JOHNSTON – The Town Council voted unanimously on Thursday to take a developer's land by eminent domain again in yet another chapter of a contentious land grab feud.
The vote occurred after an R.I. Superior Court judge on March 31 determined that the Town Council's previous attempt to take the Santoro family's 31 acres of land by eminent domain had violated the Open Meetings Act because the meeting agenda details were insufficient.
The Town Council's resolution on Thursday specifically calls for the creation of
new public buildings, including a public safety complex and town hall, along with "
the potential condemnation of 178-200 George Waterman Road, for that public purpose," according to a public notice.
The family previously said they were planning on using the land for a 252-unit unsubsidized affordable housing project.
All five town councilors voted in favor. News of the resolution was confirmed by Johnston Mayor Joseph M. Polisena Jr. on Friday. Resolutions typically take effect as soon as they are passed.
Attorneys for the Santoro family could not be immediately reached for comment.
Thursday resolution is the latest development in the ongoing legal battle between the landowners and the town.
The controversy began on Jan. 28, when the Town Council initially voted 5-0 to seize the land via eminent domain from the property owners, which consists of Ralph Santoro, his wife Suzanne, his sister Lucille Santoro, and longtime friend Salvatore Compagnone.
The Santoro’s said they were unaware of the land seizure until Mayor Polisena announced it on social media on March 14.
Four days later, an R.I. Superior Court judge granted the family’s request to temporarily stop the land taking and ordered the property to be reverted back to the owners.
On March 31, a Providence County Superior Court
judge dismissed the eminent domain case at the request of both the town and current owners, the Santoro family, court documents show. The family’s companies, SCLS Realty LLC and Sixty Three Johnston LLC, were listed as respondents in the dismissal stipulation.
As a result of the dismissal, Superior Court is now releasing $775,000 in funds held in the court’s registry back to the town of Johnston. At Mayor Polisena Jr.’s direction, the town had placed those funds, which was the assessed value of the Santoro family’s land, in escrow after briefly gaining ownership of the site following a petition filed on March 12.
The Santoro family’s federal lawsuit, filed March 10 in U.S. District Court in Providence, remains ongoing. The Santoros claim that the town unlawfully seized the vacant land at 178-200 George Waterman Road without proper notification or following legal procedures.
Online records show that a status conference for the federal case will be scheduled to take place within the next four to six weeks.
Matthew McNulty is a PBN staff writer. He can be reached at McNulty@PBN.com or on X at @MattMcNultyNYC.
