Developer submits new plan to build 28 units of affordable housing inside former Pines Restaurant

NORTH SMITHFIELD – The investor who purchased the 7.5 acre property on Pound Hill Road that once held The Pines Restaurant has submitted a building plan to construct 28 units of affordable housing inside the vacant structure.

The project may qualify as “adaptive reuse” under the state’s affordable housing law and as such, would not require Planning Board approval, according to Building Inspector Leo Cote.

Owner Richard Albanese is still completing designs for the proposed wells and septic system, and Cote said he is waiting for confirmation on whether or not the project would qualify to bypass planning approval from the town solicitor.

Albanese purchased the lot at 1204 Pound Hill Road for $650,000 under the name RPA Services, LLP last April. He went before the Planning Board for pre-application concept review of a similar proposal last year, which envisioned three more two-story structures to be built on the property; two holding 12 units, and one holding 24 units. Site plans provided by Engineer Advance Civil Design, Inc. showed the four buildings forming a circle around a 116-space parking lot.

That conceptual proposal brought out much opposition from neighbors, who citied concerns about traffic, lack of public sewer and water infrastructure, and the property’s proximity to Superfund sites.

Now, Albanese said he instead intends to create a total of 47 units on the lot, with design plans for the new construction portion still pending.

First, he aims to move forward with the reuse portion of the project. A permit application for that work is already on file with building inspection, and shows that nine units would be created in the 3,864-square-foot finished basement of the former restaurant, vacant since the business closed abruptly in 2017. The application, obtained by NRI NOW last week, envisions another 18 one-bedroom units on the 4,129-square-foot first floor.

Albanese said the smaller size will allow him to make the units more affordable, with rent envisioned at around $1,600 a month.

“To a builder like me, it’s valuable,” Albanese said of the property, once a popular business nestled in a residential neighborhood, surrounded by white pine trees.

The property is zoned Rural Estate Agricultural which, according to the town’s use table, “is established to provide protection to areas where the conservation of water bodies and streams are of significant importance; where development may be threatened by flood, or would increase the danger of flood elsewhere and where limited agricultural pursuits and low density residential uses are compatible with open space objectives.”

On a property zoned REA, only single family homes were previously permitted in North Smithfield, and duplexes required a special use permit. But new state laws that aim to increase the stock of affordable housing in Rhode Island may likely override the town ordinance.

“I believe this development is by right,” Albanese said.

Initial hopes that the town could acquire the lot for creation of a community center did not come to fruition because the parties reportedly could not agree on a price.

The developer started some work on the former restaurant structure last week, but was stopped on Friday, May 9 because the effort “went a little further than it should have,” according to Cote.

“He can only make repairs to the existing building,” Cote said.

If it is verified as a viable affordable housing adaptive reuse project, the 28 unit plan will still need approval of fire inspection as well as water and septic designs, along with any applicable state permitting. But it is unlikely the public will get another chance to weigh in.

Albanese said he initially went for the concept review because he wanted public feedback with the goal of working with abutters, even though it was not required. He noted that as single-bedroom apartments, his units will not be geared toward families with children, and that he believes the development will work well with the neighborhood.

In the months to come, he’ll submit plans for a new construction portion that would bring the total number of units to 47, with all to qualify as affordable.

Cote noted that any proposal for new buildings on the property will be required to go before planning and zoning.