you you Okay. Let's call to order. Nairigancet Town Council, a regular meeting. Today is Monday, July 17th. A time is 6.30. First, we have the executive session. Do I have a motion to retire? To executive session of the town council. In accordance with Rhode Island general laws 42-46-4 and 42-46-5A2 to discuss litigation specifically the settlement proposal in the appellate matter of B-T-R-I, Saconate Boulevard investments, LLC, et al versus the town of Narragansett et al. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. All, a roll call? Aye. Yes. Aye. Say your name. Oh, Stephen Ferrandi, aye. Jill Lawler, aye. Deb Kovak, aye. Average Urzinski, aye. I. Jill Lawler. I. Do you have a co-pack? Average or zenski. I. Motion by Councillor Lawler. Seconded by Councillor Copec. Motion passes for zero to retire to executive session. We'll be back when we conclude our executive session. you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Okay. Okay, we're going to call to order the Narrow Gansett Sound Council, regular meeting. Today is Monday, July 17th. The time is 7 p.m. Let's all stand for the flag of the United States of America and to republic with the highest population under God in the visible validity of the federal. Okay, so for the disclosure we had an executive session on meeting for the disclosure of session votes. We had a vote to appoint Heidi Patrone as the pro-tem clerk motion by Councillor Lawler seconded by Councillor Copac motion passed for zero. Next we had a motion to seal the minutes motion by Councillor Lawler seconded by Councillor Copic motion passed for zero and then a motion to exit executive session and reconvene an open meeting motion by Councillor Lawler seconded by Councillor Ferrandi motion passes for zero. So next we will move on to the approval of minutes. We have a motion to accept and place on file the minutes from the May 15th, 2023 regular meeting. So motion. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed. Motion by Councillor Lawler, seconded by councilor Copac motion passes for zero Next we have a motion to accept and place on file the minutes from the June 5th 2023 regular meeting So moved second all in favor I all opposed Motion by council lawler second by council by Councillor CoPEC, motion passes for zero. Next is a motion to accept and place on file, the minutes from the June 5th, 2023 executive session meeting. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed motion by Councillor Lawler second by Councillor Copic motion passes for zero. Eva, excuse me. I think at this point you need to swear Hydean as the clerk pro-tem for the open meeting. Okay, so now we will swear our pro-tem to town clerk as the clerk for the evening. Mark? I think you just need to make so many needs to make a motion to swear in. Okay, sorry about that. Motion to swear in the town clerk. Second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion by Councillor Lawler. Second by Councillor Copec. in favor? I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. Again, open forum public comment is a time for any member of the public to speak on a topic not on the meeting agenda. A sign-in sheet is available to members of the public who wish to speak to an open forum public comment and locate at the table in the back of the council chambers. Speakers will be called in the order as they appear in the sign-in sheet. Before open forum public comment is closed, members of the public who did not sign up will be given the chance to speak. Speaking in a meeting during open forum public comment is limited to three minutes. Speakers are required to state their name and address before speaking and are expected to conduct themselves in an orderly and respectful fashion. The comments of citizens accessing this portion of the meeting are neither adopted nor endorsed by the body but heard as requested. Councillor Cresson, did you want to have Jim back to his report first? First, it's not an agenda. Okay, so we're not doing that today. It is, but that's okay. No, we usually be state. Okay. So we're just going to wait for anyone signed up. Okay, actually no. So we do have on the agenda the town manager's report. So Mr. Tierney, if you would like to address the council with the report. Yes, good evening everyone. Just a few items. The men's summer league basketball will be playing at the Boone Street playgrounds that are the indoor facility which won't have access to for a couple of weeks. So four days in August. August 1st, August 3rd, August 8th and August 10th. The lighting on Boone Street will be on until probably about 10, 15, 10 o'clock for those four nights only so they can have the tournament there. The human resources position is being filled. It'll be on the August 7th agenda to offer the position to Ms. Patti Rosso. She served interim in acting as the human resources manager several times, and most recently has demonstrated her skills in this post. The merger will also be a significant cost savings to the town. The position will be evaluated six months and one year intervals as it's not a new position, but it's a combination of two. You'll get that on August 7th. I'd like to take this opportunity again to thank our staff for the great job they did setting up, breaking down for the event for the Rhode Island Philharmonic. DPW, Poxon Recreation, Police and Fire, they did a great job to make this a safe, fun, community event to become a tradition in Narragansk for decades. Thank you all for your hard work and sustained efforts every day, not just for the Red Island Philharmonic. The Doug Park RFP was still in the process of finalizing the Doug Park request for proposals. This would not commit to town to anything. It simply would provide designing construction costs if the town council can take under consideration if you so desire. We have two new police recruits starting the police academy on July 31st. They're great candidates and we wish them success at the academy, Matthew Jankura and Andrew Bancini. They would be offices 42 and 43 bringing the department up to full complement if we don't have any retirements. And last week, the sound system had a malfunction at the beach on the north end. Or we have a vendor coming tomorrow to fix that. In the meantime, the lifeguards have bullhounds at that end of the beach where they can make the announcements that they receive over the radio. And also at the beach, they have vinegar, just in case people have been reading about the Portuguese manawas who take this thing out and that is it thank you. Thank you Mr. Teranay. Okay so next for public comment Mr. Teranay who is the first isn't would we have any individuals who's signed up to speak tonight. Bruce? Bruce Andrews. Okay. So this is to speak on any agenda item that is not any agenda that's not on this. So if anyone's here to speak on the ordinance, this is not the time to do it. So that will be during the public. We don't have a sign up sheet for that. So this is just anything other anything that is not on the current agenda. Anyone else who end up? Richard Van Damers. Mr. Van Damers. Hi, my name is Richard Van Damers. I live at 55 OCola Avenue in Narragansett. And while I'm a member of the Narragansett town finance committee, I am speaking for myself and not the committee. I have, we haven financial status worries me deeply. I believe that with the continuation of our spending pattern, we have about a 10 to 30% chance of a severe financial liquidity crisis within the next few years. And in accounting, there is a requirement to tell people, is a crisis never going to happen happened, the chances remote, are they reasonably possible or are there probable? We are at the reasonably possible stage. We oftentimes confuse ourselves with the federal government. As you know, we can't spend money beyond cash. We don't have the ability like the federal government to do our funds. The state limits our ability to raise taxes. Now, the town council needs to study this financial crisis possibility to stop this trend, three minutes is not enough time to discuss this any further because there are solutions. However, we must stop making all sorts of financial commitments that are in the budget. We must get some behavior changes to control our urge to spend. Evan Morrell. Dr. Al Alba. Dr. Al Alba, 24 Ego's Ness Terrace. Remembering my dad, Al Alba Sinha. So I'll pick him many a times. Thanks for inspiring me, dad. Recently, it came across, I haven't been able to make the meetings because I cannot make it many times at the seven o'clock. I hope that the council will allow people who can't make it at seven o'clock to show up at the end of the meeting and present an open forum. We should have full transparency. I know there was many comments and criticisms about prior town council having the meeting open forums at the end. As you know, I spoke up many times on behalf of Galilei. It seems like we stopped making that a street level parking lot. So therefore, my advocacy and many others, if I were not able to speak here, we might have a street level parking lot at this time. So I hope that you strongly consider allowing me and I don't want else, we cannot make it at 7 o'clock to speak at the end of the meetings. If I do not want transparency, we vote people who want transparency, not covering up or trying to not have a speak. I hope that's not too much to ask. Thank you. On another note, we have the Beach Carrying Capacity Study. I read in the Narragans of Times that that was supported by the town council. And I've been taking video almost daily the Narragans of Town Beach. People have been banking me. Thanks for showing that we are not overcrowded. Why are we having a carrying capacity study? What is the premise of it? It's false. It's really sad, as we said, $140,000 for FASSA. We're spending on this study. And yet there's no need. Why do we spend money like this? I was involved with the beach capacity, not a beach capacity study, but I was involved with surveys for the University of Ireland and nothing to do with beach capacity. In fact, when I did these surveys every day at the beach and when the beaches were much more crowded than they are now, there's been never issues of safety, any other issue which is stated in the reason behind this study. So, I strongly recommend if you can get rid of this study and stop it. Don't go through with it. We can reach out to the Army Corps of Engineers. We can reach out to their graduate school of oceanography. The researchers there, if they do not feel as valid and worthwhile, then let's not do that study. I don't know what I want share this with James Channey. I know he gave us an update. We have RIDM Lawyer Bill Laundry. He's representing the RIDM. He's with Bliss and Cavanaugh. We also have a court number, WC, 23, 118. The talent area against has Christian Zangati. I was surprised we were not informed about this town manager. That he's representing the town manager against. This is very important to know. We need to know what's going on in Galilei. We don't want to have a street level parking. And finally, the lawyer is John Tarotino, who is going to be fighting. Thank you, Dr. Alba. Thank you. Next. Jeff Mitchell. Mr. Mitchell. Okay. Oh, so next. Joseph Frenchina. Okay. Next. Allie F. And Joe Knuders. Okay. That's it. All right. Okay. Miss Celebrdo, if you'd like to come up and speak? Catherine Celebrado, 48-hours-quart. I'm concerned about the unfettered video taping and picture taking on the beach. I know this is a single consensus. Could you speak up a little bit? Could you speak up a little bit? Yep. Thank you. Would you speak out? I'm? It's hard. Could you speak up a little bit? Yep, thank you. We do speak out. I'm the graduate of Toledo. I'm concerned about the unfitted video taken and picture taken on the beach. This is a single consent state. I know that and the person, the single consent or it could be the person taken the video. And I know that on a beach, you know, have an unreasonable know unreasonable expectation of privacy but there has to be some limits we have a no-drone policy and there's a reason for that I was at the last recreational board meeting and I was surprised to learn that there have been complaints in the past including one in the shower room. This really concerns me. I think that the town and the beach has to come up with something that's a middle of the road situation where we do have some policy about video taking and picture taking. Maybe just the people you're with or whatever. We have every right to do this. You have the right and you have the obligation really to protect people, especially children. You know, these videos go out on a Facebook. If you worked in my job for 30 years that I worked in, you know these people are very devious. They can make money out of from anything. So, like I said, I would prefer that the town addresses this in some way sooner rather than later. Thank you. Thank you. Okay so we'll move on. Oh, Mr. Scofield. Thank you. Good evening, Harry Schofield, nine Atlantic Avenue. I attended the beach conference, I mean the beach concert, you know, Saturday night and you know, first of all just again to echo Jim, the kudos to the town for the wonderful job it does and putting that on. It's safe. It's an unbelievable event and everyone associated with it, fire, police, town staff, whoever does a great job. So Kudos. But I do want to issue a constructive criticism, and that is that this year, for the first time, when I went down there with my neighbors, half of the North Lot was blocked off for the IP. And I think there's just something intrinsically wrong with that. I don't personally believe the town should be selling the IP passes. And it seems to me that, well, I don't know the details, the number of the issued citizens bank as a sponsor is way over the top. It seems to me that the North Pavilion should primarily be preserved for an air-gates of residence, so on, or within the conference, or, excuse me, the concert. So, I think whenever I've never seen that before, I've been to 45 or 47 years of these concerts. So I've been to many and I've never seen that. So I think that's a disservice to the residents who this concert is really for. And the challenge you consider, that its risk priority is to give residents all the parking spaces they need. So I made a wonderful event. The town does a great job and I hope you consider this as a constructive criticism for the future. Thank you. Thank you. I'm also okay. I'll see in the comments. Next we'll move on to the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion to approve. Sorry, second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed. Motion by Councillor Lawler. Seconded by Councillor Copic. Motion passes for zero. Next moving on to new business. From the finance department, we have a motion to approve the request to fill the vacancy of tax collector and any potential vacancies Created through internal candidates to motion so moved second all in favor I all opposed Motion by council lawler second by council Copic, motion passes for zero. Next from the Parks and Recreation Department, we have a motion to award the RFP for Paddle Sports Business Concession to the highest paying bidder, Narrow River Kayaks LLC with payments to the town of $4,500 for year one, partial season, $17,000, year two, $19,000, year three, and $22,000, year four, for a total payment to the town of $62,500. So move. Second? OK. Any discussion for the council? Councilor Lohler? Yep. I would like to talk about this a little bit. I knew. Yeah, excuse me, Wendy. Any discussion for the council? Councilor Lohler. Yep, I would like to talk about this a little bit. I know. Excuse me, one thing. I don't know that you took a vote on that, ever. I'm sorry. I'll have a favor. I will. I'm sorry about that. I just wanted to raise the conversation with my colleagues here. This is priced significantly lower. It's about half of what they have been paying over the last I don't know ten years or so. So I'm wondering if there might be some consideration from the council to perhaps to near River was the only bidder for this year of the calendar year of 2023 to perhaps accept their bid so we can have the kayak operation operating this summer but then to take the good bid and go back out to bid and maybe even widen the scope of the bid itself to potentially get additional bidders. I also, ever was kind to have forward a document from the land trust, and they're also concerned with the finance portion because they do have the middle bridge enterprise fund, and they are looking at some improvements with the middle bridge property, so they were concerned with the reduction of the price. So I just wanted to throw it out there to see if anybody else would want to consider that as well. Any other council members? So should comment? That's a cup, I'm just thinking that we, I'd really like to know what transpired here, because I just don't. So, you know, how did this come about? I know there were two previous RFPs and this one, just, I mean, it is very different from what we've had in the past. So if we could just get an explanation of how this, how this was determined, that would be helpful. Mr. Tierney. The RFP when I was the first one went out and we received two bids, we received no bids, but two parties said that they were interested, but they never bid for it. We put the bid out again after I advised the Council of the results, and we solicited and invited other vendors to reply to the second RFP. We received no responses from any of them. So that's twice we received nothing. I advised the Council of that, and then we went out for a third RFP, dropping the minimum cost to see what we get in response. And the council's under no obligation to approve it. It's an RFP and this is what they responded with. That's how we got where we were and where we are. How's the authority, Annie? Mr. comments? Thank you, Mr. Durinsky. You know, it's kind of strange what's happened here. I mean, in previous years, I know the bid was, I believe, $32,000 per year or thereabouts for several years in a row. So, you know, I'm kind of looking at this like, well, you have to wonder, is it no money in the kayak, renting business, or is it a matter of help that whoever the people have, there's actually two bidders here. That wanted, just, you know, they can't do it this year, or is it a situation where, you know, they're just going to bid as low as they can because there's only two bidders. So I'm a little uneasy at accepting the whole three years at the lower amounts. And I don't know if there's some kind of financial issue that can be brought out. But it is kind of low for $4,500 just for year one. Now, I guess April, May, June, so probably halfway into it. But if we would have got the normal $30,000, I guess which was the last bid was that would have been a little higher than $4,500. I assume some. A little hesitant to say, okay, let's try it to get the place back open for the season. And then maybe next year we'll offer the bid for the same thing the three years, but try to go out a little bit further and get at it early to see if we can get some more interest. Is either that or we're forced to take a loss of, you know, whatever it is, 17, the second, the end, 19, and total of 62,000, five. And maybe that's a little more bear, you know, I don't know it. It seems that way, but I'm just trying to wrap my head around it, but I'd be a little bit hesitant to offer the second three bits for the three years at the lower end, and for the sake of having something available for the residents, even though it is at the lower price, I might be interested in maybe just the first year alone then in March or whenever we're going to open this up, you know, go out a little bit differently and maybe try to reach out a little more. So, just circling back to myself. I know that this bid was there were bids on it like many years ago and we did take the lower bidder. It was a local individual and the pricing has not gone up. And the recommendation was made by Parks and Recs to increase it by a few thousand dollars. We didn't get the bid. I had reservations about the way that this bid process played out. I think it's below value. Currently, I think right now we're into the season. I'd be willing to forego the $4,500 and just like reassess the bid going forward and then see if maybe if there's something else we could do with that property as well. So again, this motion is to award the RFP as is. If anyone would like to, any of the council members would like to amend the motion or we could just vote on it as is and then whether it moves forward or fails then we can reassess it You know, but right now as the current motion is that this is for a Four-year contract totaling $62,500, which is significantly lower than previous and I know the land trust does use that funding to help with the middle bridge. So this kind of, we did get an email from the land trust and they were concerned about the fact that they were not made aware and that it is a lot lower. So we could also table this and then continue the conversations at a later date. So it's up to my council members. I have two questions. Is that OK? This program, is there any cost to the town for whatever we might have to do in relation to this program in terms of engagement from the police, something to do a DPW, do we do anything? Okay, it's good. The other question that I have is the program that Nower River at Kayaks would be bringing in, is it the exact same program that they had before? I believe it will be less aggressive, but that's the way it reads. It's not as aggressive, not as many. I mean, they started with this other program that they were going to do in West Kingston. So is that what is that kind of what they're going to be doing? Same thing as that? Because that is less involved. Yeah, the responses, they would be doing a smaller operation. And obviously for the first year in abbreviated season, but a smaller operation than the original one, correct? That's a little different. So I'd like to offer a change in the motion to allow neuroriver kayaks to award them just for the calendar year of 2023, this summer season, and then have it go back out too big with a potentially wider scope envelope to see if there might be just beyond a kayak operation. But I do know that there are many events planned by near River Foundation that involve the kayak operation area, so I think it'd be good to have for this summer. Okay, so the motion is to amend for this year only So I have a motion by council law or do I have a second? Second it was two years. No, just for this one year All in favor Okay, seconded motion by council law are to for year. Second by Councillor Ferrandi. All in favour? Aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed. I mean, no. Some motion. Motion by Councillor Lawler. Second by Councillor Ferrandi. Motion fails to too. So next we will move on to the public forum. Public hearing part of the meeting. Time is 729. So we have a motion to, well we can wait a minute I guess, to make it official. I'll just wait a minute. Only because it was advertised for 730. And you're ready to go. OK. Okay. So the time is now 7.30. We're ready for the public hearing portion of our meeting. Next we have a motion to schedule a public hearing acting as the Urban Renewal Board of Review on a request from 23 peer Narragansett LLC doing business as a Gavi social restaurant to amend the previously approved site use plan at 23 peer marketplace and refer the request to planning board of review. And the day is, the recommended date is September 5, 2023. So I have a motion. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion by Councillor Lawler. Seconded by Councillor Copic. Motion by a council lawler, seconded by a councilor Copic motion passes for zero. Next we have a motion to schedule a public hearing on the application of 23 peer Narragansett LLC doing business as a govie social restaurant for a new class, the virtual alcoholic beverage license assessors plat c-181-1A, 23-Pierre Marketplace, near against Rhode Island, with a recommended date of September 5, 2023 of emotion. So moved. Second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. I'll oppose motion by Councillor Lawler, second by Councillor Copic, motion passes for zero. Next up is a motion to open and hold a public hearing on the ordinance in amendment of chapter 731 of the code of ordinances of the town of Narragansett, Rhode Island, entitled zoning specifically text revisions of section 2.2 definitions and a new section 7.2.1 student occupied dwellings. So moved. Second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. I'll oppose motion by council law. There's second by Councillor Copec. Motion passes for zero. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. So this is why we're coming. It's a public hearing. So we will hear anyone wishing to speak. Do any council members want to speak initially on this ordinance or go to the public? Go to the public. Go to the public. Okay. So we'll go to the public. Do we have a list? We don't have a list. Okay. Anyone wishing to speak just raise your hand. I don't know everyone's names, but Mr. Simone, Mr. Distan. Just state your name and address please. Thank you, Councillors. Yeah, we have to swear. Do you want to, Mr. Davis, are you going to swear everyone in or are you going to have, okay, yes. Please. Yes, I do. Yes, Douglas R. D. Simone, DE, Capitol S. I. M. O. N. E. 25 Bluff Hill Code Farm Road, Narragansett. Bluff, BLUFF, Hill Codeove Farm Road. Now I can answer. Thank you, Councillors. Just as in the side before we start, I think your motion was to open and close. I defer to your solicitor, but maybe- No, it's open and hold. We're not closing it. Hold, hold, hold. I thought I heard the wrong close. I know it's the band. Go ahead and give you a few. Great. And also just for the record, I think the council should know that I am a landlord. I own a house at 25 Lorra Lane. It contains four bedrooms and it is rented and has been rented for the last three years to college students in the winter. I would also let you know that the income from that is insignificant to my total income. To my total income. It's not a significant source of my income. I want to applaud you again for taking up this issue. Any landlord in this town who wants to think that there's not a problem is either kidding themselves or it's got its head in the sand. We have a problem. The question is how to address this problem. You're planning board is mecha made a recommendation to you. I'd urge you to follow it. The question becomes, what will happen should you enact this ordinance? I would suggest to you, and this is not based on any study. I don't think the town has conducted any. But what happens is in real estate, and I like to think I know a little bit about it, is it's driven by supply and demand. The demand for student rentals is not going to change. There's so many kids out there who need a place to live, and they want to be a narrow answer. We all know why they want to be here. I'm not going to tell you why. We know it. So now we're limiting the availability of dwelling units. Whether you call them dwelling units of bedrooms, you're shortening supply. When you lessen supply and demand stays static, what happens? Rents go up and the supply changes. What you're going to find is you're going to find that houses are going to be being rented in neighborhoods where they were not previously rented. Because those kids still need a place to live. The rents are going to go up. And you'll find people renting in neighborhoods that they didn't rent before. Hopefully, that doesn't cause us problems. It might. It might. Let's hope it doesn't. So how do we really address the problem? Do we address it by continually encouraging, and I'm going to use the word encouraging, encouraging landlords to take action. Some might say punishing landlords. The reality is landlords hands are tied. The landlords are subject to the under the landlord in tenant act. A landlord with a tenant who violates the terms of his lease by, let's say, causing a nuisance, cannot be evicted quickly. The eviction process would take at least nine months, maybe a year, so long as that tenant pays his rent. Now I'm going to assure you, these kids today, they're bright kids, they know the law. They're not going to be pushed around. And their parents know the law. So the landlord is caught in a situation which he doesn't enjoy or she doesn't enjoy because they're powerless. So how do we fix this problem? Do we fix it by increasing demand, shortening supply, or do we fix it by addressing the problem where it exists? My philosophy has always been when addressing a problem. Look at it in its most simplistic view. Simplistically, the problem is we have a community that sometimes does not respect its neighbors. It exists. All landlords ought to recognize that it exists. How do we address it? We address it by fixing the problem, by empowering landlords so that actors can have consequences to their action. What should those consequences be? They should be financial. We have set up a system where we've got financial consequences for the wrong party. You've got financial consequences for the landlords. And there are some landlords that own many, many, many houses. I'm not one of those. But you're not solving the problem. The way to solve the problem is to work with your legislators. You are creatures of the legislature. You only have those powers which the legislature gives you. There are other communities that share the same problems, Providence and Newport. I'm willing to suggest to you that if you get together with the counselors from Providence and Newport and find a way to address the problem, to solve the problem and make consequences for the bad actors you'll solve this problem. If these tenants who cause these disruptions know No, that there are financial consequences. Underwear on law, landlord cannot collect rent in advance, more than a month. Can't do it, it's illegal. If you were able to amend the landlord and tenant act or create a new act with the help of province and Newport, other similarly situated communities, and create an act that recognizes that academic rentals are not the same as year-to-year rentals. They're not the same as month-to-month rentals. They are completely and totally dissimilar. And draft that act in such a fashion to provide consequences to the bad action. If you do that, you'll solve the problem. Now, I understand the desire, because this has been going on for what? Three, four, five years to get this past. I get it. You've got a blueprint for its passage now. It's been laid out for you. But no one has still thought about whether or not this is going to solve the problem. I would encourage you to pay attention to the Planning Board recommendation. I think three is draconian. Four, four is mentioned several times in our comprehensive land use plan. It seems to be consistent. I think you're risking in passage of this, another lawsuit challenging it for compliance with the comp plan. Why go through that? I encourage one of you to have the courage to make an amendment, move this to four. I think four is the right number and don't stop there. Then continue to seek a solution to the problem because I don't think even for is the solution. The solution is preventing the kind of behavior that we've seen in town and the only way to prevent it is to provide consequences for the behavior. And this isn't providing any consequences at all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Vanger-Mese. Okay. Yes. Yeah. Richard V.A.M.G.E.R.M.E.R.S.C.H. That's the ninth million time I spelled it. Just a request. I would love to see the new section. This is 721 on the board. It's really difficult to make any intelligent comment without seeing the new section. Next. Dr. Alba. I do Dr. Al-Alba, 24 Eagles Nest Terrace, Dr. Al-Alba, ALBA. You're welcome. I think we have to look at the situation as, you know, benefits versus non-benefits. And I myself do not feel we're gonna have a benefit by imposing a restriction of only three students. In fact, I think it's gonna create a problem. We have so many houses available, and we have so many students, the demand for more rentals is going to go up. So people who might not have wanted to sell their property, now it's going to be a more demand. So those prices are going to go up and you might even have more rentals in before. But not only that, it's enforceability. If we all can look at the Venbow, if you go to any of the rental sites, you will see some rentals with seven, eight, nine, ten, three bedrooms houses. Fits ten people in a three-bedroom house. Instead of having an overcapacity study for the beach, I think we should have an overcapacity study on houses that were meant to have two, three, or four people who now have 10 or 12 people in it, which is taxing our sewer systems and could potentially harm our waters, both our oceans and our drinking water. This is a documented fact. So if people are speeding on a highway and we say well we're going to just stop the people who are college students, we're going to let everyone else get a pass. Is that right? Of course not. We have the fair housing laws. Anyone who's in Bernoulli state, which I know Jill is an outstanding real estate agent, is well versed on fair housing. And the fair housing has protected classes. You cannot discriminate based on race, creed, sexual orientation, gender. Well why then are we pointing the finger at college students? If anything, college students should be applauded for going to school. I had a rental for many years. I only rented out twice to students because I usually rented it out year round. But believe it or not, I had more problems sometimes with some of this people who are professionals, renting it year round, and I never had any issues with the college students. They were respected me. What I would do is I would take those four kids or three kids. I would go introduce them to every single neighbor on that street. I will have them give their names, give their telephone numbers, and I would let them know that every single name, every single neighbor has my cell phone. And if there are any issues to reach out to me, and I would meet with their parents, and I would speak with their advisors, I would get their advisors' names. If we have a system of checks and balances, if people do their due diligence, and if people who do not, when you see these dorms-sized, before we had the bulk zoning wanted, they were we had a five bedroom, say eight bedroom house built in a two three bedroom neighborhood. Well, who's fault is that? But even though it's that big, we should not allow more than four people to be in that house at any time. We have an ordinance in place for and no more, but we're not enforcing it. Are we hypocrites? Do we allow some people to do something and then others not to do another? Or would also be interested in seeing providence? I haven't gotten to statistics. But out of all the rentals there, how many kids actually got called to the copy? How many of them were able to be fined? And what were the consequences? Just to put a new law into the books because the Supreme Court said it's a valid law, that doesn't make it right. In Pleasant versus Ferguson. Okay? We had the Jim Crow laws. It wasn't until 1954 that the Supreme Court will that separation, separate facilities are not equal. Integration at all costs. The Supreme Court gets it wrong. The Jim Crow laws required segregation of African Americans. That was wrong. We had internic camps during World War II for the Japanese. Was that right? No. We don't point the thing at a certain cohort of individuals because they had easy prey. I just don't think it's right. I think it's an embarrassment to our town. Just because Providence does it doesn't make it right, just because the Supreme because Providence does it, doesn't make it right, just because the Supreme Court might have ruled on it, doesn't make it right. The Supreme Court gets it wrong sometimes. We had prohibitions sometimes. We had slavery, which was allowed at one time. If we wanted to do anything, let's enforce the Florida No More. I would even support hiring another police officer, or a couple of police officers, or whatever, even if we have to hire a special individual to ensure that our laws are being upheld, then we should do this. But when you go on Venvo or any of these other media sites and you see these one week rentals that are being rented out for six, seven, $8,000, $10,000, and they're overta taxing our sewer systems. And our water system, is that right? No, it's not. So I would strongly recommend your reconsider. Let's do enforcement. Enforcement, Florida, no more across the board. Thank you. The gentleman, the red hat and the red shirt. I live in 6-load of Dail Drive here in Marigantset, been here since it will be 20 years this September. The town of Narraganset is not here for the financial benefit of any one group, bottom line. And that's all I'm hearing. They will have to spend more money, they want to make more money. Well that's not why this town is here. A town is here because residents live here. I mean that's where it starts. There's certainly nothing wrong with renting but it must be done in a balanced manner. We've lost that. It's not just enforcement issues. It's called balance. We know the University of Rhode Island is not interested in supporting a balanced narrow-gantz. Because the more students they send here, the less dormitories they have to build. Unless the town in narrow-gantz it wants to go in through the dorm business and begin collecting money. Maybe that's something that can be done. I understand that happens in some other towns across the nations, across the nation, where dorms are set up specifically high-rise dorms and they're managed and the funds are channeled into the town coffers in some way, shape, or form. And I'm not a businessman, I'm an engineer. But I do know this. I've been here almost 20 years. And what I'm hearing from these individuals before me is that the responsibility to control this is on the residents who live here. That is not the way it should be. That is not the way it should be. I have to call police every year, and I know they want us to do that for our safety, but that's not really not my job. This town needs to get a balance and a control, not just student rentals, and I believe the three student ordnance is a means. There must be a reason why the 2100 Club and the other landlord groups are so vigorously opposed to this because they're in it for the money. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I understand why they're in it, but I'm not the one who has to support their finances. And I've heard that again today from the first individual. It's a large percentage of their income. That has nothing to do with me, or this town. We need to get our focus where it needs to be. We need to have balance, proportion, and yes, there are issues with infrastructure, water systems, yes, absolutely. But the three student ordinance is something that needs to be performed. It's constitutionally appropriate. It didn't happen because I understand a procedural issue, which should not have happened, but it does because we make mistakes. But God willing, that won't be changed the next time around as we proceed. But we need to have balance here. We are not a financial institution here for the benefit of one group or ten groups. That's not why we're here as the town of Narragansett. Thank you very much. Ms. Friday, is that no, that's sorry. Sorry. Sorry. That's not right. I do. My name is Elizabeth Patrick, P-A-T-R-I-C-K, 17-L-Mavinou. Elm. Good evening. Thank you very much for holding this forum so we can all come and talk. I have a home, 17-L-Mavinou in Narragansett, and I've owned my home since 2014. And on my street, we have, I think we have five student rentals in the off season. Since I've owned my home, we've had a problem with one house one year. And relatively speaking, that's pretty good. And I have to say, as somebody who is here in the winter, I enjoy having the students around. Our town doesn't feel like a ghost town because we've got kids around. I enjoy stop and shop where I have a great big, fully stocked grocery store available to me. I like going to the restaurants that are open in town in the off season, unlike places like Charlestown where everything closes up. So I think that the students really do provide some kind of a benefit for me, and I see that. And I don't think that at the end of the day, the difference between going from three students in a house to four students to three is going to make that much of a difference. They still contribute to our economy. And if we want to do something, why don't we increase the fines that the students have to pay if there is a sticker on their door? Be my suggested. Thank you. Thank you. Did anyone? I do. Evan Morrell, M-O-R-R-I-L-L. My name is Evan Morrell. My family and I are Narragans of properties. You say that your goal is to make this friendly or family town. And your hope is by limiting the number of unrelated or students that a homeowner will be forced or persuaded to rent to a family. Over the last couple years have you seen that your theory is not panning out? Huh? That your theory is not panning out. Evan, can you speak more as the microphone is... Sorry, is that better? That's much better. Perfect. That your theory is not panning out. In fact, it is doing the opposite. The last time the three student ordinance was in place, even though it was for a very short time, the rental price skyrocketed overnight. It was the average price before the first round of no more than three students was 700 per bedroom. To make up for the lost rents, the range of prices jumped to 1,000 to 1,200 per bedroom. To make up for the lost rents, the range of prices jumped to 1,000 to 1,200 per bedroom. That means a three bedroom home is now collecting a minimum of 3,000 per month. Since the last passing of the three, we have picked up 50 plus homes that used to be yearly family rentals and have transitioned over to academic and summer rentals due to the income. Multiple times a week I receive calls from couples and families looking for long-term rentals and with all the options that we have they are way out of their families budgets. Another byproduct of the rental increases the cost of buying a home will keep increasing. The average family is not going to spend 800,000 on a primary home in Erraganskiv. Most likely this will be a secondary home. And to offset the mortgage, they will likely have to rent it in the off season. I am sure you are all thinking I am only saying this because it is going to hurt my company. Quite the contrary. This ordinance actually benefits us. The amount of money has actually increased. And we are managing a few hundred less students. This is making my job a whole lot easier. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thank you. The gentleman in the back. I do. Jeff Mitchell, MITCHELL. So Jeff Mitchell, MITCHEL. So Jeff Mitchell, 23, major Arnold. So I've lived in a neighborhood almost 20 years now with multiple student rentals, a lot of five, six, seven kids in a house. And my reality is my house has been vandalized numerous times. I've had my house shot up with paint balls. I've talked in the past to the council about the fact that I've had arrows from across bow fired into the side of my house and in my yard, broken bottles, cars blocking my driveway, been out. And I'm sure a lot of other residents have the same experience at two in the morning because you got people in your yard and they're either urinating in the yard, I've had people passed out in my driveway. My experience has been, you know, the noise and the disruption is minor compared to a lot of else what's going on. Amazingly, I have, a neighbor neighbors more than one in my neighborhood, who in the middle of the night had drunk students trying to break in to their house because if they were at the wrong house, trying to kick the door down because they couldn't get in until the police arrived. So it's more than a noise nuisance. It's a quality of life issue and a safety issue in many, many cases. And I know from personal experience, talking to a house with two or three kids in it is a lot easier than going to a house with five, six, or seven kids. At least with a couple of kids, there's some accountability when you go there. You can actually have a conversation, and somebody to hold accountable. And the problems I'm telling you about pretty much almost all of them occurred in the high capacity houses, not in the rentals that had two or three kids in it. You go up to a group of five or six kids in their house. It's not the same conversation. You're talking to a group, you're not talking to individuals. And the way they behave and speak to you is completely different than it would be if they were talking to you one-on-one. There's some kind of safety in numbers and they behave differently in dealing with you on that. So I think this ordinance, the three student, would make a difference. I just think for people in neighborhoods such as mine, it should be enjoyable to be there more than three months of the year, you know The summertime shouldn't be the only time you can enjoy your house. You should be able to enjoy it Just as much in November as you do, you know during July. Thank you I do. My name is Lynn Morgan, M-O-R-G-A-N-7 Woodruff Street, not Avenue 7 Woodruff Street. Thank you, First and foremost, for allowing us to attend this meeting. I've been attending these meetings for approximately eight of our 23 years and they're a GANCET and the conversations have remained similar. Again I know this is not an easy issue. I am a landlord and I am a total agreement with three students. On a personal level I would make it to but as a community our community prefers to endorse the concept of three students. I actually echo every person in this room this evening because they all had very valid and succinct opinions and they presented them very well. We have had issues with students and we have had superior years with students. For the past eight years in his been a whirling dervish, we've worked very hard to establish relationships with students and we've worked very hard to educate our landlords to their responsibilities. We ask our residents if they hear a noise ordinance issue, they are allowed to call the NERGANSA town police. We've gone through this many times. Our community is having our board meeting July 24th. At that meeting I will be presenting what the town of New York has decided. I am not a Philadelphia lawyer so I need from you what are we doing so we know what we can tell our residents. Thank you very much for your time. The gentleman, the owner. Yes, I do. My name is Kevin McKenna. I live at 31 Pleasant Avenue, Oregon. My name is Kevin McKenna. I live at 31 Pleasant Avenue, and Oregon. I'm here tonight to support the three college student ordinance. 44 years ago, my wife and I purchased a home in a beautiful residential neighborhood named Eastwood Look. We loved this area because we could easily walk to the beach or black point or for that matter even saw a pond. It was also close to the Scotchboro Beach area where our families had resided for years. At that time the area was mainly comprised of families that lived in their homes on a year-round basis. Eastwood Look was a close knit community where neighborhood children attended local schools, and participated in town-sponsored sport and leagues. Residents knew their neighbors and watched out for each other. 13 years ago, my wife and I moved away from my home in Eastwood Look. We had lived in this home for approximately 30 years. We raised our family in this home and experienced a lifetime of beautiful memories in this location. However, over the years this beautiful family neighborhood had evolved into an offsite URI dormitory location. In 1979 when we moved the Eastwood look there were approximately 25% rental homes on our street. In 2010 when we moved away, there were approximately 80% rental units on our street. The typical home at that time housed at least four students and four cars. Traffic was heavy when students commuted to classes. And the traffic increased during the weekend when students gather together to socialize. It was not uncommon to have large parties that had to be quieted down by the police. By 2010, I no longer knew the names of many of our neighbors. And I never knew what type of party might be staged during the upcoming weekend. By voting against the student ordinance, you will allow an additional 75 to 100 rents to live in East with luck. And I'm probably being conservative. This is a residential neighborhood that is already saturated with college renters. Council members, picture yourself living in a neighborhood with an additional 75 to 100 college renters. The tree college student ordinance will decrease noise, traffic, and the pollution caused by cars commuting to the campus. Furthermore, it's going to decrease water and sewage usage in Narrow Cancer. Lastly, it's going to improve the quality of life for the year round residents who are being squeezed out of their neighborhoods by landlords more concerned with profits rather than residential family life. Please vote for the three college student, ordinance, and protect the quality of life in our neighborhoods throughout Narragans. Thank you. Anyone else? The gentleman in the back? I do. Okay. John Hanley, H-A-N-L-U-I, 10 wilderness drive in there we can't say. Wilderness drive. So, coming here tonight, another student, or a four-student, or a son of people, or an aunt, that we've forgotten the history of how we got here. We got here because greedy landlords buy up the property and have shoved as many kids in there as they can in the torrential URI students. Didn't matter how many, didn't matter the impact on the enabling. And that still continues today, especially in the summer. I'm 100% supporter of this. And again, this ordinance is really a flow, because we've had ordinances for 20 years that have never seemed to get through or get enforced or for whatever reason. And it's become ridiculous. You have people that say, oh, we got the four student orders. Well, the four unrelated ordinance, well, I came before the three student, but the four unrelated, everybody was afraid because 20 or 100 clubs took this to court again. Entirely the fact. The three student was supposedly vetted because it was a copy of what happened up in Providence and it was supposedly vetted 100% and we would adopt it and we would finally have some common sense in our neighborhoods. And I don't know if I know. I just want to get another thing that I'm still waiting for, which is, would we do it about these, the VIBO stuff? You know, Fourth of July, three bedroom houses across the street, 14 people drunk from one into late, claiming on the roof, called the police twice, garbage in the backyard. It's absolutely ridiculous. And people that live here have taken in town over 40 years. People are tied up. They want some action. They want some enforcement. If we don't have the legal expertise, hire somebody. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else up there wishing to speak? I'll go first. Yes. Allie Finman, F-I-N-M-A-N from 19th Apohel Road in West Harford, Connecticut. 19th Apohel Road to 3th, West Harford, Connecticut. So as we can see here, me and my friend, I would say the only two students here to speak. I will be a senior at URI in this coming fall and I am not only a student but I am the vice president of risk and parliamentary procedure on the panel and the risk and parliamentary procedure on the panel and council which is the executive board that oversees all of the URI sororities. I know that's a mouthful. You may be asking why I am here tonight. And in simple terms, it is a part of my job description to be dealing with topics such as this one, as well as a slew of other topics that some people before me have been speaking about. But that's not the only reason why I'm here. I'm not here as a concerned student who is here to gain a college education just like everybody else. I strongly oppose them no more than three college student rental ordinance. I've been dealing with this issue for about a year now, and I was notified of this hearing from the connections I have formed with the Narragans at 2100 because of my position that I held last year. The students have not been aware of this meeting tonight, and I don't think it's fair that they do not all have a voice in their housing options for tonight, following tonight's hearing because we, us as well as our families, are the ones that are paying for the upcoming school years. Before I began my education here at the height of COVID in 2020, I spoke to a lot of friends and peers who were either alumni or current students. The thing that each person had in common was that they spoke about their positive experience with living off, they spoke about their positive experience with living off campus and air against it. The draw of living in the community of air against it was one of the deciding factors when I chose to come to URI, even in the height of COVID. After being in lockdown my freshman year, I could not wait to branch out and live in this town that I now call my second home. I am sure that almost every student that lives in this town would honestly say the same exact thing. It made sense a few years ago for the ordinance to be placed because of the virus and because of social distancing but because of the virus and social social distancing. It is now 2023 and it seems that the ordinance is no longer for students to save but for the underlying issues that the residents have brought up before me as well as others. With the passing of this ordinance, there are thousands of students will be stripped of their only source of housing due to the limited space on campus which is out of our control. We are scared that if this is in place we will be forced out of our homes and where we are supposed to go with this happens because we don't have any other options. The legally binding lease agreements that were signed for the upcoming school year were finalized after this ordinance was rejected by a judge for the second time last November, which meant that there was no concern about how many people were allowed to live in these homes. I hope that we can work together to come to a solution and create a space to give an opportunity to have the students' voices heard and that this large percentage of housing for URI students is not eliminated. Because like I said before, this is the only other option other than living on campus unless Rhode Island residents were to commute. So it's either living off campus or commuting. Living in Narragansett as a URI student is not only the most cost effective, but it is a privilege, which I understand as well as a lot of people understand. It gives us a positive relationship to grow students, people, and future leaders like myself. This ordinance I believe infringes on our right to do so. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Oh the gentleman in the front. I do. I do Bruce Andrews, A&D, REWS, 49th Secluded Drive, Narragansett. I wholeheartedly am in favor of the three student ordinance. I wish you could get it done and find a way to enforce it. And it's not the town of Narragans' responsibility to house all these URI students. It just isn't. If it's an issue, then URI right, you should be building more dorms. But we shouldn't have to put up with all the stuff that we're putting up with. Thank you very much. I do. Nathan Gullart, G-O-U-L-A-R-T. I live at 231 Wiccom Road, North Kingston, Rhode Island. I'm a URI student and I'm the president of the Interferternal Council at URI. The Interferternal Council at URI. I'm speaking loosely on behalf of 4,000 plus students coming here today. In the brief bit of research I conducted, it was stated that college rentals disrupt the fabric of the community. However, college rentals have been renting for over 40 years. College students living here for nine months out of the year at the very least, for the past half a century, in turn, means we are a part of this community. And if not, we obviously want to be. We do a lot of good for this community, whether it's raising $300,000 for charity this past year, beach cleanups, we're donating all of our time to places like Johnny Cakes Center and the VFW. By passing this ordinance, this community loses out on thousands of students just trying to make this town a better place in our limited time here in this beautiful state. Thank you. I do. George Knowness, NONIS, 60 Exitable of Identity and Narragansett. I'm here to strongly oppose the discriminatory ordinance that will displace 1200 lower-biting students, 20% of the student population in Narragansett, and negatively impact 800 equally lower-abiding property owners and taxpayer. 800 equally lower-abiding property owners and taxpayers, 45% of well-rental owners, who were granted by the town the ability to rent over the years. This is one of the few ordinances in town which negatively impact so many people. What you often hear from the vocal neighborhood groups are anecdotes as to the reason for supporting this ordinance. What you won't hear from any of them are facts supporting their position. Why? Because the facts don't support the narrative, but don't worry, I have facts to present tonight, facts which support opposing this ordinance. Residents argue that the number of rentals in town are exploding, homes are primarily owned by large out of state investors, the slum landlords, that reducing the number of students in a house who reduced the number of parties, that students are creating more nuisance than ever, and even using up all the resources, that students do not contribute to the local economy. And lastly, that this ordinance will somehow make Narragansett affordable for families. Well, the facts don't support that at all. 91% of rental owners own just one rental, 7% own two. So the speaker that spoke for us saying, he's not like one of the landlords that own a ton of rentals, well, those people are not in Narragansett. 60% of the owners reside in Rhode Island with 22% residing in Narragansett. 28% of the owners have been renting for 20 plus years, 22% between 11 and 20 years, and 36% five to 10 years. So 50% have been renting for over 10 years, hardly new investors. The number of rentals has remained flat since 2013, although you'll hear the terms rentals are exploding. 75 new rentals are exploding. 75 new rentals will happen in Eastwood Look. Well, we don't see it over the last 10 years. URI student nuisance reports have decreased 48% since 2013, and arrests are down 65%. There's no correlation between the number of students living in a home and the number of nuisances. 40% of nuisance reports were on three or less bedrooms, 64% in homes with four or fewer bedrooms. That's the facts. That's reality. Students estimate that they spend $4,000 a year locally. That's 28 million to the town's economy. Students use no more resources than if a family lived in the home. Many times you talk about students using up all the resources, more electricity, more water, more sewer. But if you had a family there, that would be the same. In fact, the students aren't there during the day. Families do not move to an arrogance because of the lack of students, excuse me, families don't move to an arrogance mainly because the lack of jobs and the high price of homes which we all know. The price of homes has little to do with rentals. It has to do with being a coastal community. The average sales price of a home in Narragansett in June was $887,000 in Newport, $763,000, ports with 760,000, middle town, 780,000, and Charleston, 630,000, all coastal communities and none, family affordable. These facts don't lie. I've asked the council on every occasion what the goal of this ordinance is, which negatively affects so many people. How will the success of failure of this ordinance be measured? I have yet to get an answer. Tonight we heard Narragansett is not responsible to how's your I students? Your I should build more dorms. Well, for those people that talked about that, the way you do it, it's not your I's problem. It is the state legislator needs to put money in their budget so that dorms can be built. So when we talk to state legislators and ask them, is their money in the budget for dorms can be built. So when we talk to state legislators and ask them is their money in the budget for dorms they said well no so guess what the students have to live somewhere. The choice for this council is a simple one. Oppose this ordinance and continue to work collectively with the police, landlords, URI student leaders and property managers to educate and enforce the current ordinances. Or approve this ordinance and let narragates be recognized as the most discriminatory, less diverse, less inclusive, and more elitist town in Rhode Island. It's a sad state of affairs when you enable hood groups to determine who can and who cannot live in this town. What group gets banned next? Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? Miss Elibardo? I do, Catherine Celebrato, C-E-L-E-B-E-R-T-O 48-E-R-L-S-Cord. E-A-R-L-E-S-Cord. First, I want to say that I am in receipt of three emails that Mr. Known has sent to his Narragansage 2100 members. The first one, in the first one, he's recruiting more members. He states that they just need the money to hire more attorneys. But also in this email, he brags that they have been able to raise the per bedroom monthly rental from $700 to $1,000. In nowhere in that email does he state that it's because of the three student ordinance that was passed with such a short time that I can't even imagine how that would be relevant. In the second email he brags about they've hired a lobbyist and they're down the state house and he sends links to testimony. They were down there lobbying the legislators trying to get five unrelated ordinance, I mean, law passed. That would have impacted about 25 cities and towns in this state, but they don't care. They don't care. It's all about the money. I have his latest email that he read from, and he says that we don't have facts. We just don't have facts. Let me see here. First, of course, he criticizes Mr. Zinski for being the deciding vote for the three-student audience last time. The fact of the matter is that three-town council members voted for the three-st student orders last time. The fact of the matter is that three town council members voted for the three student orders last time was before the town council. He states that, let me see, I'll be right here. He calls us with vocal residents and he doesn't want you to blindly listen to our demands. The town council is answerable to its constituents. Our demands of a quality of life and an end to the monetizing of single family houses. This is the issue in this town. The issue is not noise and trash and kids trying to break in your house and urinate on your own. It really is, we have 10 extra police officers we've hired for that purpose. We have 10 more police officers than any town our size should have. And they were specifically hired to mitigate the student issues. Later on in this email he talks about how the nuisance reports it down. Yes, because we have 10 extra police officers that the residents, more or less, are paying for out of pocket. He's trying to take credit for nuisance being down when the fact of the matter is that it's the extra police officers that have caused this reduction in nuisance. There's so many trigger words in his email. It's laughable at times. He morphs over to, gee, if the residents didn't want section eight housing or affordable housing, would you support what the residents want? Well, an arrogance at 2100 must have missed the fact that an arrogance that has a housing authority. We have an affordable housing trust. We have subsidized rentals for both the elderly and families to develop as a condo complexes before forced to set aside affordable housing, affordable units. We have one condo complex that is all for elderly and disabled. I think he missed that message. I guess I'm one of the usual vocal residents who's gonna provide a series of mistakes and faultsuits. A series of mistakes and faultsuits. This is from Mr. Nornis' email. We're under oath here, okay? I worked for the court system for a very long time. I'm not gonna stand up here and make mistakes and falsehoods. And he claims to have facts why we should allow more students in these houses. And it's not really that they don't want for. They don't want any limit. That's the bottom line. They don't want any limit. If you ask them right out if he wants a limit He would tell you no and that's what this is all about The problem in town again is the monetizing of single-family houses. These houses are not being these single-family houses They're not being sold for their value or their work. They're being sold for the amount of money they can generate. Every ad is, this house will return $10,000, $20,000, $50,000. This one now on Zilla was a six bedroom house. They say the Realtors are saying that it could generate $100,000 in income. A family can't compete with that. You're getting rental owners who are just doing the figuring in their head and they're saying, I can put five kids in there, a thousand dollars, a bedroom, times nine. Okay, just using Mr. Knowness's 7,000 students times the thousand dollars, which was in his email, it comes out to $63 million a year. These rental owners are pulling out of these kids. And I don't get it with these kids. I don't know why you kids don't push back, really. I don't know why you don't push back. When they say to you, I want $1,000. You're just saying, no. I don't get it. I don't understand why these kids were a little unplayed dead. You never survived in my generation, the Vietnam generation, believe me. You kids trying to stop that war, we'd still be at war. You just, I mean, we can't, I'm really upset about this. Mr. Knowness claims that we have self-serving motives. Frankly, if the number of students are limited and the amount of income these landlords can generate decreases and we have to, of course, pass another series of ordinances to combine with the three students, the fact of the matter is that we're actually hurting ourselves. The value of my house will go down. It will. Will it have more kids in the schools? Is it, yep? And will I have to pay more? Yep. I'm not concerned about that. I'd rather have live in a neighborhood where I actually know my neighbors. That's more important to me than how much is my house worth. That's not important. And that's not important to most of the residents in this town. As far as you are, I not being able to accommodate the students, stop. They aggressively recruit from out of state, and then they can't provide the housing. They just had a 300 million dollar fundraiser. They raised 300 million dollars, not one single set toward housing. Going to the General Assembly is not necessary. They have the ability to raise money, and they do raise money, but it's just not for the housing. But frankly, if your R.I. can't accommodate it's out of state students, then you know what's going to happen? More Rhode Island students will have a chance to attend. You are I, which is heavily subsidized by the Rhode Island taxpayers. Right now it's a 50-50. Well, if you're applying for modesty and you don't have housing, then I guess you're not going to take the spot and maybe another Rhode Islander, another around student will have the opportunity to attend. I don't recall that it was such a split like this, this 50-50 split. You know, most of this is URI's fault, it really is. But these people have come in and they take an advantage of the situation. That's pretty much what it comes down to. Mr. Knowness states that 1200 students will be displaced and 1200 lower-abiding students. What Mr. Knowness really means is 1200 times, 1000 times, 9 mods is $10 million, $,800,000 that's not going to go over their pockets. That's what he really means to say, but he doesn't want to say that. He says they'll be empty bedrooms. If you get control of these rentals and again stop artificially raising the places of these houses. Sooner or later families will be able to afford to come into town. Mr. Knowness claims that students provide diversity. Okay, this town is mostly white and so the students will live here. The students are not providing diversity. What's happening is people from all socioeconomic levels which you still within the town can't anymore because I can't afford it. So we're talking, you know, do you know the minority population school went down from I think was the minority and low income population went down from 18% about five years ago to 12% now. These people are losing their rentals. People at the lower socioeconomic and usually do rent. But people are actually, they're trying to get on the gravy train in plain English. You have to stop the profit motive. If you don't stop the profit motive, interfere with it, it's just going to continue. He says that, he then brings up some old issue where I guess somebody had said that they, when people came to the beach, they wanted to check their backpacks, yadda, yadda, yadda. That, I don't know why he threw that one in there, I guess, except to say that anybody who opposes the women's on rentals, we must all be elitists, we're all elitists. In fact, the one town council member that the Narragans of 2100 supported voted against Narifri Accessful in Narragans and India and Tribe. It's just some of the things he said, number of students, students, use resources and all of that. It's all irrelevant, really. It's all irrelevant. The bottom line is we have to try to get families into this town any way we can. get families into this town anyway we can. And right now this town is in fear for the average person. And I'm saying the average person is like, what is it? $75,000, I think the family, average family income is in this town. We really have to do something in plain English. I live on Earl's Court. I think there are like 11 rentals on that one little street. It's absurd. Five years ago I did a look back for the three years previous. There were 17 sales. Just my little area, Earl's, Achero, Gibson, West Mall, and in Aloeville. 17 sales. This is five years ago. 17 sales, and 11 went to the rental market. I stood up five years ago and said, we're losing our diversity. And we are. We are. It's practically gone, really. He talks about nuisance reports. Again, we have 10 extra police officers. I hope nuisance reports are down. Someone has to explain in to do if they're not. Bottom line is single family homes are being used as businesses in residential zones. This is the misuse of a single family home. Where these people pulled permits for these houses, and I'm sure it back dates way beyond any of these people. But there's a question, what's going to be the use of the house? And you write residents, personal residents, sometimes people write second home. Nobody's writing rental. Rentals were as many college students as I could squeeze in there. Again, will this, will the rental owners use this three student as an excuse to raise the rent? I'm telling you, push back, push back. Don't roll over and play dead. And that's what it comes down to. They'll charge as much as they can. Do you know student, you at the US, student debt is $1.75 trillion. This is absurd. 90% of the kids will go to URI, get financial aid of one type or another. I don't know much about financial aid, but I started looking into it. There's this thing called direct loans, which is kind of like a no-question vast thing. I have to really wonder if that's how they're paying their rent. The rental loan is want their money up front, too. That's another whole thing. They know when these loans are getting paid, and they want their money up front. money upfront. I haven't ever heard of anything like this in my life, tell you. I grew up in Providence, so I never heard of a landlord asking for five months up front. Some of the things he says are just, they just don't even make any sense. He says this is a non-existent problem. In 2004, the Rhode Island Statewide Planning Program predicted Narrow Dance would have 19,028 full-time residents. We have now 14,500. Our own comp plan in 2008 stated that there were, it was 1700 and I think was 1700 and 28 in the Narrow against the school system. We have 991 now. The school is bleeding students. It's bleeding students because families can't afford to live here. Even with that 3B day care, last year there were 81 kids. This year's only 75 kids. I mean, we're given this stuff away, and we still can't get families to come in because of the initial cost of a house. So at the end of my email, which I'm sure you all read, I asked you to ask yourself, could you afford to buy the house you now live in? Mr. Ferrandi's house, a coin to Zillow, and this is the measure my attorney use is $1.3 million. Can you afford $1.3 million? On the house you have now, ever your estimate, you would have to pay $867,600. You need a pot time job. Jill, $835,000, you'd have to come up with to buy the house you own now. This co-peck, you can go lucky. It's only $778,900. This is just absurd. It's absurd. Our house pointed to the value at $1.2 million. That's the most ridiculous thing I ever heard of my life, honestly. I'm not sitting there happy that my house is valued at $1.2 million. I know I could get $1.2 million. I'm not going to sell, number one, but number two, that is just, I'm not going to contribute to it. That's what's happened in here. The prices are so high, people who never thought they were going to sell, they're kids of pressuring them to sell. I've seen it. This is not what we want. We need to try to get back to some semblance of normalcy. So I urge you to pass the three student orders and not stop there. Thank you. We're actually just going to take a five minute break and then we'll resume shortly. you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Okay, we're going to resume our public hearing. Is there anyone else that would like to speak on this ordinance? Ms. Friday? I do. Thank you. My name is Susan Orbin, ORBAN, and my address is 113 Montauk Road, Narragansett. So I am someone who's generally stayed out of local politics, but the three student ordinance has been my exception. So much so that I've written two letters to the editor in the local papers and testified before you once before on this same topic. I just believe that it is of such a very important issue and that our town is at a perilous tipping point. As more and more single family homes built in single family neighborhoods are being converted to student rentals, I see our wonderful sense of community being lost. And I fear that it will soon be lost forever. If zoning implementations, zoning limitations are not implemented. I urge you to pass the three student ordinance to preserve the quality of life for year-round residents. This is not an us and them issue that has been characterized by some of the testimony that we've heard tonight. Students have always been and will always be part of the fabric of this community. This is a density issue that our town can control with the passage of this reasonable ordinance. Why is three so important? Well, market rates, as you've heard people talk about, for renting properties, for $800 to $1,000 per student per month times nine months, is extremely lucrative. Limiting the number of students to three reduces the financial incentive to buy up properties for student rentals during the winter and verbose and other vacation rentals at even higher prices during the summer. It also reduces the noise, crowding, and traffic that comes from renting houses to groups of students of four or more. It means having to listen to only three students come in late at night and turn their car alarms on, beep and open their doors, bang, as opposed to four or five or six or more per night. The number of cars in the driveway is reduced to 3 to 6 per night because many times they have friends over as opposed to 4 to 8 to 5 to 10 to 6 to 12 per night. Circles of friends for gatherings are also reduced as a planning for a party if you assume that one resident invites 10 friends then the circle inviteease is limited to 30 as opposed to 40, 50, 60 or more. In my observation around my neighborhood houses with fewer students also seem to get fewer orange stickers. The ordinance imposed, imposes a long overdue regulation on businesses that are operating without limits in designated single family home residential neighborhoods. I, like many residents, watched with wonder at how the planning board handled the case of NBX bicycle shops moved to a larger location on Boston Neck Road some years ago. At the time, the property, although it was located on a busy commercial strip, was zoned a special residential use. And because of that, to address the concerns of budding neighbors, the planning board stipulated that only a portion of the site could be developed, and that a dense buffer had to be installed and maintained to protect the neighbors. And that if that business was sold, it could only be sold to a business that would not involve intensive use. So it couldn't be a bank or a pharmacy. It had to be a more passive business like a hair salon or something along those lines. When they began offering yoga classes. They were limited to 20 participants in the off season. And the town council enacted similarly just recently in considering the license of the surf shack B&B and the kitchen at the shack on Kingston Road. The owners installed noise indicators to help manage noise to protect the neighbors and strict limits were placed on the hours of operations of the restaurant so that neighbors would not be disturbed as people were leaving from their dinner to go to their cars. Those Those of us that live in neighborhoods with students are jealous. We wish that we had similar protections by our town. There are no public hearings when there's a change in use that happens in these single-family neighborhoods where buildings, where homes are converted to student rentals. There's little accountability of landlords for the behavior of their student rentals. We're at a tipping point, at this point, in the number of unregulated rental housing businesses allowed to operate in a single family neighborhood. The three student ordinance is a common sense, practical compromise to address the density issue. We all know the cautionary tale of eastward look. That can be all over Narragansett. And I fear that it's happening in my neighborhood and that's what my neighborhood is going to look like very soon. The action that you can take can slow down that change and that deterioration of the quality of life in our family neighborhoods. I urge you to pass this student ordinance. I think it's long overdue action on behalf of year-round residents. And I thank you so much for serving on Town Council and taking this issue up yet again. Thank you. Is there anyone else wishing to speak? Mr. Skullfield. I do. Yes, Harold Scofield, SCH-O-F-I-E-L-D, nine Atlantic Avenue, NARGANSA. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. You know, you're all in receipt, excuse me, of a comprehensive memorandum I sent all of you today on behalf of the Narragansett Peer Residence Association, strongly supporting the passage of the three student ordinance again. I think that memorandum speaks for itself in terms of pointing out the rationale for doing so. The fact that it's consistent with the time comprehensive plan. And the fact as Susan Orbin and Catherine Celeberto and others have pointed out that it strikes a compromise. It should be viewed as a balance to keep neighborhood student densities down to a minimum. As has been said tonight, when you live in a neighborhood, you expect to have neighbors. Do not expect to have revolving door dormitories. Now given the circumstances in this town over decades, we've had to accommodate that, too much of that. But we need to balance it out. And you've heard from landlords tonight, basically heard them tell you that, well, it's gonna raise the prices again for rentals. You've heard the complain that landlords are caught in a GM between state and local regulations and trying to run their affairs. Landlords are the victims of their own greed. Landlords in this town for decades, I've lived here since 1976. My daughter is in their mid-40s now into the elementary school. Two of my grandchildren go to that same school and as has been pointed out tonight it's steadily declining. And there are things we can do to save this time. It is not all lost. We can curb this. And the three student ordinances, one key way to strike a balance that has been said slowed it down. I want to compliment to Catherine for taking Mr. Nonus to task here on the inaccuracies of many of his supposed facts. And I pointed some of those inaccuracies out in my memo to you earlier today. The fact is that it's not the town's responsibility to worry about the affordability or the availability of housing for URI. It is up to URI officials to deal with the state and figure out how to come up with more resident housing on the campus. And it can't be done on the backs of our residents. We've paid two severe price for that over decades. You all know many people have been at this microphone describing the horrors of difficult situations with next door housing, with all the stuffed kids, too many cars, too much noise. The three student ordinance should be viewed. It's a good balance. As someone who, as I said in the memo, was instrumental in chairing the committee that passed the Foreign Related ordinance, that ordinance was only foreign to the latest because we were told by solicitor at the time and one town council member that don't use the term students. Fortunately that problem has been solved by the Rhode Island Superior Court, Supreme Court, excuse me. And so this ordinance is a much more surgical approach to dealing with the problem a much more easily enforceable approach than for a related cause it's not difficult to define who's a student. So it's got all of those attributes. It's unfortunate that we're here for the third time to do it. I have good confidence between the legal counsel and all of you tonight. You'll get this done tonight once and for all, in a legally bulletproof way. But I mean, it's not a case of perfection that we're looking for here. We're not anti-stoods. We were all students. But students, as I said in my memorandum to you today, have a different lifestyle and families, particularly families with kids who go to bed early, have to get up in the morning to go to work or school, as opposed to students who were used to staying up late, coming in and out at all hours. And as the previous speakers have said, the more density there is for a house, the more disruption there is. It has nothing to do with parties. It has nothing to do with enforcement and issuance of ourage tickets. We have a great police department for that and it's would stay here tonight. We have a much bigger police department because of this that landlords don't pay for. And the one thing Mr. Nones will tell you is that all of his 2100 members are running businesses while paying residential tax rates. They are paying the same tax rates as residents that have to put up with the abuse and have put up with this abuse for far too long. I mean, it's all over town. put up with the abuse and have put up with this abuse for far too long. I mean, it's all over town. It is spreading. Company and neighborhoods like Eastwood Look and Barnett Shores are infected with these. And it's just needs a focused effort. And I will be the first to say, it's not just the student Reynolds now. We have, as I said in my memo, the double whammy of short term rentals piling on to this. But Narragansett is a perfect storm for this. Why are there more short term rentals here by significantly wider margins than any other town in Rhode Island? It's because we're already such a cottage industry for these rentals. If a 30-year, 25-year since the de-steffinode decision, these things have steadily increased. I completely disagree with Mr. Nonis' characterization that these things are not increasing. They are not increasing. But the bottom line is this is a good compromise that recognizes that we are going to house students in this town. We are not anti-student. We welcome their presence. Do they contribute to the economy? Yes. Do they single-handedly drive the economy in the winter? No. No. Those of us that live here and go to the restaurants in the winter, no, they're full, most of the winter. And then I'm full with college students. They're filled with people like me who live here and people like you who can afford to go to them. And so it's residents that support the business new students. Help. Sure. Right. They help. But again, this is about balance. And I commend you for taking this up again. Sure, right, they help. But again, this is about balance. And I commend you for taking this up again. Let's get it right this time. Vote for the three student ordinance. It's a good compromise between accommodating the student situation we have and providing protections that people who live here richly deserve. Thank you. Mr. Doleland, do you want to speak? I do. Tom Dolen, 71, Saccana Boulevard, and I re-ans it. D-O-L-A-N. I, to avoid a little redundancy of the previous speaker, Mrs. Coffield, I, you know, probably have some of the same interests. I also have been in Eastwood, look, or been in arrogance for 1976. I've been there when I guess the zoning was 2.5 residents per house. I've had students ask me, how can you live there? These are students asking me how I can live there. And then I've watched TV and hear students from the university say, gee, if they don't like it, why did they move here? Well, when I moved there, it was a residential area. There were parades for the kids. There were opportunities for families to enjoy themselves. Obviously, just like a cancer, people have moved out. And now it is a rental community, I'm sorry to say, but there are still residents there. Now I'm sorry that I missed the presentation of the landlords. I just had a previous meeting, so I just walked in. And I'm sure that the bleeding hearts came to you of how they bought these $35,000 houses and they put $30,000 in, which was primarily just extra bedrooms, so they can have six, seven, eight, and nine bedrooms. And God bless them. I think they, if that's what they feel they should do, let them have their rights. But I think the rights that I'm talking about are the rights of the people that have been there, lived there now, as I'm sure some of the other speakers talked about. Now, the university students, you know, are organized during school and they're lobbying for five and six and seven students. And I'm saying what they should be doing, as I've lobbied with both the council here and previous councils, they should be looking for bigger and better housing at the University of Rhode Island. I've explained to you that there's publicly traded companies that will not only build the dome for the university in the state, they will give them money back. These are enterprises that the university would have nothing to do with, and luckily the town of Narragansu would have nothing to do with it. As far as rents, I've been involved with real estate from Florida to Maine. I can tell you now, many of the students who are coming from New York, New Jersey, paying $1,200 for a bedroom is not unheard of, whether you go to Boston or you go to New York. This is Narragansett. These kids are tickled, pink to pay 1,000 or 1,200. Oh, they're not tickled, pink, but their parents are paying for this kind of money. It's not out of the question. So therefore, that's what I was told that they would have to charge if they made it a three-bedroom zoning. That being said, if we're not going to go for housing on the university, if we have to come into it, then yes, I guess I'm in favor of the three bedrooms. If not, then these four souls that are rentals and they are going to rent to six, seven, eight, nine, let those poor business people give them they do. Let them have nine and 12 bedrooms. It's only their right. Let them put businesses in the residential houses and if you do that and you might as well just give up on all kinds of zoning, whether it be drinking, whether it be public urination, whether it be whatever you want. Because your legacy, if you let stuff like this go on, then it's something you guys will have to live with. And some of them, I mean, I know everyone is entitled to make money. I'm gonna go buy a lottery ticket today. But, you know know how much greed can one have with ethics and morality. So my only wish for you guys is do what you think is best because some of them I'm not sure if they're doing what they really think is best, maybe on a financial end of it they are. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? This is on for a little. I do. Paul Zonfilo, Z-O-N-F-R-I-L-L-O, seven win with circle. Thank you. Windward circle. Yes. I think it's all been said. I am in support of the three student ordinance and and I don't think you can add anything to the conversation except my voice that we should pass it tonight. And I guess if you're a survivor fan, as Jeff Probe's might say, it's time to count the votes. Paul, can you speak into the microphone? It's not a verb, thank you. I guess it's time to count the votes as Jeff Probe's would say on survivor. So I am in support of the ordinance. And I'd like to thank Eva Steve and Deb for their support of this in the past. And I hope that support will continue tonight. I believe it will. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? I don't see anyone. I don't see anyone from the public wishing to speak. I'm going to go to the council now for comments. I know that when we first started this they deferred to everyone speak first. So I'm going to start with Councillor Ferrandi. I'll go now. Medical order. Before we do that, could I ask the town sergeant just survey the chamber and make sure that anyone who wanted to speak who has not yet spoken tonight has the opportunity to do so so he can make sure everyone who wanted to speak on this matter had that choice. So if you could please just go through and just I did wear my glasses. Thank you, Towns Argent. Thank you. Thank you, Tom. So Council for Andy. Thank you, Councilor Zynski. So here we are again. This is the second time that it's second time tried. This is the third time for another try. I'll be pretty brief. I just want to write down some, I listened to everybody, and I wrote down some things that I heard overwhelmingly. I heard the word balance. And you can just, I'm just going to say the word and a lot of it was explained. Recent sales in the last five years are 67% on now don't are occupied. Non-resident-owned, I've heard that quite a bit. We're at a tipping point. There's a density issue. Reasonable ordinance, school population lowering, town population lowering by the 2020 census. By quite a bit, I believe, almost 8%. Providence initiated similar measures to save some of their single family neighborhoods. Taking rights away, it's not all lost. Not an anti-student, it's a good compromise, and itimbe could have some more. But I think a lot's been said, previous councils have tried to get this ordinance and I think this council should be taken up and do the same. Thank you. Councillor Copec. Steve said a number of things that I would have said as well. One of the things that I want to point out is we got a phenomenal number of emails on this issue in the past six or seven days. And I read every single one of them I responded to as many as I could. But some of the stuff that I heard in those emails often from folks who were in agreement with this ordinance, they, I saw the phrase tipping point a great deal. The people were looking for peace and quiet. And they, and I got some statistics, reduction in owner-out occupied homes has changed by 14% in the last 12 years. The reduction of K through 12 students has changed, the percent change is 44% since the year of 2000. It's, you know, just indicates that housing is too expensive for people and they're against it. And one of the reasons is because it's lucrative in terms of its ability to produce revenue through rentals. These things are all important. Then I also heard a lot of points about, you know, the kinds of issues that we heard tonight for other people's property where they live near a large number of students. Also I've heard in the past that there's just a small group of disapproving individuals in this town as just a couple of neighborhoods. And the fact of the matter is that my emails came from San Teo Coe, Eastward Look, the Pier, Bonnet Shores, Briggs Fonds, Point Judith, and Metatuxet. That's a pretty broad swath of area in a town, the size of Narragansett. So I think those things are very important. I also think it's important to make this point that I can always be for myself, but I do not want to see no students in Narragansett. Yes, in fact, the young man was correct. You know, we've had students in Narragansett for at least the last 40, possibly 50 years, and I'm old enough to know that. If I'd gone to URI, I may have been at one of them too. But there's a huge difference between what happened 50 years ago and what's been happening in the last 10 to 15 years. The housing stock is geared towards rentals in a way that it never was when I was a kid, frankly. And so I think that's not the issue isn't that we don't want students. It's that we have achieved a tipping point, that we have a situation that has to be addressed so that we have community and neighborhoods in this town. And so that's what I'm looking to do. And so I have to say, I have students as neighbors in my, I live in a very small little cult of sackac but the fact that there is you know I don't have a problem with them but I have seen problems and I have to deal with what comes before me as a town council member and I think that that we have to we have to fix the balance and this is the way that I believe that we should do that. Thank you. That's all, Laura. Thank you, everybody. I came and spoke tonight, and I also read every email that came in over the last few days. There's been a lot said tonight, and I agree with a great deal of it, but I wanted to start on a different approach. I really want to talk about the sense of community. We had my neighborhood association meeting about a week ago. And we had picnic. And there was something that was quite odd at our picnic. Young children seems that there were two families that have moved in to Briggs Farm with young children. And you would have thought that we hit the jackpot, but the amount of conversation that took place at that meeting about the fact that we have kids, we're gonna have a school bus come down to our neighborhood. The fact that we were talking about a sense of community and bringing kids back and having that balance was overwhelming to me, especially when thinking about coming to here tonight. So I just thought it would be good just to read some facts into the hearing tonight. And I spoke first to our superintendent. I asked that Dr. Cummings sent me the last 10 years of our school population because community has a lot to do with kids. I mean we're celebrating these young kids coming into our neighborhood. So in 2013, there were 79 kindergartners. Today, there are 46. I'm not great at math, but I think that's a 42% reduction. In 2013, there were 93 first graders. Today, there are 55. That's a 41% In 2013 there are 103 second graders today there are 51 that's 45% reduction In in 2013 in the third grade there are 100 today. There are 60 40% less. In the fourth grade, 107 and 2013, today 64, 40% less. 2013, 101, today 69, 32% less. In 2013, there were 87, today 73, 17% less. In the seventh grade, there were, in 2013, there were 113 today, 78, 31% less. In 2013, there were 119 eighth graders. Today there are 78, 34% less. So in 2013, we had a population of school in the elementary school and middle school of 956. Today, we have 655 at a reduction of about 32. Now I didn't take into consideration the high school population because we have about 106 students from out district that are coming in to fill those spaces. We're not allowed to do that for elementary and for middle school but we are able to bring them in. And I believe it was Miss Elberto who mentioned that she would like to fill the schools. I too would like to fill the schools. If I have more tax dollars going to schools so that I can create more of a community, so it's not just, hey, wow, we have two kids moving into the neighborhood, we have five, we have 10. It's gonna be a slow pace getting out there. But we are at the tipping point, and it has to start someplace. And this is with the start. Now it was mentioned by the town council president, this is not the first time this is coming before the council, it's the third time. So twice before we have procedural errors. We have yet to hear what Judge Carter has to say about this at all. We don't know her decision. So this is a first approach for it to have the three students, but there are many other things that we need to take a look at. And again, it's for creating a sense of community and quality of life. If, with listening to what people said today, we heard about short-term rentals as well. So that's something that the council is going to be taking up next. We're looking at it. It's not our fact that we debated for a great period of time of exactly how to go about it and we ultimately decided on using a consultant and company as well as an attorney based company to help us come up with how do we work with short term rentals? How do we do enforcement with short term rentals? How can we collect the data from all the databases that we spoke about tonight, the RBO. The list that don't have actual street addresses listed, how do we find out where they are? We have a great amount of decisions to make this council in the next few months. We need to take a look at the rental registration database. We need to know that rental form. We need to ask more questions so that we can understand how our neighborhoods are going to be progressing. Like Deb just said, I do not want to get rid of student rentals, but we need a better balance. We need a better balance. We can't continue to have our schools tank or else we won't have kids. We won't have that sense of community that so many, so many appreciate including myself. So as far as Mr. Nolens mentioned, the lack of jobs, there again, it happens to have the ability to have a train station in North Kingston that can connect you to Boston and to New York. So there can be jobs here that people can't afford to live here. And as far as affordability, as a realtor, over the last few years years since the pandemic, it has been appalling to see what has happened. When the pandemic came, we had a gust of out of state buyers that came in and they had cash in their hand. And anytime there was a resident of Rhode Island, whether it be Narragans or not, that was looking to move up from a starting house to a higher part. They were outbid. Some of the contracts that I've seen over the last few years will be $50,000 over the highest price, will wave inspections, will wave the mortgage, anything. Just make it, we just have to have that house. So we have a housing crisis in the state. We have a housing crisis in Narragansett. We have a couple of affordable housing authority committees, but we need to do more than just talk about it. We need to act. And I understand that the rental companies are not going to like this action. I understand that. But please keep in mind, we're not eliminating it. We're just lessening it by one to actually represent a better density so that we can have neighborhoods and we can have that sense of community which you are a part of. Thank you. Okay, thank you. Okay, so finally, so the goal of this ordinance is to maintain the residential character of neighborhoods and to promote public health, safety and general welfare. So there's definitely a legitimate public purpose for the ordinance. There's consistency with Narragansis adopted comprehensive plan, and there's consistency with other provisions of the Narragansett zoning ordinance. And the focus of this ordinance is on our 10, our 10 A and our 20 zones. And for those of you who don't know what those zones are, those are in the neighborhoods with quarter and half acre lots. And that's the most densely developed neighborhoods in Narragansett. And those are the neighborhoods where neighbors are most likely to be impacted by noise and other disruptions caused by many students living in single family houses. So the talent council believes that with this ordinance, by limiting the number of students that can live in a single family house, the ordinance will also reduce pressures that have been driving up the price of single-family houses. One goal of this ordinance is to help retain single-family houses as owner occupied houses or as year-round rentals that provide housing for the town's workforce. So Rhode Island General Law is section 45-24-50, gives the town council the authority to adopt and amend zoning ordinances, consistent with a comprehensive plan. And that's to promote the public health, safety, general welfare, to provide a range of uses and intensities of use for appropriate to the character of the town, reflecting current and future needs. Provide for orderly growth and development which recognizes the goals and patterns of land use contained in the comprehensive plan, the need to shape and balance urban and rural development, the use of innovative development, regulations and techniques, and to promote implementation of the comprehensive plan. So specifically, this ordinance will manage the intensities of use appropriate to the character of the town town reflecting current and future needs. It manages the intensity of use by students so that they can blend more seamlessly into neighborhoods. This is consistent with other provisions of the Narragansett zoning ordinance, which also manage intensity of use in single family dwellings. Provides for the control, protection, and our batement of noise pollution. The ordinance will reduce the daily impacts of noise that occurs when single family dwellings are rented to larger number of students. So the comprehensive plan contents, the guiding principles are to maintain local character and uniqueness, so maintaining the look and feel of Narragansett as a coastal community is a very high priority. Its natural coastline, recreational areas, quiet residential neighborhoods, historic districts and small businesses define Narragansett. Number two in guiding principles, enhance the year-round community. The town's year-round population has diminished in the past decade, and many commercial proprietors find it difficult to sustain their businesses because of the highly seasonal community. Encouraging year-round residency will strengthen community spirit and expand the customer base for existing and potentially new businesses, particularly in the non-summer months. One way to do this is to increase the number of available long-term rentals. But potential residents have difficulty finding 12-month rental options. The financial attractiveness of seasonal versus yearly rentals in higher costs of purchasing a home in Narragansett are issues that need to be balanced and are addressed in this plan. Number five, guiding principles. Recognizing changing demographics. Second, the town's desire to enhance a year-round community also leads to attracting younger individuals and families that are looking for housing they can afford. So let me just circle back to my first point and to my opening statement. The goal of this ordinance is to maintain the residential character of neighborhoods and to promote public health, safety, and general welfare. Period. Thank you. So with no other comments tonight, I think everybody was given the opportunity to speak. All our council members have spoken. If anyone else has any last comments from the council. Otherwise is there a motion to close this public hearing? So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion to close. The public hearing motion by a council law. They're seconded by a councilor Pope, Popec motion passes for zero. Next step we have a motion to receive and accept the planning board's recommendation in regard to amendment of chapter 731 of the code of ordinances of the town of Narragansett Road Island entitled Zoning. Specifically text revisions of section 2.2 definitions and a new section 7.2.1 student occupied dwellings. It was a two-two vote. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion by Council Lawler, second by Councilor Copac. Council President? Yes. I'd like to make a motion to move up item J1 to the top of the agenda. Most of these folks here tonight are here for this vote so let's bring it on. Okay do I have a second? Second. Okay all in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay. All opposed. Okay motion to move the introducing and passing and accepting. Is that j1? I had it this. J1. J1. Okay one. J1 I had it this K1 J1 I K1 J1 okay motion by council lawler second my councilor co-pac motion passes for zero to move this up So this is the motion to introduce read pass and accept as a first reading an Ordinance in amendment of chapter 731 of the code of ordinances of the town of Derragantzit, Rhode Island, entitled Zoning, specifically text revisions of Section 2.2, definitions, and a new section 7.2.1 student occupied dwellings. So moved. Second. Okay. Seeing as we've all spoken on this, all the members of the public spoke on this the council spoke on this We're gonna be taking a vote on this so all in favor. I All opposed no motion by council law or second by councilor copack motion passes for zero So we're going to be moving back to the last agenda item that we had with the one from Parks and Rec. We're just going to go back to the original motion because the amendment failed. So this is a motion to award the RFP for Paddle Sports Business Concession to the highest paying bidder, Narrow River Kayaks LLC with payments to the town of $4,500 a year one, partial season, $17,000 a year two, 19,000 a year three and 22,000 a year four for a total payment to the town of $62,500. So moved. Second. Okay. All in favor? So we're in favor? So we're in favor of just, you have to vote on the original motion. So it's a yes, it's an upper down vote. So the amendment failed. It was a 22. So then we had to go back to the original motion, which is to approve this as is. Okay. So no. Okay. No. No. I'm going to say aye. No. No. I'm going to say aye. Okay. So motion failed, motion by Councillor Lollars, second by Councillor Copac. Motion fails. One yes, three noes, one three. Okay. So next moving to the information technology department, it's a motion to approve the renewal of SAS application services with Tyler technologies incorporated in the amount of 90,000, $589.96 for fiscal year 2024. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. I vote for the motion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion by Councillor Lawler, second by Councillor CoPEC. Motion passes for zero. Next we have a motion to approve the annual renewal of Office 365 Cloud email and office with zones LLC in the total amount of $68,460 and 60 cents. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion by Councillor Loller. Second by Councillor Copac. Motion passes for zero. Next from the Public Works Department. We have a motion to approve the filling of a vacant forment's position within the high way division at Public Works. And any subsequent vacancies that will arise from the filling of this position. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. vacancies that will arise from the filling of this position. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed. Motion by Councillor Lawler, second by Councillor Copac motion passes for zero. Next up from the engineering department, we have a motion to refer the request from David Gilmore and Thomas Farley in regard to plat 5 lot 4040, 6.49.Judith Road for waiver of the sewer policy committee for review. So moved. Second. Any discussion with the council? All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion by Councillor Lawler. Second by Councillor Copack. Motion passes for zero. Next we have a motion to approve the contract for shelving for the more eluches memorial library renovation project with PSI, New England storage products at their quoted price of $101,532.79. So moved. Second. All in favor? Jim, I just want to clarify the clarification of the clarification the town manager Jim this change order is not adding on a digital money correct No, this the funding is from the bond money and Professional services account with library donation in college. Okay. Thank you Any other discussion anyone from the public all in favor? I'm aye all opposed'll oppose. Motion by Councillor Lawler, second by Councillor Copic. Motion passes for zero. Councillor President, I think we missed item one two. I'm sorry? I think we missed item one two. Motion to frame the water storage tanks. I don't have that. I think we skipped over that one. Let's go back to that one. Yeah, it's I too. I too. Thank you. It's all right. I noticed that. Okay, so I too. The water tanks. Yeah. J, it's J, right? J, I have a J2. Okay. Okay, motion to prove ratified. Where's the proof ratified confirm? It's what I was coming up with next. That's next. Yeah, so engineer, I'm an engineering J2, a motion to approve ratified and confirm. It came with just that's fine. Let's just do. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Okay. It's a motion to approve ratified and confirm the water storage takes inspection and interior cleaning by underwater solutions incorporated in the amount of $21,987. So moved. Second. Can I just ask one question? This has already happened, right? Am I correct? Yes, it has. Okay, thank you. Just wanted to be sure. I was on the public. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All in favor? What's it? Was that a aye? favor. I. I. I. I. Was it a aye? Yes. Okay. Motion by Councillor Lawler, second by Councillor Copac, motion passes for zero. Next is a motion to approve, ratify and confirm change order number four with E. W. Burman, Incorporated for the Moray Lune-Gentz Memorial Library Renovation Project and the amount of $124,691. Some moved. Second. Any discussion? Any more from the public? I had. Hold on one second. Oh. I'm just waiting. My name is Riches Van Gogh, waiting for any example of cash out that has been added and this may be one. And I just caution the group again that we are in dire financial strengths. Our cash balance is shrinking. We keep on adding things with no care about cash. And unless we start caring about cash, we ain't to have any. Thank you. All in. And I just said, Jim, this one on the library, this, it's an additional 124,000. Is that what was put back in their budget from before? For this change order. I'm 14. It is from the bond account. It is. It's from the bond against. Yeah. Does that add that amount to the total contract? Well, will that get reduced at some point through the rest of this? No, because we added it back in. Well, the change orders that have been issued, they have the funds that they afford. For instance, as of Friday, there were 244,000 approved change orders for the project. But there were 248 rejected, 248,000 rejected by our own its project manager. So they can, the whole, at the beginning of this project, I had stayed to the council that I'll put these on and regular basis, and normally just to prove, who's right. They're just to prove, they change it as cause they're within the parameters that we can approve them, but because it's a big project, I see we're gonna put them on to see them both negatives and the positive ones we did before. But these particular ones pertained to what was put back in as far as the painting and the coup school buffled this. This is like the additional pot. That's what I wanted to know. That is correct, yep. So that's gonna make- That's what goes the baffles the painting yeah I know the other way there's a there's a change either way but this was added into their budget from you know that's I guess that going to be part of the bond now because we gave them back $105,000 or whatever it was we had added this back into the budget I into the library you mean the capital budgets yeah yeah he's talking about the capital money. Jim. This was put back into the library fund for these purposes. I believe that was, yes, at the end of the budget process. So it's in there now. And it's just there's just change orders. And then so we're just approving ratifying. So there's a we have. So the whole project is there's five four five point four. This is going to make an additional five point eight point eight This is going to make an additional point for that. Well, this Yes, okay, so everything's like the We're not going over five point eight that worry I would I was going to say that I Very does I think does that answer your question? Yeah, I think that's okay. All right, so all in favor. All opposed. Okay, so motion by Councillor Lawler, seconded by Councillor, was it Copic? Was it Copic? Yep. Okay, motion passes for zero. Last on the agenda is a motion to approve the contract extension for the purchase of wastewater chemicals, polymers, and polydine incorporated for a one-year period for polymer ZTAG 7587, $1.86 per pound, with polymers ZTAG 787, $600, $3 per 450 pound drum under the same terms and conditions as the original contracts. So moved. Seconded. Any discussion? Anyone from the public? All in favour? Aye. All opposed. Motion by Councillor Lawler, seconded by Councillor Copec. Motion passes for zero. Do I have an motion to adjourn? So moved. Second. All in favour? Aye. Aye.