Citizens Bank on Monday cleared another hurdle in its plans to create a corporate campus in Johnston, as the Town Council approved amendments to the town’s comprehensive plan and zoning ordinances necessary to support the financial institution’s proposed development.
In March, the bank announced plans for a new facility to be located on an approximately 123-acre site off Greenville Avenue and I-295. The planned 420,000-square-foot facility is slated to house more than 3,200 employees, and is slated for a 2018 opening.
The development requires an extension of sewer service to the area, construction of new highway on and off ramps, and new traffic lights at intersections, among other changes.
With more than 100 people in attendance, the council held an at-times contentious public hearing to solicit residents’ feedback on the proposed changes following the Planning Board’s favorable recommendation of the zoning and plan amendments last week.
“We don’t want Greenville Avenue to turn into another Atwood Avenue or Hartford Avenue. That’s where businesses belong. I’d be happy to see Citizens put a large complex somewhere where there’s already a lot of commercial space being used,” Greenville Avenue resident Richard Suls said. “I think most of the people here don’t want to see that [area] damaged or turned into a commercial place. We like it residential and want it to stay that way.”
Attorney John Bolton of Hinckley Allen & Snyder LLP represented Citizens before the council, and presented evidence and witnesses to testify in support of the amendments.
“This is not a concrete plant, this is not an industrial facility, this is not another strip mall center. This is a substantial investment in the town by Citizens Bank, on a 123-acre parcel of land,” he said. “When you look at the preservation they’re doing of the natural landscapes and the wetlands and the building layout that they’re doing, this is not just something that can be placed on a small piece of land in an existing commercial zoned property in the town. This is a unique opportunity with access to 295 for this type of development.”
Bolton noted Citizens has received approval of a master plan concept from the planning board. He brought Joseph Lombardo of Randall Realtors – the former town planner for Westerly, Richmond, and Hopkinton – to testify in support of the changes. Lombardo spoke of establishing a balance between residential, commercial, and other land uses that service the needs of the community as opportunities like the proposed development present themselves.
“While you’re not necessarily looking at a master plan or a site plan that the planning board will scrutinize and state agencies will scrutinize, I can tell you from my own experience as a planner that this [project] has a very high level in the quality of the design attached to it,” he said to the council. “There are not many major campuses in the state of Rhode Island. I think it’s a very exciting opportunity for the state and the town.”
Nearby residents, however, disagreed with the proposed benefits of the facility.
“I’ve been living in Johnston for 60 years in the same house, I’ve seen the road grow, I’ve seen the traffic come, I’ve also seen people buy a lot more expensive houses than I live in,” said Claire Montecalvo of Greenville Avenue, who also presented a 500-signature petition opposing the development. “It’s unfortunate for these people in the new developments for them to have bought in a residential and end up living in a business zone, and I think they should fight it.”
Added Gloria Renzi, also of Greenville Avenue: “If we have to get a petition to go all over the town of Johnston, we’re going to do it because we do not want our property touched and we do not want the bank to put anything corporate over there. We will fight. We will fight to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
“How is this going to benefit us? And I beg my town council to please take that into consideration,” Jim Vigeant said.” I’m a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, I’ve been sober for 17 years, I put myself back through school so I could afford to buy a house in a residential area, in a nice area. How is this going to benefit me?”
Few other nearby residents offered support of the plan with hesitation.
“I don’t necessarily oppose having this here,” said Don Smith of Pine Hill Road, a retired Rhode Island College professor. “But I do think that there’s going to be an impact on residential areas, definitely, if this plan goes through.”
Other residents raised concerns over the development of exit ramps from 295, the projected traffic from a facility open 24 hours a day, and Citizens’ paid remediation and cleanup of an on-site landfill and its effect on local wells.
Also challenged by residents was the recently approved tax treaty between Johnston and Citizens, which provides for $250,000 annual payments to the town over a 20-year period for a total of $5 million. Some asserted the sum is too low compared to what could be obtained by taxing the bank at standard commercial rates.
Bolton stated that the bank’s plan does not involve the taking of anybody’s property for road widening or any other purposes; that sewer and water connections would not be paid by the town; that other options for the property, such as a residential development, would strain town resources; that the plan protects green spaces and wetlands to government specifications; and that the remediation of landfill on the property at no cost to the town would increase property values.
As the project still has multiple elements that need additional planning board and council approval, Bolton argued, residents would be able to continue to have a say in its development.
“This is an economic driver, this is a benefit to the town. It’s going to provide business for the local residents and other businesses, and it’s going to create a synergy and an economic development in the town that … is a unique opportunity,” Bolton said. “And as I sit here and listen to this, and I look at the people on the council, I can imagine there are 38 other town councils and city councils in the state right now who would love to be sitting where you are with this opportunity presented to them.”
Multiple residents asked the council for a delay in the decision on the proposed amendments, but no motion was made to that effect.
The council unanimously approved both the comprehensive plan and zoning changes, but added a clause to the zoning change which would revert the proposed site’s zoning back to a residential designation should the Citizens proposal not move forward.
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