The City Council gave first passage to rezone 171 parcels of land making up 364 acres as open space at its Monday meeting. The comprehensive rezoning package was lauded by a number of speakers, some of whom suggested the ordinance be amended to create conservation easements on the properties so that they be maintained as open space in perpetuity, a proposal which raised red flags with Councilmen Jeremy Rix, W-2 , Ed Ladouceur, W-5 and City Planner Thomas Kravitz. Kravitz said applying easements to all the properties would be laborious and could be done at a later point.  The councilmen reasoned at some point that the city may want to use some parcels for other uses.

The acreage is made up of scores of small parcels, but also includes some well-known larger locations including Rocky Point, Ives Buff in Potowomut,  the 65-acre Barton Farms on Centerville Road and a 64-acre wooded area on Cowesett Road which was part of the Dawley Farm that Metropolitan Life Insurance bought in the 1970s for offices.

Most of the parcels are zoned residential and not all of them are city owned. About 80 acres of Rocky Point is state property. The remaining 41 acres bordering the shoreline is city property. That land was acquired from the Small Business Association acting as receiver for the bankrupt amusement park that closed in 1990.  The city used a $2.2 million NOAA grant, matched by the city and the Department of Environmental Management to get the land. The remaining 80 interior acres were acquired for almost $10 million following voter approval of an open space bond in 2010.

The fact that the park is jointly owned doesn’t affect the city’s effort to “clean up” the zoning of land which is now being used as open space and for the foreseeable future will remain that way.

The explanation offered by the City Planning Department is that with council approval, “this is updating and correcting the zoning.”

“It is good to see how zoning will protect open space,” City Planner Thomas Kravitz said in an interview last week.

Like Rocky Point, the larger parcels on the list were acquired with city open space funds which in most cases were matched with state funds. But how did the city end up with so many small lots, most of them less than a half acre and scattered across the city? All the lots were listed on legal advertisements appearing in the Beacon.

While zoned residential, most lots are either too small to build on without exemptions, are wetlands, lack accessible utilities or in some other matter too expensive to develop. Many of the lots, most of which are less than a third of an acre in a wooded area across Palmer Avenue from Rocky Point were donated to the city by the late housing developer Hugh Fisher. One of the small lots rezoned is at the end of Bradford Avenue in Potowomut and owned by the Warwick Land Trust. Another is a cemetery.

Playing fields are on the list of properties rezoned.   

What if at some time the city is approached to sell a parcel, for example, to combine with an adjoining parcel for a development, planning officials were asked last week.

The answer was the city could rezone the land for whatever that future use could be.

That isn’t the intention of members of the Warwick Land Trust who spoke Monday. Warwick Land Trust Chair Jane Austin picked up on Michelle Komar’s suggestion of conservation easements to keep the land open space in perpetuity. Barbara Walsh, who follows land developments and espouses open space, also favored the use of conservation easements.

Should conservation easements be applied, Richard Langseth said the City Council would need to “stand strong” to save open space even if a city department sought to use it for another purpose. He cited the controversy over the use of Kristen Court property as the site for a sewer pumping station. The example prompted Ladouceur to observe conservation easements could impede efforts to improve the environment.

City Council President Steve McAllister said a conservation easement “is the right step at the right time,” adding that rezoning is “a great first step.” Ward 9 Councilman Vincent Gebhart favored the blanket rezoning of the 171 parcels as a means of updating, which would be consistent with the city’s comprehensive plan. Ward 8 Councilman Anthony Sinapi favored the concept of an easement, but noted it could be complicated, citing the case of Barton Farm where federal funds were used for wetland restoration.

Rix, who opened the hearing, thanked Michael Zarum , a member of the land trust, for his work for a “much more solid guarantee these open spaces are preserved forever.”

Closing out public comments before the council unanimously approved the ordinance, Zarum called blanket rezoning, “for now the most efficient way to move forward.”

As Kravitz observed last week, abutting land owners to some of the small parcels have assumed the upkeep of the property, giving the appearance that it is private property. In egregious cases, the Planning Department has issued letters making it clear this is city land, as was the case with a beachfront lot in Riverview.

That lot is less than a third of an acre and “it looks like it is their (the abutting owner’s) yard,” Kravitz said. He said he sent the abutting owner a letter, which now is on record, that it is a city lot. While city and state property is not subject to adverse possession, Kravitz pointed out it is public property and adjoining owners shouldn’t be passing it off as privately owned.