Planners support abandoning streets near airport noise wall project

By CHRISTOPHER GAVIN

It's now up to the City Council to decide whether the city will officially abandon three streets as TF Green Airport plans to install a new noise barrier along Strawberry Field Road West.

The Planning Board voted June 12 to make a recommendation in favor of abandoning the roads in question – Fieldview Drive and Murray and Bunker streets – thus advancing the issue to councilors, who will have the final say on whether the roads will be stripped of their public status. property.

The board's vote came after members hesitated to act in May, when a street survey by the Rhode Island Airport Corporation, the airport operator, mistakenly labeled a neighboring lot owned by resident Curt Tietze as airport property.

This confusion has since been resolved.

Timothy Kinder, a land surveyor hired by RIAC, told the Planning Board that the initial filing was based on the original property lines of the subdivision and “not necessarily individual property lines.”

“We have amended the plan to clarify that,” he said.

Tietze said he was satisfied with the amended investigation, but noted that RIAC never contacted him, including after the initial error.

After the vote, Board President Phil Slocum made a note to the City Council: “There are still some details of the investigation that we encourage them to examine very closely. »

Residents had previously asked board members not to issue a favorable recommendation.

Michelle Komar, a retired environmental planner who lives in Warwick, questioned how RIAC was allowed to begin work on the site even though the city has not yet abandoned the streets.

“I don’t want to see awards given to activities that shouldn’t be happening on city property,” Komar said. “So if they didn't wait for approval from the city council and did construction or earthmoving activities on city property, that's a violation in my opinion. I hope you don't reward this type of behavior.

According to city planner Tom Kravitz, the ongoing work is authorized under a temporary PAP, or request for prior approval, that he has authorized the Department of Public Works to issue. The petition does not require council approval, he said.

“But I can’t say for sure if [the ongoing work is] it’s happening immediately within what the state is,” Kravitz said. “That being said, we still feel it is important to go through the abandonment process.”

Dawn Mineker, RIAC's interim senior vice president of infrastructure, said only that work began once RIAC received a physical alteration permit from the city.

Board member Kevin Flynn views the berm, currently under construction, as a public good that will make life a little easier for residents living next to the airport — and street abandonment is necessary for that to happen. produce, he said.

“The airport is not going to disappear. Warwick has an airport. It’s not moving,” Flynn said. “And so, I think what's being done is an effort to try to make it as livable as possible because it's not the easiest neighbor to have.”

Twenty-seven homes once stood on approximately 14 acres along these three vacant streets. All lots are now owned by RIAC, following a $5 million purchase by the FAA in 2002.

The cleanup of the old subdivision is part of RIAC's $100 million project to build the South Freight Facility. Planned along Strawberry Field Road West, the structure is intended to house FedEx and UPS operations, with enough space for six cargo planes and 31 loading docks.

Records show the noise wall – made up of a concrete wall and an earthen berm – would run alongside the freight complex and cross Fieldview Drive to extend to Murray Street, located behind the homes in Palace Avenue.

In the years since the FAA purchase, the open lands surrounding Fieldview Drive and Murray and Bunker streets have become a sort of unofficial public park — a place where neighbors stroll and stretch their legs, at least until recently. Construction barriers and “no trespassing” signs now deter residents from the area. Large machines on the property were visible from nearby roads as early as last week.

Several residents who spoke at last week's board meeting, including Tietze, said they would like the RIAC to consider allowing the public to retain at least some access to the land.

“There's no doubt the berm is in the public interest,” said Richard Langseth, a resident who has closely followed the freight facility project and other RIAC issues. “What we are saying is that the streets around the berm – the rest of the property – should remain open to the public as a public park.”