A look at the proposed 17-unit Water Street apartment building

By Ethan Hartley
Posted 9/29/22

The proposal of a 17-unit apartment building on Water Street has already drawn a lot of attention. Check out the details here.

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


A look at the proposed 17-unit Water Street apartment building

Posted

On Monday the Warren Planning Board will hold a public hearing regarding a proposed four-story, 17-unit apartment building that would be constructed at 119 Water St., next to the existing Waterdog restaurant.

The developer is Daniel Teodoro, owner of the parcel located next to the proposed development (125 Water St.), which is currently occupied by The Waterdog restaurant (also owned by Teodoro). Teodoro did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposal.

A glance at the documents sent to the planning board revealed that the development would comprise around 17,605 gross square feet split among four stories (each around 4,500 square feet), with 17 rental units (15 one-bedroom apartments and two, two-bedroom apartments). A commercial space on the ground floor with frontage along Water Street is proposed at 1,834 square feet.

The planning board intended to hear this proposal this past Monday, but the camera equipment used to capture and stream the meeting to the wider public  was malfunctioning, so chairman Frederick Massie decided to postpone the hearing until Monday, Oct. 3.

A long list of variances
The proposal includes nine requested variances, four of which relate to parking.

Per zoning law, 39 parking spaces would be required between the residential and commercial components of the development, but the plan only includes space for 24. Those spaces would also require a size variance (zoning calls for 270 square feet per space, while the proposal allocates 261 per space). The proposal also only has room for one landscaped island when zoning calls for two, and the proposal allocates no percentage of the parking lot for landscaped open space (zoning calls for at least 10 percent).

The development would require variances for both front and side setbacks. It proposes no (zero feet) setback for the front, when zoning requires 15 feet, and only 4.2 feet for side yard setback when zoning calls for at least 10 feet.

The development also eclipses allowable zoning for height (it would be 51.67 feet at its tallest, when zoning caps the limit at 35 feet); in lot coverage (zoning caps at 30 percent for total building coverage of the lot, while the development would cover 41.4 percent); and the development would have 85 percent impervious material covering the lot, when zoning caps that at 65 percent.

The design indicates that Teodoro would convert the rear portion of his existing parcel at 125 Water St. into part of the parking lot for the new development. Renderings from ZDS Inc., an architectural firm out of Providence, show a harmonious blend of space between the new development and the Waterdog, where the restaurant’s outdoor patio sits directly next to a concrete sidewalk for the apartment building.

In order to receive master plan approval, the development would need to allocate 25 percent of the units for affordable housing. It is not a Section 8 development.

Demolishment of historic building would be necessary
In order to build the development, two structures would need to be razed — a smaller building at 113 Water St. and the existing mixed-use building at 119 Water St., which currently houses the Beleza Shoppe clothing boutique, and is listed as being built in 1850.

A building evaluation report commissioned by ZDS and prepared by J2Construct Inc. (of Middletown) showed an estimate of $931,700 to repair the existing structure at 119 Water St. They reported the existing foundation and various structural components of the building are severely deteriorated and would require extensive work to restore.

The public hearing will take place Monday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Town Council chambers at Town Hall.

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
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.