A request to have the parcel located at 51 Cole St. in town near the East Bay Bike Path re-designated to mixed use gained the support of the Warren Planning Board at its monthly meeting held Monday night, April 28.

The town council, also at its monthly gathering earlier in April, referred the application to the planning board. At that forum, Michael Monti of the law firm Sayer Regan & Thayer, LLP, representing the proprietors, WIP LLC, spoke to the council about his client's application, which would permit the structure to be changed to allow for residential use as well. Monti noted the 51 Cole is likely less than a tenth of a mile west from town hall, located in the manufacturing district.

In its written petition, the applicant described the cumbersome nature of being included in the district, where "all residential uses are prohibited."

However, it was also claimed in the document upon the town's adoption of an updated Comprehensive Plan late last calendar year, the premises should now be deemed "appropriate for mixed use and identifies the Premises as Mixed Use on its Future Land Use Map (FLUM)."

The petition read in part, "This property abuts land zoned Village Business and is found to be more suitable for mixed use due to existing and abutting land uses, locating in close vicinity to Historic Downtown, and the potential creation of needed housing units and small local business that would result from rezoning."

Last week, Planning Board Chairman Fred Massie prefaced the discussion by reminding the full body the applicant had previously approached the town last year while Warren's Comprehensive Plan was in fact being updated.

"In terms of an introduction, the owner of this property came to us during the process of putting together our comprehensive plan. The planning board looked at the property that he was talking about. He wasn't asking us to take any action at that time, but was pointing out the fact that this is in a part of town that is particularly well suited to a mixed use, as opposed to manufacturing, which he is laboring under now," said Massie.

He continued, "So, as a result of that, and aware of the fact that we are looking for areas where you would have more of an appropriate mixed use, this made sense to us. So we built it into the comprehensive plan. This particular property. So that's the background, take it away."

Adam Thayer, a partner at Sayer Regan & Thayer based in Newport and a resident of Warren, took up representation of the applicant before the planning board. He said the change would be both beneficial by increasing available rental units in the downtown area while also adding to the attraction of the bike path.

"As I understand it, the town council and the town have brought it into the comp plan, and now the matter has been referred back to the planning board to essentially confirm that this is consistent with the comp plan, which seems itself somewhat self evident by the fact that it is verbatim black and white written into the comp plan. So I don't want to overcomplicate this," Thayer said.

Massie asked if the existing commercial tenants of the building, a bike shop and car detailing outfit, would remain. Thayer said he did not know of their status, that the owner was in talks about the business, but had not reached out to him for any further counsel.

Board member E. Jenny Flanagan inquired if the owner and/or attorney knew of the location being part of the Warren Historic District and that if any changes to the exterior of the structure were planned the proposal would have to also go before the town's historic district commission.

Thayer, again, said he was unaware if any modifications were in the offing, though his client was seasoned in the field and had knowledge of the necessary processes.

Upon the conclusion of the discussion, Massie sought a motion of approval to send a positive recommendation on the matter back to the council, which he received.

"It ticks all the boxes, meets although the requirements, and I'd make a motion to recommend approval of this request for the zoning map amendment to the town council," Massie added in the lead up to the affirmative vote of the body.

Meaty minutes
At the start of last week's meeting, Massie and Flanagan lauded the accuracy and intricacy provided by clerk Alyssa Oswald in the meeting minutes from the board's voluminous March 24 forum, which lasted nearly four hours and contained several detailed discussion items.

Said Massie, "Great job, Alyssa, a lot of work was done on that in terms of getting that all down."

Said Flanagan, "And I particularly appreciate the inclusion of the exhibits in the minutes. I don't think that we've done that before," to which Massie added, "Yeah, I actually really liked that."

May meeting date
As a reminder, the next meeting of the planning board takes place on May 19, rather than its typical fourth Monday of the month. The change is being made due to Memorial Day being on May 26. The meeting remains in the town hall chamber and at its usual 6:30 p.m. start time.