The much-discussed, multi-year effort to install a series of recreation buildings near the band shell at Burr’s Hill Park has hit a significant and unexpected snag, which has resulted in the Town going back out to bid for the project.

During their August meeting, the Warren Town Council approved the project as proposed by Addaspace — the result of multiple public information sessions and a total site redesign by the company spanning nearly half a year — but only on the condition that the company could sort out an issue with the Rhode Island Secretary of State regarding the revocation of their business license, which occurred all the way back in February of 2022.

Town Solicitor Anthony DeSisto informed the council during their September meeting last week that not only had Addaspace had not resolved that issue, but that the company had not fulfilled necessary requirements when they first put forth a proposal to take on the project in October of 2021.

“The contract was supposedly granted on an MPA [master price agreement],” DeSisto said on Monday, explaining that such an arrangement requires the contract be made available to other potentially interested municipalities as well. He used the example of a car dealership utilizing a master price agreement to sell police vehicles. If they were to give an offer to Providence for 25 cars with one price, that same offer and price must be made available to other municipalities, regardless of how many cars they need.

But when DeSisto checked records for any contracts from Addaspace, he didn’t find any.

“It seems to me that when the council originally voted upon it, there was some predicate issues that needed to be taken care of that now basically void the agreement,” he said.

Town Council members expressed their disappointment with the development, but also voted unanimously to press forward with a new RFP to find a vendor who could deliver on the project. According to reports, that RFP is being drafted. The Town has until June of 2023 to spend the grant money that is paying for a majority of the project.

“I’m kind of questioning how this even happened,” said Councilman Joe DePasquale. “It unfortunately seemed we all assumed that this was all vetted out, and yet with research done, it wasn’t.”

Parks and Recreation Director Tara Thibaudeau said on Tuesday morning that the Town had paid $15,000 to Addaspace so far for project design plans, and that they will be able to utilize those within the RFP to help specify what the Town is looking for from potential contractors.

“From my view, the same need is still there. However we need to get it done, I am in favor of that,” she said. “The community needs these facilities. And we now have the design, so it has not all been a waste of time. We have these designs, and we have had a lot of public input.”

DeSisto said that Addaspace would be welcome to reply to the RFP, but that they still had to clear up issues regarding their business license first.

“They’ve got some things that have to happen, there’s no doubt about that,” he said. “They’ve got their work to do.”