Developments barred in Burrillville

BURRILLVILLE – The R.I. Supreme Court this month ruled in favor of Burrillville town administrators and barred three developments from continuing in the town, saying that the for-profit developers’ plans were not protected under the state’s Low and Moderate Income Housing Act.
“These were parcels of land that couldn’t handle the large-scale, large-volume developments that the owners wanted,” Town Manager Michael C. Wood said last week.
The three developments had filed “comprehensive permits” with the town – under the state program those permits didn’t have to comply with municipal zoning regulations – just a few weeks before the R.I. General Assembly imposed a moratorium on the program for for-profit developers because of an “influx” of them, Wood said.
Before that moratorium, “the law had effectively allowed a private developer to come into a city or town, file a comprehensive permit and that permit basically superseded all zoning and all land-use regulations,” she said. “On the local side, that created a whole lot of problems.”
In Burrillville, the town had already re-zoned other parcels that it saw fit for affordable housing developments, Wood said.
The developers – Crystal Lake Builders LLC, East Avenue Development Realty LLC, and Pascoag Apartment Associates LLC with Yorkshire Properties – had planned to build a total of 304 units in three developments, according to the 41-page decision. The court reversed a 2004 ruling by the State Housing Appeals Board. SHAB had allowed the projects to go forward because the plans had been submitted and master plan hearings for each project were scheduled to begin March 9, 2004, about a month after the moratorium was introduced on Feb. 13, 2004.
The lawyer representing the three developers didn’t return a voicemail left last week.