occur at that Mechanic St 4 way, proceed slowly…..
As to any other area you mentioned, I never brought that up, moot. I spoke of Connector coming up from Victory Hwy and that entire area as it becomes narrow for vehicle travel, safe walking or bicycling.
People manage to travel unlined back roads that barely fit two cars, and some that can’t, every day without issue. How you can point to one of the few widened back roads, with two lined travel lanes, and call it narrow, I don’t understand. It’s narrower than a highway sure, but wider than just about every town maintained road.
Mountain road is a 100′ long dead end with 2 addresses, so irrelevant.
It’s not a tricky intersection, it’s a 2-way stop, one of which is a dead end, so I don’t see where there’s any confusion on right of way. If someone cannot navigate that intersection, it’s not because of the roads.
Gabrielle Mee lived at the religious community’s home in Greenville, on Austin Ave. in the 90’s. Her visitors were very carefully screened, and no one was allowed to visit with her without someone from the order present with Mrs. Mee.
I’m curious as to why this has been going on for months right on a main thoroughfare and no one from town or the state questioned whether the proper permits or notifications had been obtained. It appears Mr. Mongeon subscribed to the better to ask forgiveness than ask permission school of thought. Phyllis is right, once the trees are gone what can be done.
WHY do people think they can do things with their property that has wetlands? Sandy, really? Blorsis Yidjidjian comment?
I believe “Blorsis” was insulting me, the author, and so I allowed it since I don’t offend easily and prefer to let all opinions be heard – even the semi-coherent ones
Sandy you’re a tough one!
Gail
As an appointed official of the NS zoning board with voting powers you should find a new hobby instead of constantly opining on message boards and social media.
Based upon some of your recent (not thought through) comments on these platforms, I firmly believe you have opened up yourself and the town to litigation and perhaps damages based upon your explicit and obvious biases.
It’s called recusal. The zoning board will hear probably 3 hearings. Hey, read our ordinance 6.19 and get back to me
As I understand the article, a person who owns a large wood for an opportunity to purchase a prime piece of land & is now trying to capitalize on his purchse.im sure he is more than aware of the permit necessary to clear the large area of timber. But figured, most people didnt..and what is anyone going to do after the tree is gone?
Oh stop with the Itty titty committee Yankee nimbyism communist bullshit….America is sick of your communism…