On April 24 the East Providence Waterfront Commission approved an altered design plan for two monument signs that will be erected along Veterans Memorial Parkway at the north and south entrances to the proposed mixed-use development at the former Metacomet Golf Course (“The Met”).

The decision came unanimously after the commission’s Design Review Committee and Hearing Panel deliberated the updated designs for the signage; a lingering issue leftover from the board’s ultimate conditional approval of the development following their meeting in December of 2024.

The original signage proposed by the developer, Marshall Properties, Inc., drew the ire of the commission and members of the public due primarily to the one proposed for the right-turn only entrance south of the proposed roundabout at Lyon Avenue. That south-facing sign was originally designed to be 21 feet tall, and the sign within the roundabout would have been about 12 feet tall.

The new signs proposed and approved both measure 11 feet, 7 inches at their highest point, measure 24 feet wide, and are ensconced upon a decorative wall that is surrounded by landscaped features. Each are the same dimensions.

The altered signage pleased the board, who voted unanimously in approval of the redesign from the Marshall team.

“I think everyone on the commission and everyone in the public understood [the old design] wasn’t a good fit for the parkway, and wasn’t in tune with what the parkway is about,” said William Fazioli, Chair of the Waterfront Commission. “I think they took that feedback and came back with a sign that I believe is more aesthetically pleasing with that landscaper orientation. And also it’s more functional, because the new sign that was approved is easier read as you’re driving on the parkway, which I think benefits the developer, too. Because now somebody driving doesn’t have to change their eyesight level to read the sign.”

KMG continues its fight
While Marshall waits to receive permitting from various state agencies — including the Rhode Island Departments of Environmental Management and Transportation, as well as the RI Scenic Roadways Board, and the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) — before they can begin construction on the remainder of the development, advocates from Keep Metacomet Green (KMG), the group who has been trying to halt or at least slow down the development for nearly five years, remain dedicated to their fight.

“Our goal is to have the least possibly awful outcome,” said Candy Seel, a co-founder and leader of KMG. “Whatever we can manage, that’s what we’re going to do. Whatever tactics, strategy, whatever we have to do to get it to be as least awful as it can possibly be.”

At the moment, their points of contention towards the continuation of development reside in two primary categories.

First: that ongoing archaeological analysis of the site must continue and be respected.

The site has already undergone a comprehensive archaeological analysis from The Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc. (PAL), of Pawtucket, who were contracted by Marshall after being asked to assess the potential presence of historically significant artifacts on the development site.

PAL wrapped up a Phase 2 study earlier this year, digging over 100 test pits and taking samples at two specific sites of interest within the development area — one along Veterans Memorial Parkway, and the other near where the former parking lot of the country club was located — all conducted under the supervision of members of the Narragansett tribe.

According to the Phase 2 report, which was acquired by KMG through an APRA request made to the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission, the team found hundreds of pre- and post-contact artifacts within test pits at the two sites, including chipping debris from hand tools, arrow points, and a piece of pre-contact pottery.

The report indicates that the region had various short-term, medium-term, and long-term uses throughout its extensive history of activity by native peoples, and goes on to say that the region may have historic significance.

“The sites identified during the surveys may even be associated with the seventeenth century Wampanoag village of Saunknosecit, aka Tom of Watchemoket,” the report states. “Further archaeological investigation…is likely to contribute new archaeological information on Native American settlement at the territorial boundary of the Narragansett Indian and Wampanoag Indian peoples, with seventeenth century Native American site structure, European trade, and content, and even perhaps information on Roger Williams’ first settlement of the Rhode Island lands in the vicinity of nearby Omega Pond and his relations with the local Native peoples being forced to relocate to the west side of Narragansett Bay with the permission of the Narragansett Sachems Canonicus and Miantonomo. The Veterans Memorial Parkway and Metacomet sites are therefore likely eligible for listing in the State or National Registers of Historic Places under eligibility Criteria A, D, and perhaps B.”

Heather Andrade, another leader of KMG, asked the members of the Commission during the meeting if they had received and read the report. When the members of the board indicated they had not received the report, she asked how they were comfortable voting on the sign issue and moving the development forward if that was the case.

“Not one of them, so they say, had any knowledge that the report was available to read. And not one of them said that they had read it or seen it,” she said in an interview for this story. “How are they even talking about doing things to this land when they haven’t read that?”

Fazioli confirmed the board had not received a copy of the report, and said that he wasn’t sure how KMG had received a copy prior to the board.

“We have not seen it,” he said. “I guess other people have obtained it somehow, but that still has to be completed and commented on and released by Rhode Island Statewide Historic and that would provide some outline as far as what areas would have to be protected in terms of archaeological significance. But that has not been submitted to the commission on a formal basis.”

Fazioli referenced testimony given at the meeting by Marshall’s attorney, Josh Berlinsky, who argued that since the project isn’t relying on federal funding, an historic registry status would not place any “practical restrictions” on the land.

“It would be almost like an honorarium status,” he said. “It’s nice to have, but there’s no federal funding involved with the project that requires compliance with federal guidelines.”

A land survey?
The second strategy utilized by KMG is to express their opinion that the exact boundaries of Veterans Memorial Parkway — and by extension, the property belonging to Marshall and ‘The Met’ — are not accurate.

“Nobody ever did a survey of exactly where the boundaries are. Nobody has those exact measurements,” Andrade said. “In 1915 they did a topographical survey…that’s what everyone is going by. I don’t believe it’s the correct boundaries. I absolutely do not.”

Fazioli said if this were the case, it would have more than likely come up during the process of the land being sold in the first place.

“We don’t see any real concerns or issues there,” he said. “Obviously it was a private sale from one party to another. I assume surveys were done and deeds were researched and titles were researched before the land transaction took place. So if any of those issues were significant, I think they would have been caught up in the land transfer from the two parties that bought and sold the property.”