Letter: Developer’s ‘changes’ aren’t worth celebrating

Posted 5/10/18

The Belvedere at Thames developer stated in an April 17 document to town leaders: “Many of the concerns that were brought up over the last three months have been evaluated by the owner …

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Letter: Developer’s ‘changes’ aren’t worth celebrating

Posted

The Belvedere at Thames developer stated in an April 17 document to town leaders: “Many of the concerns that were brought up over the last three months have been evaluated by the owner resulting in many significant responsive plan changes.”

I invite you to look carefully at five of the seven “responsive plan changes” and assess just how significant they are.

1. The developer “Reduced the number of residential dwelling units to 20.” The previous plan had 23 apartments/condos, and he dropped 3. In fact, town ordinances allow just 4 units in this space, well below 20.

The developer stated that density of residences is about his own economics – 20 living units are part of how he gets $1.76 million of Rhode Island incentives and tax credits.

2. The developer: “Eliminated the annex restaurant use on the roof deck level.” The current plan does eliminate this but his plans maintain an elevator, vestibule and stairway to the roof deck, and one wonders when after construction he will again petition for a restaurant here. Plus a rooftop “residents only” entertainment space remains – visible from many vantage points – with a pool, dining, drinking, etc.

3. The developer: “Designed (the building) to have a flat roof instead of a pitched roof to minimize proposed building height.” The building, even with a flat roof, is 41 feet high plus a roof top storage area, elevator shaft, etc. It exceeds the town’s height standards of 35 feet. It is significantly higher than most buildings in the historic district.

And, at their March 1 meeting, the Historic District Commission members spoke out strongly that a flat roof design was not appropriate for the historic district. (See HDC March 1meeting minutes for details.)

4. The developer: “Reduced the length of the building along Thames Street to increase the distance between the proposed building and the south property line.” Yes, he reduced the length but only by 3.2 feet. Given that the overall building length is 176 feet, the reduction is negligible. And only 10 feet (width of a parking space) separates this structure from its neighbor on the south (and from other existing abutting properties).

5. The developer: “Revised Thames Street elevation in attempt to reduce the perceived scale by introducing brick as a façade material, strategically stepping back the façade and provide plantings along sidewalk.” Like lipstick on a pig, adding brick does little to reduce the mass of the building, which by every metric (height, setbacks, density) offends the town’s adopted Comprehensive Plan and Historic District Commission guidelines, and requires 12 variances before construction.

The bulk of the 176 feet along Thames Street is a solid wall, only broken for garage access, providing zero interaction between the building and passersby for the better part of a significant block of our historic district. Has the developer made “significant responsive changes” or has he made minor changes with the hopes we won’t notice?

You decide.

Rayona Clemens

17 Casey Drive

Bristol

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Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.