EAST PROVIDENCE — For the second time in a year's time, a second set of City Councilors voted unanimously to deny a application the Cumberland Farms convenience store located at the new "Newport Center" at Newport Avenue and New Road to open 24 hours.

Instead, the store's daily hours of operation will remain 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. The final tally was 4-0 in a vote taken at the Council's October 3 gathering. Ward 4 Councilor Rick Lawson was ill and absent from the proceedings.

Nicholas Hemond, a partner the Providence firm DarrowEverett LLC, represented Cumberland Farms at the meeting. He reminded the Council it was almost exactly a year to the day, October 4, 2022, that the convenience franchise had approached the previous incarnation of the body to seek a license to operate around the clock.

Hemond said the interior and exterior layouts of the chains latest stores makes them a "very bright place." He added Cumberland Farms "certainly don't tolerate loitering...It's not good for their business." He continued, store clerks are "charged" with making sure customers are "moving, not lingering."

The counselor said the request to open 24-7 was literally about convenience, making the operation convenient for patrons. Hemond said it's meant to allow people who have forget to get a loaf of bread or their child's school lunch to have access to the goods at any time.

He added, "It's for that. It's for the first responders, the hospital workers, nursing home workers, people that get off late. It's not for vagrants and loiterers."

Hemond said over half of the Cumberland Farms 48 locations in the surrounding area are open 24 hours, including one in East Providence at Wampanoag Trail and Pawtucket Avenue. He also said there have been few if any incidents involving law enforcement in the year since the Newport Avenue location opened.

Hemond concluded, "My hope is to work together to work towards the 24-hour license. We're happy to do it incrementally if that is something that is more palatable, but I'm hoping it's something we can advance towards."

Last year, each of the then-Council members expressed their opposition prior to the vote and after several residents of the area spoke against the proposal in-person while a number of others submitted letters to be read into the record.

At-Large Council Bob Rodericks, now the body president, said at that time an operation the scale of Cumberland Farms did not “need” to be open 24 hours, adding he did not “think it’s good” for the New Road neighborhood, specifically, and the area in Rumford from the split at Newport and Pawtucket Avenues north to the border of the City of Pawtucket overall.

Rodericks quoted the words from one of the submitted letters, saying “while I welcome Cumberland Farms as a neighbor I don’t welcome the 24 hour request.”

Rodericks backed off slightly from that position last week, saying now he was amenable to the store potentially opening up an hour earlier at 5 a.m. daily.

Noting not everyone works a traditional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedule., Rodericks said, "There's a need for this...not everybody works in office, not everybody works in a school...The world is up and about at 5 a.m."

Current Ward 1 Councilor Frank Rego, in whose district the Newport Ave. store is located, led the Council's opposition to the application, saying it's the most phone calls received on any issue so far in this term that began in January of 2023.

"From the 70 phone calls I've received and 25-plus emails, the people don't want it," said Rego, adding, "These people live there every day...I am going on record that I will be voting no on any extending of hours."

Rego also referred to the troubled Rumford Motor Inn also on Newport Avenue, which has long been the bane of neighbors and police. He said the possibility of cross-over patronage between the establishments was reason enough not to support the application.

Susan Derouin, a resident of Coyle Avenue which runs parallel to Newport Avenue and runs into the development at New Road, spoke on behalf of area residents. She claimed speeding has increased as has the presence of larger trucks, trash and noise. She said if the Cumberland Farms were to open 24 hours "each of those will increase exponentially."

Derouin, who said she also spoke in opposition at last year's meeting, continued, "And I don't like the 5 a.m. because I think it's way of sneaking in the 24 hours...I don't want it. I've talked to my neighbors and they don't want it. And I don't think another year will make a difference."

Both Ward 3 rep Frank Fogarty and Ward 2's Anna Sousa, the only other incumbent like Rodericks still on the body from last term, were opposed to the application. Sousa said while she supports business in general "it's hard for people to judge when it's not in your backyard." She did, though, encourage the parties to continue to communicate on any potential changes in the future.