Members of the Barrington Town Council recently denied a request for the town to abandon a paper street in West Barrington. 

Months ago, two property owners on Crown Avenue wrote to the town outlining their intent to purchase a 6,000-square foot section of land from Barrington. 

The property in question is a paper street — the dead-end section of Smith Street, which runs between 12 Crown Ave. and 16 Crown Ave.

“We have worked with the town since April 2022 on the abandonment checklist process,” wrote Gregory and Aimee Celentano, of 16 Crown Ave., and Sergei Miroshnichenko, of 12 Crown Ave. in a letter to the town.

“The purchase shall be subdivided evenly between both households…”

Former Barrington Tax Assessor Ken Mallette made a preliminary determination that the value of the land was $10,000, and that if the town abandoned it, the property would yield about $200 in tax revenue annually. 

Ian Donahue was the first person to speak on the issue at the Feb. 6 council meeting. Donahue serves as the president of the Barrington Land Conservation Trust, and he asked the council to deny the Crown Avenue residents’ request. 

He said the residents wanted the land so they would have shorter property setback lines — currently, 12 and 16 Crown Avenue are considered corner lots because of the paper street, and because of that, the setbacks are greater. (Celentano planned to put an addition on his house.)

Donahue said the residents could solve their set-back problems with zoning variances. 

Donahue also said the paper street serves as an important access point for the Tall Cedars conservation property — a large section of woods that is difficult to access because it is surrounded almost entirely by private house lots. 

Donahue said abandoning the paper street would remove some access to Tall Cedars. 

Barrington Town Council President Carl Kustell asked Greg Celentano if he had considered applying for a zoning variance. Celentano said a town official had recommended he pursue the land abandonment, but Celentano could not remember the name of that official. 

Andrew Curtis, who lives on Smith Street, said the town should not abandon the property. Curtis said the council would be setting a bad precedent if it approved the request — he said the move would open the door for people to request the town abandon other parcels of property. Curtis said the paper street is a valuable access point to the conservation property.

Barrington Town Solicitor Michael Ursillo said the council should consider the standard for abandoning property — is that property useful to the public?

Council member Kate Berard said the council has abandoned property in the past. She then asked Barrington Town Manager Phil Hervey if there are other access points to the Tall Cedars property. 

Hervey said the conservation land is currently being reviewed for the possible creation of walking trails and the paper street could be used as an access point. He said the trails committee is still working on this issue.

“It’s kind of in flux,” Hervey said.

Councilor Rob Humm said he was leaning toward not abandoning the property. He said he wanted to wait and see what happened with the plan for walking trails. He said the residents could file a second request at a later point.

Councilor Annelise Conway said she was moved by the comments from the land trust. She said that the more people move encroach on the natural habitat in town, the more likely residents will have to deal with wildlife in their yards. 

Celentano later said he has been taking care of the paper street for a long time and if his request was denied, he would like to see the town step up and better maintain the land. Celentano also said he has rarely seen people accessing the conservation land via Smith Street.

Some residents countered that claim, stating that people did walk the Tall Cedars trails from the paper street. 

A short time later, Humm made a motion to deny the request to abandon the property. Kustell seconded the motion, which carried 4-0. 

Planning board recommendation

The Council’s unanimous vote ran completely counter to the Planning Board’s recommendation. 

During their Dec. 6 meeting, members of the Barrington Planning Board voted 6-0 to recommend the council approve the land abandonment. According to the meeting minutes, the land trust had not yet commented on the property, and planning board members had not been able to locate information about walking trails in the Tall Cedars property.