you you you you you you you you you you you you you Good evening, everyone. We are going to call to order. Narragansett Town Council of regular meeting. Today is Monday, March 4th, 2024. The time is 7 p.m. And at this time, I would just like to welcome, we have special guests here today that are going to help us with the pledge of allegiance. We have the Girl Scouts and at this time I would like to welcome them to come forward here. Hi, girls. Are you ready? We're going to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, and you are going to lead us in that. So let's all stand. I think it's a go-go microphone. Thank you. Thank you. Great job. Okay. Just wait a second. I'm going to read a Proclamation in a moment. At this time we're just going to move on to the approval of Minutes. We have a motion to approve the minutes from the February 20th, 2024 meetings. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. All in favor? I. I. I. I don't think Councillor Sussan-Liubanana was at this meeting. All in favor? Okay. Motion by Councillor Lawler, second by Councillor Copic. Motion passes for for in the zero. For one abstention. Okay, next we have the proclamation that I will read for the Girl Scouts. It is Girl Scout Week and Girl Scout Week is actually is coming up. It's March 10th to March 16th, 2024. Whereas Tuesday, March 12th, 2024 marks the 112th anniversary of Girl Scouts of the USA founded by Juliet Gordon-Lowe in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia and whereas through Girl Scouting, girls grow, encourage confidence and character and learn to make the world a better place. And whereas throughout its long and distinguished history, Girl Scouts, the pre-eminent organization for Girls, has inspired millions of girls and women with the highest ideals of character, conduct, and patriotism. And whereas Girl Scouting takes an active role in increasing the interest and skill levels of today's youth in math, science, and technology careers, and to fulfill our country's economic needs. And whereas through participation in project undercover, a council-wide community service project, every girl will learn that she can make a change for the better in her community. And whereas the Girl Scout Cookie Sale is the world's largest girl ed business teaching financial literacy to girls of all ages. And whereas the Girl Scouts of South Eastern England, which serves 4,800 girls in the Rhode Island area, will be celebrating 112 years of an American tradition with 1.7 million Girl Scouts and 750 adult members nationwide. Now therefore, we the town council of the town of Narragansett do hereby proclaim the week of March 10th to the 16th, 2024 as Girl Scout Week in the town of Narragansett and urge our citizens to support Girl Scouts in their endeavors. This is my official sale of the town of Narragansett County Washington State of Rhode Island this fourth day of March 2024. Big round of applause. Okay, this time we'll just take a little bit of break and we'll be able to take photos with the Girl Scouts. Thank you. you you Okay, good job, girls. Great job. Get those cookie sales. And thank you for the cookies. We appreciate them. Lemonades are my favorite, so thank you very much. You'll see. Go out and sell, girls. Okay. I'm going to move on to the next. All right. Moving along, we'll get our next from announcements and presentations. We have our town manager's updates. Good evening, Council. A few items are in interest. Everyone has read or heard about the disposition of the lighthouse in Don and Galilee. The State Properties Committee met and on the lighthouse in parcels. They terminated the existing list with PRI-10. They have agreed to demo the existing lighthouse in and that process has already begun. They agreed to beautify the front parcel where the building is located to the road frontage until such time of plan for that puzzle is developed. However, they also approved a new lease agreement for the two rear parcels to PRI-10 with various stipulations. The new lease is a five-year agreement with three five-year renewal options. PRI-10 will pay approximately $103,000 a year. I attended the hearing and testified against renewing the lease with what I refer to as a bad tenant that simply did not live up to the terms of the agreement. Steve Ferrandi also attended that meeting, and that's where it stands right now. I just wanted to give some people the facts that don't know about them in the public. Last week we had an open house in a work session at the old library located at 35 Kingston Road. The work session was to seek public input on the future of the structure and possible. Some town staff previously submitted some of their suggestions to me, which I shared with the council, and they were shared at the work session with the public. And the public had an opportunity to make some of their own suggestions. The meeting was not a decision-making meeting, but an informational input-seeking meeting. And we always welcome suggestions from the public or interested parties. If they come through me, I will share them with the council. Budget preparation. I recently submitted the capital improvement plan to the town council on February 22nd, one week prior to the due date of February 29th. The operating budget should be in your hands by March 15th. Staff have been working diligently on this project. Fourth of July fireworks. They will actually happen on the third with a rain date of the 14th Subjected Town Council approval. The barge company was unavailable to handle the town's requests for the seventh as a rain date and hopefully we won't even need to do that. I'm assuming they have obviously other obligations because there's limited number of barge companies. Once in a while I could throw some kudos out to staff that some things go overlooked. Ms. Paddy-Rosa, my assistant and the H.I. Manager, she's been collecting food items for more than 11 years from town staff and visitors. Every week she drops these items at the Johnny Cakes Center. A fact that not everyone knows. They see the box in the office. Some ask, some don't. But what a kind project and the staff that support her efforts for this worthy project as do some of the visitors and retired members. And I'd like to thank Patty for that. And it's just a kind gesture. I'm going to ask Dan to put a photograph up behind me. I sent it to the council on Friday. We call it the Lady on the Sea Wall. If you look at the picture, we don't know the history behind this. We think it's somewhere in the vicinity around World War II. But if you know anything about this, please contact Max Patti Rosa at extension 654 at Town Hall. It's interesting because it's the curve of the seawall. You can see a chain link fence with a bob wire on top of it as the woman sitting there posing. So if anyone knows anything about it, we'd appreciate if you'd share it with us and then maybe we can share it with the historical society as well. There might be a history behind it. And that's it for now. Thank you. May I ask Mr. Tiongick one question? Sir, could you please follow up with there's speaking of the sea wall. There's been a lot of chatter on social media regarding the parking signs on the sea wall. And I thought it'd be a good idea for you to reiterate your comments from last meeting where you spoke about how that is not going to be true. Could you? I won't get into extensive detail on it again because we're still dealing with the State Traffic Commission, but there's never been any discussion about putting excessive signage or 129 signs on the seawall. We were going to position signs on the west side of Ocean Road to indicate both sides a sign at the south and north end of the se well, and perhaps utilize the seasonal trash receptacles to emblazine the simple sign upon those. But it's not finally yet until we finish up with the statement. So the Photoshop signs that are very large, quite a few of them on the wall. That's what some people call fake news. I don't engage in any social media. I think it's a waste of my time. But I have people have shared them with me. And now there's been no plan to do any of that. A parking media is a paid parking. And one last question. The council voted on having the parking 3L parking last fall. Since that vote have there been other votes that would then say the council is dialing back on the amount of sea wall signs. Has that been the last vote for the council? Maybe that's a better vote for our vote. I'm sorry. I'm not sure of the question. So the question is basically what the post is ledging is that this town council has dialed back on the amount of sea wall signs because of the amount of phone calls and Facebook posts that have been up. So I just want to qualify that there has been no other vote on this. The vote was in the fall to go ahead with the process. There's been no change in what I've been stating to the council about the intent, but the council has not contacted me asking me to dial anything back. I just really, I just explained the limited process that we plan to impose when it's completed, but now we haven't dialed anything back. In fact, it's been pretty simple from the beginning. Just trying to clear up the miscommunication that's out there on social media that's causing people to not have the truth. Just trying to clear up the miscommunication that's out there on social media that's causing people to not have the truth. Thank you. Thank you. Lastly, Councillor Copac wanted to also make an announcement about an event, recent event. I'm going to turn it over to her. I just wanted to mention that we had a really lovely event at the library last Saturday called Stone Soup and what that is is an opportunity for our area vendors to supply soup and sometimes bread. And I think there were all kinds of other things to folks who came in to, and the price of admission was to bring some kind of canned food or a food for the St. Peter's pantry. So it's kind of like an addendum to what Patty does. And I also wanted to thank Chief Partington, who has been the reader of the, it's a lovely book, Stone Soup, for the last at least eight years. We couldn't decide if it was ten, but it was a lot of years. And that was my first time getting to survey it and it was it was a great telephon. So they are accepting donations at the library for St. Peter's right through the rest of this week so if you have a you know can't a soup that you don't want to drink you don't want to eat or you have anything that that would be a lovely thing to bring to people who are in need feel free to drop it off at the library. Thank you. Thank you. And now in the last part of our announcements presentations, we do have our housing study and needs assessment that will be presented by Mr. Michael Crane of Crane Associates. I'm going to call Mr. Deluca up to just give a brief introduction on this. And then we will hear from Mr. Crane. Thank you. Thank you, Council President, members of the Council. Just briefly to give you a background on this and to refresh all of our memories. In September of 2022, the Council voted to authorize the staff, town manager to solicit consultants to do a housing study of the town and to assess market forces and play. We put together an RFP later that fall and sent it out, Mr. Crane of Crane Associates, he's the principal in Crane Associates, was the selected respondent, and we interviewed him in December of 2022, and put him under contract early in 2023. He's his work initiated, he initiated his work by doing a great deal of background study, which you will be telling you about shortly. Then we had a kickoff meeting with the Affordable Housing Collaborative in May, at which two of our planning board members also attended, and that group became a working group to assist Mr. Crane throughout his study analysis and final drafting. Mr. Crane generated an in-depth analysis. He's written a full report. I received that report just before the holidays. And then through a few revisions got the final report late in January. So tonight, Mr. Crane is going to present the summary of his final report. You all have a copy of the executive summary before you I have extra copies on the desk over on the staff desk that I will put out from members of the public So without any further delay. I'd like to have Michael Crane come up. Thank you. Welcome, Mr. Crane Okay Thank you very much for having me. Again, as Mike said, I am Michael Crain, owner of Crain Associates. We did this work with a long-term partner of mine, economic and policy resources. They do a lot of economic analysis. And we work together. I'm usually the guy on the ground that goes down to the fishing piers and talks to the folks and in the bars and down on the streets and any committees and business people and wherever it may be to gain primary data is what we call it. And that gets compiled with a long set of analysis that is a report that you have. It's about 70 pages long. You're about to get the executive summary of the executive summary in the interest of time. So I will breeze over the detailed data be confident that your staff and committees have vetted it very well. And we'll get right into the recommendations. So what we really want to do is I want to point out the major challenges for housing that are unique to Narragansett. Okay, I mean everyone has housing challenges, but there's something unique about Narragansett I need to bring up because that drives the recommendations. I'll define what affordable housing is for you, for your town, not just all of the state or the country and provide you with some recommendations. So unique challenges to Narraganskis, three-pronged set of lightning bolts here. First of all, you have a town of 16,000 people and half of them are college students. You can't find a town like that very much. This is very unique for you. Second of all, the college students generate a demand for rentals far beyond what you would expect a town to have of 6,000 people. You combine that with your vacation rentals because you're in a beautiful place, on the ocean it generates as you always have a traditional summer, but with the advent of Airbnb, you have this whole different dynamic now that's started in the last 10 years or so with the beginning of Airbnb. And you combine that finally with household incomes. Household incomes are generally greater than, you have a large percentage of households over $200,000 of household income. That's also unusual. The median household income is 10% higher than the state and 21% higher than the nation. So you combine all those things and you have a very unique housing dynamic in their GANSA. I wanted to point out the college student situation. You have the total of 2,236 rental units. Now, right now, 29% of them are being rented by your year-round residents. Lesson 30%. 70% are rented by college students or vacation rentals alone. I have one, the row there called college academic year only, 389 units or 17% of your total stock is being rented by college students only. Remember that number? a few slides down. Now, I want you to point out that if you magically removed University of Rhode Island, not that it's a good idea, OK? They're an important employer. And they do a lot for you. But it's important to remove them theoretically to see what would happen. If you've removed, put your university red eye on way up on the northern border for example. You wouldn't have it there. You would have 1100 new rental units, or you would have 1100 rental units for full-time residents. And that's your demand. You would have no shortage. You would have 380 of those for low and moderate income housing. If you put 380 of those for LMI populations, you would meet the state's requirement of 10%. So just theoretically getting rid of the University of Reddell, which is not possible, but still it demonstrates the impact that the university has on your challenge. Now there's some benefits, a lot of benefits, but still we need to recognize that. Second of all, we analyze what is affordable. We define affordable. So when you define affordable housing, you want to say, well, how much should I be spending on housing? And that's a national standard. We use 30% of your household income as affordable. If you're spending more than 30% of your household income on housing, shelter, rent or mortgage and utilities, taxes, and utilities and insurance. If you're spending more than 30% of that on your household income, then you are in unaffordable housing, and if you're spending less than you can afford your house. So that's the standard we use. What is the median household income for homeowners in Narragansett? We separated out between homeowners and renters. Homeowners have higher household income, so what are they spending? Follow me along on them. Third from the right, but second from the right, the 100% column. So the median household income for Narragansett homeowners is $113,000. In today's housing market, the interest rates are 6.5%. It's moving rapidly, but when I did that, it's 6.5%. If you go out and shop around for a house, you have to put down say 5%, that's about the minimum. You can afford what the bank will say is, okay, give us 5% down and we'll give you a mortgage for $2,034. That's your 30%. That's what the bank is going to do because they use 30% also. So at 30% of your income, your affordable mortgage is $320,000. That's the fourth row on the $337,256. That's your affordable house price. The median house price in there against it is $667,000. So you have a median house mortgage would be $4,000. So basically, you need two people earning that amount of money to be able to afford a house in your home, and they're against, a homeowner. So as the bullet point showed down, you have about a $2,000 gap or a $326,000 gap in the house price, a monthly mortgage of $1989. People even earning 120% of the median on the far right column, people earning $135,000 a year aren't even close to being in affordable housing. That's how drastic the situation is in there against it. So how much would you need to afford a house? There's a lasbola point there. The purchase or of a median price housing or a gas if we need to have a household income of $195,000 a year to afford a house to pay, you know, 30%. So that's how much you need in order to pay 30% of your income. $195,000. So how many people are in unaffordable housing? This is what we need to also figure out for Narragansi. So can everybody there afford their house or not? How many people are paying more than 30% of your income? We do that analysis and it comes out the the bottom right, far right corner, 1,236 units are occupied by those who can't afford it. In other words, 26% of your population are in housing that's housing costs stressed. They're paying too much, 26% of your population, 131,233 units. That is your gap and that is your target. Now we do the same thing for renters. So we don't bunch renters and homeowners together because it's different quantities. You can see the annual household income of a renter is $45,000. And so their affordable rent is in bold. They're on the bold row. If you're at 100% of the median, it's $1126 for rent. The median gross is 1,500. You have a gap of about $400. So renters gap is actually smaller than the homeowners. For renters, there is a number of rental units that are in housing cost stressed households is 404. So that's 18% of your population is paying too much and of your renters are paying too much. So you're short, 404 units, you're short, 1200 units of homeowner and you're short 404 units of rental units. Remember 400? Remember 18%? Yeah. So, recommendation number one. The Adapter Housing Infil plan. There's a lot of lots, there's a lot of different properties around town that can be used in different ways to increase density. And a couple of the recommendations do all of the same thing in the effect of putting more units on existing lots. Mr. Crane, so we have to go to a 730, we have to go to public hearing, really have been anticipating this report and your presentation. So would you be able to present after we close the public hearing? Okay. Okay. All right. So we'll call you back up and then so that if the council has any questions we can also ask you. So appreciate that. Okay. So at this time it is 730. We need to move on to the public hearing decision portion of our meeting. The first item is a motion to schedule a public hearing on March 18th, 2024. On amendment of chapter 70 of the code of ordinances of the town of Narragansett, Rhode Island, entitled taxation and finance specifically section 7-04 entitled compliance with state law. So moved. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Motion by Councillor Lawler, second by Councillor Copac, motion passes 5-0. Next up is a motion to schedule a public hearing on April 15th, 2024 on an ordinance and amendment of Appendix A of the code of ordinances of the town of Narragansett, Rhode Island entitled zoning and refer the matter to the planning board for review and recommendation. So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. rail LLC doing business as Boone Street Market for a new class B, Victuola, Alcoholic Beverage License, Assessors Platt D, Lot 221, 145 Boone Street, Narragansett, Rhode Island. So moved. Second. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion by Council Lawler, Second by Councillor Copic. 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. doing business as Boone Street Market is seeking a new class the Victual or Alcoholic Beverage License at Boone Street Market located at 145 Boone Street, Narragansett Road Island. No alcohol license has been previously issued at this location. Therefore, a special use permit is required. On January 18 18, 2024, Narragansett Peer Railroad LLC, owner of 145 Boone Street, received final approval from the zoning board of review for a special use permit to allow the sale of alcohol in conjunction with the service of food. Since this is a new license, a butter notification of the public hearing is required. In accordance with Rhode Island General Laws, three-five-17, notice of the hearing must be given by newspaper advertisement and by direct mail to all property owners within 200 feet of the business, seeking the license to allow remonstrants to be heard. Currently there are 22-21 active class V Victualing Licenses in Narragansett approval of this license would bring the total to 22. Thank you, Madam President. Members of the board, Jack McGreen for the applicant. The applicant is market at Gantsert Rail LLC. That's it, Rhode Island Limited Light, Bility Company. The property is located at 145 Boone Street, and identified as Platte D, Lot 221. It's located in a BB General Business Zone District, which is the old train station in the Laudermat, if family where that's located. We did obtain, like you said, a zoning board approval for a special use permit under section 5814 of the use code to operate a restaurant with a full service class vehicle license. I have with me Lindsey Holmes, Lindsey, you want to come up. And she's going to tell you what her vision is for this property. I know some of you know her. She was here last year getting approval for the surf shack. And I'll have her step up and give you a little background. Go ahead. Good evening, everyone. Excuse me. Please raise your right hand. You saw the testimony about to give in the matter out there. To be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. So, I hope you've had a good day. Yes, I do. Please state and spell your ruling for the record. Lindsay Holmes, L-I-N-D-S-A-Y. My last name is spelled H-O-L-M-E-S. Lindsay, will you just give the council your background in the restaurant business? Absolutely. I have a little blurb first if you don't mind placating me. It's been a long time coming. He's the best witness to have, by the way. You say that now. Good evening. I'm going to make my wife and my entire team a little bit nervous and do something that's kind of out of character for me prior to my normal business pitch. For those of you that don't know me, or more succinctly, those who are questioning my motives or my integrity let me introduce myself. My name is Lindsay Holmes and I am a lifelong year round, Narragansett local. I was raised by locals. My father's lineage actually dates back to the 1700s when Narragansett was still a part of SK. My mom was a waitress. My dad was in the Coast Guard. They worked themselves up through the restaurant industry ranks to eventually become owners of numerous South County restaurants. I've lived in yearly rentals in various neighborhoods in arrogance at my entire life. I lived the housing crisis, which we were just kind of diving into and I think making every local stomach turn with those numbers. I sat around the dinner table and heard my parents talk about liquor licenses and how difficult they were to get parking variances. Parking has been an issue and a hot button issue in air gave sense. I can remember sound ordinances, special use permits. I grew up hearing these conversations with my parents. I was woken up by college parties as a team next door. I am not an out of towner with deep pockets. I take exception to that. I am a local who sees no better investment than this community that I have called home for 40 years. This is my home. I went to the growing child as a baby. I remember a pure marketplace that thrived. I remember begging my mom to drop me off in town. So I could eat pizza and drink slushies at Pit and Padio. So I could watch movies at the movie theater so I could get penny candy at poppas. This isn't some piratrium of mine. This is a return to the town that I grew up loving. The betterment of this community and the revitalization of not only the train station on Boone Street but the pier is the proverbial hill I will die on. It means more to me than I have words. While I welcome the cooperation and the feedback of every single resident that I am here to serve, I will not be misrepresented or have my investments dirty by those that wish to further not only drive this community but the restaurant community in South County further into the ground. My children deserve better, my future grandchildren deserve better. They deserve a peer that I grew up in. So with all of that being said I would love not only to present to the council before me but to everybody behind me the vision that we have for the commercial space at 145 Gleon Street. The vision of this space sprung from a part of us as an ownership team that wanted to turn every square inch of this building or to the community. And with a traditional restaurant approach, a large portion of your square footage has to just be behind closed doors to a traditional back of the house kitchen. So that's where we ended up coming up with this six kitchen. Can we get some specs going up over here? Do you have, you don't have it? No, only zoning. Oh, only zoning. All right, so we don't need pictures. Though that's throwing me for a loop. So this six open air kitchen approach that we're taking, there is going to be no square footage of the train station besides very small, 12 by 12 back of the house, which is pretty much to store mechanicals, ice cream machine and things of the sort. So when you walk down the main part of the market, it is flanked now by six open air kitchens that will be run as one kuhi sa restaurant, but we'll give you a variety of menu options as opposed to just one cuisine choice, like for example, on Narragansettap, traditional restaurant, one cuisine theme. At the Boone Street Market, we are gonna have a variety of different cuisines that are going to be offered. There's two bars on the facility. One is towards the back of the building, the west side if you will, which is actually all spring from the original ticket window. So when you would come down the tracks way back when you would punch your ticket to get on the train right at this ticket window That has been you know restored and is now we dubbed that back bar the ticket bar there is an opposite bar on the Boonstory Dund so towards the East elevation of the building and that was really spring from again wanting to open up the entire building from East to West so we created this indoor outdoor vibe on this bar where we had these big accordion windows so you can sit. And if I was the bartender in IWA, you were sitting on the outside Boone Street bar. Behind me you could see the entire length of the building, which was very important for all of us to be able to, like I said, to really showcase every square inch of the building. One of the biggest, I would say, working changes that we've had from our original idea and to where we are before you today was that little stretch in the front of Boone Street. The plot is very tight so the building is not far from the street in that one spot there. So through working with Mike Deluca at planning Wayne with the building department we've Developed and are currently constructing this fence that will not only serve as a very strong iron cloud boundary for our liquor license, but will also keep safe boundary from oncoming traffic and from pedestrians that are walking by. That wall has been constructed with six by six pressure treated ballards that are walking by. That wall has been constructed with six by six pressure treated ballards that are down into three feet of concrete and are placed every 48 inches. It will be wrapped in cedar to kind of mimic the original facade of the building and will have a plantable top to kind of add to the beautification on Boon Street, which I know is near and dear to Mr. DelLuca-Sart and ours as well. It's like seating in the basement. So now that I've kind of covered the east and the west end, I'm going to kind of go from the north and south elevations of the building. So the south elevation where the train tracks used to come through originally, we have a beautiful back patio. Again, through some working with the zoning department, the planning department, we have a six foot vegetative buffer and a four foot path of emergency egress. And then we have a stockade cedar fence. On the other side of the stockade cedar fence, we have constructed a beautiful patio which will have four built-in booths with fire pit tables and there's also a series of six tables that is under our large socket that we have restored. Also on that patio, we have a stage plant for outdoor music and for cornhole bowls, uh, boards, excuse me, for, um, just some recreational play on that back patio as well. Now back onto the, um, front patio, I discussed the wall but I didn't really discuss the changes that were made to the seating plan originally for that area. Our first plan, our first seating plan, was to have a series of tables in that front area. And through talks with different town officials, different residents who were having concerns about that seating, those tables have been removed, and we just have one seating area for those that are just waiting to get a seat at the bar. They're waiting for their burger to finish cooking or they're waiting for a table to open up in the back patio. So we really did make a lot of changes based on a lot of community feedback for that front area. I know it's a cause of concern for a lot of people. Our proximity to the playground has been brought up numerous times. So through adhering to a normal alcohol control plan, a lot of those concerns are kind of inherently addressed through that process. But the alterations to the construction of that fence and to our seating plan really was a meeting of the mines. So we could kind of get ahead of a lot of these concerns. We also on the north side of the building, which is where you kind of pull into the driveway, we also have a series of tables under the softwood on that elevation as well. In the interior, there is also one additional, when I was referencing the ticket bar, we also have plans for an indoor stage within that ticket area, that ticket window area for music in the winter months. There is also, you might see before you or have seen, you know, through planning or zoning that we have two different plans, if you will, we are, I think, are the only restaurant in town that has presented a winter plan and a summer plan. Again, it was something that came up with the very hotly contested parking variants that I asked for and trying to illustrate how our seating and our occupations, our occupants, I'm sorry, really do ebb and flow with the season. So one change that we're making from the interior of the market in the off months is that we are actually deconstructing two of our kitchen stalls. We call them on the team. We call them convertible stalls to make way for additional interior seating. And we feel as though the menu items that are being offered in those stalls in the summer months can just be absorbed by the neighboring stalls in the winter months. So these are some kind of unique operational changes that we've made. And I think that that clap is just very unique as to the shape of it, my residential butters, just the proximity to the playground. So I think there's been a lot of nuances there that I really do appreciate everybody on the town level that's helped us as an ownership team really navigate that. We also have two other initiatives that are unique to our team. I believe all of you were sitting before me when I went through this on Gansetab but I will remind you on at 83 Naira Gansetab, one of our conditions of our liquor license were to have a program called NoiseAware. NoiseAware is sound monitoring for residential or commercial properties. And it puts sound monitors at locations of your choosing on the periphery of your property. It's all control, it's all, all of the information is sent to management ownership and it gives you live decibel readings all around your property. You can set thresholds. So when it's starting to get loud, management can be notified and intervene. We're doing the same thing on Boon Street. I am very proud to say before you and say I did not get one sound complaint on Gansadav. My neighbors are within stone's throw so I think that that is very much a testament not only to our staff and our operating policies but also to the technologies that we're choosing to implement. Another one that's kind of along the same lines of maximizing technologies to kind of get ahead of some of these potential problems, we're also using a software called Patreon Scan, which is equivalent to ID scanner, like you would see at the airport, for example, like when TSA goes and scans your passport to verify who you say you are. I feel like so often technology is used kind of against us in the industry. And we're trying to kind of change that paradigm a little bit and trying to get ahead of some of these fake IDs that are getting harder and harder to spot. I'm a little bit in trying to get ahead of some of these fake IDs that are, you know, getting harder and harder to spot. So patron ID can also provide us with security questions if there's any question as to the validity of someone's identification. So those two items have actually, since we were at planning and zoning, those two items have been added back into or added into our alcohol control plan and are those are two things that we are more than willing as an ownership team to have those conditions placed on our license as well. Both of which I am, we're new to Patron Scan but noise aware is something that I have the most confidence in and really do want to continue to utilize moving forward. One difference on Boone Street is that we are asking the council for live music. My wife, Christina, is actually a touring musician. We didn't feel I'm dancing Avenue, that that was an appropriate business model for live music, particularly with this new change there. We're trying to really earn the trust of our neighbors there, but it's something that we really do feel very strongly about on Boon Street. We do also have, we also do have the residential units above on Boon Street that we have to stay mindful of. So we are very much motivated by that added layer of our business on Boone Street to make sure that sound is staying within controlled decibels. Jack's giving me notes. Yes, so our entire building, we actually have South County Sound in video there, South County Sound in audio. There, this whole week that is installing a sound system within. So we have speakers within the market and we have speakers on the socket of the building as well, which will all be controlled by a manager's iPad for music and for, you know, if we are playing a football game or a URI PC game, we can also have that sound broadcast through those speakers as well. It is a initiative of ours to have our live music also played through those speakers so we can very readily adjust and control sound based on that manager's iPad that controls the entire house. We feel that is a better option than having amplified music coming from the stage itself. That way the stage location doesn't really dictate where our sound is being streamed. It is our speaker location. That would do that for us So again, we feel like those Those different changes are gonna equip us more readily than than the next business to control and honor her sound So the musician is not controlling this sound correct. We are yes We can also control it with zones, which I think is lovely from not just own ownership or management standpoint, but from a patron standpoint as well. So with you come in, it's not going to be live music overtaking every area of the market. Say somebody is in for the URI PC game. We can control and direct the sound for one area and leave it undisturbed for another area, for example. So we've really worked really hard with, and we were so, so, so happy to find a local company to come in. And we really have exhausted all of our local subcontractors and local small businesses that we've been partnering with for over, for close to four years now in Boon Street. So they've been very helpful and mindful of these different potential sound issues. How was it? Operation. Oh, again, near and dear to my heart. So I feel like there is this very big stigma in the restaurant scene that if you're open late, that you are marketing yourself to a certain crowd. Obviously, a near-against at that crowd is labeled the college kids. We have a different industry perspective on that. We want to stay open late. And in BB Zone, I can stay open until one if you so tell me so my goal is to be open till 1 a.m. 7 days a week 365 days a year not to placate the URI crowd but to serve those who are serving us all day long now whether that's our local police force that changes shifts at 11 o'clock, our fire department that has that same changes shift, the nurses and the doctors at South County who, anybody that's in the healthcare field knows they don't even get a dinner break. So they leave the hospital hungry, wanting to be here in a burger and they have nowhere to go. They have very, I'll say they have very few places to go at that hour. So another big, big population that I feel obviously very compelled to serve is the restaurant industry workforce. They are again, they're getting out if their restaurant is out at 10 o'clock, where are they going? Where are the chefs that have been cooking for us all day going to eat? Where are the chefs that have been cooking for us all day going to eat? Where are the bartenders that have been serving us drinks all day? Where are they going to go and sit down and get to have a drink? So we feel as though providing a safe place for those hours of operation is long overdue, particularly on Boone Street. How many do I'm Jack? You're covered. Yeah. Everything. When we open it up. And we also have all the information when you were talking about the plan. So we have all that in our agenda packets, and we will hopefully we will review them. So I'm just a little to conceptualize what's going on. So basically, I mean, I think, I no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, but I have questions. Steve and I, thank you so much, Lindsay, for hosting us on Saturday. It was great to actually walk through it and see it in the workmanship. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful and very excited about the project. But one thing that you told us that you haven't told the rest of the members here, could you talk a little bit more about that front part of the bar? You're going to have someone near the street. Oh, yes, yes, yes. If I had my plans, I would have been triggered to. It's also part of the alcohol control plan. Yes. So it's kind of a catch 22. I need to be able to maintain this path of travel to get out from the, or to get to or from the front little Boone Street patio area. It is actually my handicap path of egress, which we discussed on Saturday. It leaves this point of vulnerability or the way I look at it operationally, this opportunity where we will host, we'll have a host stand there. So we can kind of not only direct people to either entrance to the market or to get into that part of the patio, but it also serves as a barrier for our alcohol control plan. So that really is a crucial kind of checkpoint, if you will. And when you pull into the property, you're going to be honestly like driving past this person. So I think it's a really great spot to make sure that nobody is leaving that area and taking liquor off the property. I think any restaurant that has that close of an entryway, you have to make sure operationally that you're doing your due diligence to make sure no one's taking alcohol off the property. So between that and the fencing, there is no way any way they could just casually block. Nobody would be able to get through. My second question is, could you elaborate a little bit more on the bands? off the property. So between that and the fencing, there is no way, any way they could just casually walk in. I know anybody would be able to get through. My second question is, could you elaborate a little bit more on the bands? We're not talking about having drum sets out there. What type of music? Like just a acoustic single person, maybe one or two people. Really want to give my wife a place to play. No. No, but just very much, just enjoy, enjoyable music. Nothing that's going to blow anybody out. Everybody's gone to that bar when you just wanted to go and catch up with the girlfriend and have a drink and now the music's playering and you can't hear yourself think and your neighbors are complaining and it's nothing that we want a part of. But when done right, I think it's a great draw to town. You see in almost every restaurant that does it well, it really does bring this lively nature to the restaurant. And it also brings people in from other towns. There are like tons of people that just go from, they have like their little loops that they do. So and so plays that, Georgia's on Sunday, and so and so plays that, the willows on Tuesday. Everybody gets their little loops that they do. So-and-so plays at Georgia's on Sunday, and so-and-so plays at the Willows on Tuesday. Everybody gets their little spots going, and I think it's a great draw. Yeah, I'm thinking so. Any other questions? I have one more, but I need Mr. Tierney. He's always working. Always talking. So one thing that we discussed on Saturday was the amount of parking and lack thereof and the amount of employees you would have there. And I had said to you that I'd be happy to speak with Jim to see if there's maybe a way that the town could work with our school system to see if potentially the buses could be used. Jim's done some preliminary work so I was gonna ask him if he could kind of share a little bit what he's thought about. Sure. Councilmember Lola did, uh, uh, pro-tam, uh, council Lola, uh, did reach out to me about this today. I did speak with, uh, Dr. Cummings, the superintendent of the schools, and had discussed this with him. The school department has a transportation division. The employees are allowed to, you know, through approved events to do transportation. If the staff's available, it's not part of their regular job. It's extra work that is paid for by another vendor. It had been explored previously with the cutaway, smaller buses, and some of the larger buses with the local businessmen that was a Bob Leonard from the Coast Guard House had reached out to me. He spoke to, he told me that he'd spoken to several of the business. It really didn't take off. It was last year, perhaps even the year before, I'm not sure. But the superintendent said he'd be glad to work with us and I can meet with their transportation director. One of the things that would have to be known is whether the business is going to contribute to such a program and we could maybe work with the schools to have those school parking lots in the summer months to be used for parking. But that's all in preliminary stages but absolutely said he'd like to work with us on it. And I see the Chairman of the Commerce Director and the audience I'm sure she would be happy to work with the businesses to get them all involved but it might be a good solution because we all know that's you're going to be it's going to give a very attractive place for people to go. Absolutely and I and being you know kind of coming up through the restaurant industry my entire team has their you know basis in this industry as well. So all of, you know, all of the owners in the area is something that we've already been talking about. It's very cost prohibitive. The reason that the previous trolley service failed, I'm sure I'm not telling you guys anything you don't already know is because that that insurance liability is just so very, very difficult to carry that, make it affordable for families, and still at least just cover your investment, let alone turn any kind of profit. So this might be a good way that all the area restaurants can work together with us and with the chamber and solve it. In particular, with their locations, and I am very motivated on both properties because at 83 Gansett Ave, I have the elementary school right there. And then obviously on Boon Street, we are stone's throw from both the the Peer School and the High School. So I absolutely would love to further, you know, work through that. I actually am even getting some insurance quotes to see hypothetically what that cost would look like if we were to, as an ownership ownership group pilot some kind of trolley service I think that it is That other part to the parking crisis in the pier that would really you know really speak to The root of the problem and from a business owner perspective, you know I is the three-hour time limit gonna help or hurt? I don't know. I think the proof is in the pudding. I think for me, it's like I said, it's one potential piece, but without increasing parking, it's very hard. It feels like it's just this shuffle. So I absolutely would love to continue working on something like that. It's worth a shot, right? You have to try something. We are so fortunate and arrogant to own our own buses. A lot of districts don't have that luxury. And to have those parking lots sit empty all summer long as we are just struggling to find places not only to park as patrons but as for our workforce. So we can look and- Big deter workforce. So we can look and- Big deterrent. So we'll look into it. Sounds like you'd be happy to sit with us. Oh, absolutely. Excellent. Love to. Love to. Thank you. Thanks. Any other council members? Have questions? Oh, yes. Councilor Franti. Great. Thank you, Eva. I did also visit the site and it's really nice what you've done over there so far. Some of the things I did observe, there are some challenges to that site. And my initial issue was with the front part of the building. It's very close to Boone Street and especially, I guess, if I get it correctly, you know, there's a cross street that comes up conned and it's really, you know, not, I guess, if I get it correctly, you know, there's a cross street that comes up conned and it's really, you know, not, you know, you are the buffer right there at the end of that, so you're at a T. And it looks like there's a barrier you're inside and there's gonna be seating out there, but it actually looks like those seats are primarily right on the sidewalk. And you don't have much room and The scenes been removed councilman. So if you're if you're seeing If you're seeing a plan or a schematic that has tables out there that is an outdated plan Through our work with planning and zoning those tables were removed You will see a few Adirondack chairs placed around a fire pit table, but other than that, there is no tables and chairs in that area any longer. So was there service to that patio from that bar on the inside of you? Yes, there are eight bar seats on that outside bar. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Oh, I thought that you were referencing an old plan because we did have numerous tables out there that were removed. So I wanted to be Yeah, lots of plans circulating for it. It's kind of at a triangle and it's really on that lack of a better term here, the Eastern North portion of that is very tight. It looks like so. You know, I mean with those bars in there and that's actually where your driveway is coming in so it's almost like a you know you I wouldn't want to bring a lot of you have more room to the south end of that I guess is what I'm trying to say if you want to put seating but I so that's my concern with that about that outdoor seating and it you know it doesn't even really look like it was much of a sidewalk. It'll be your building right to the edge, you know, and then the curbing from what I can see. So I don't know where that property line is. If you, if there's all, it's just, is Boone Street going to have a sidewalk or like a lot of the other restaurants also have. We're working with, I'm sorry, I mean to cut you off, we are working with DPW to get, so the old use of that building used to have, when it was a laundry mat, the wash tub, people used to pull right up. That's why that, it's actually like a curb cut right there. So we have, and this was another thing that came up through planning, zoning, different meetings with people in town, is to have that sidewalk report. It was kind of one of these givebacks from a parking perspective, because if we go ahead and just relinquish that and have that sidewalk report, we actually get three more on street parking spots on Boon Street, which to me is just the best thing ever. But also what it does is that that sidewalk will give a little bit of additional buffer and a lot of the engineering and construction of that wall has all of those things very much. And the forefront of our mind while constructing that wall has all of those things very much in the forefront of our mind while constructing that wall. It was just very difficult to find a delineation of where you're you know you're seeding and everything else went in where a sidewalk would start and then the curb after that. Yes. I don't know if the property line is you know this it's right up to the edge of your property there or I'd be you know I'd's right up to the edge of your property there. I'd be, you know, I'd be, I'd be, I'd like to see at least something, you know, at least a plan for that part of it in that front portion because it is a little tight there. Yes. I believe in our surveyed plans, not only the site plan, but the business layout in our package you should see. Herc works engineering did the plans for the site plans for the property and you can see all of our property lines outlined on that and also I imagine it's all reflective in our building permits through the town for construction of that wall. If you were to go out there today, you'll see the ballers, the six by six ballers. Yeah, I did see the line. The property line, that's where the property line is, where those ballads are, then there's a sidewalk, then there'll be a corner. Beyond that sidewalk. Yeah, I do agree with you right now. It seems as though the street comes right up. It's just right now. It seems as though the street comes right up to that wall. So, A, because of the shortage of parking on the street, and B, because we do all of us are viewing that as a potential area of vulnerability working with DPW is something that we really want to do to re-pore that sidewalk, even if it's shared costs from ownership, to re-pore that sidewalk, give those three parking spots back to Boone Street and give us a further buffer there. Unfortunately, when you're restoring a train station built in 1896, these property lines and boundaries often, as you all know, can be problematic. But I think I am very confident through all of our conversations and more than confident in Virginia's, Virginia builders motivation as a building owner there and, you know, as our contractor to ensure that that wall is being constructed in a proper way. Thank you. Another question I know the seating inside is 129 and as you're you're short 15 spaces I guess with the know, the upstairs uses of the apartments or Airbnb, whatever you're going to do. So you're short, 15. And from what I can see, the inside is pretty expansive, but I don't necessarily agree with the option of having the seven days a week right up to one o'clock, you know, 10 in the morning to one in the evening, especially there's a lot of open area. So to me, it almost could lend itself to be, I don't want to say it's a nightclub because there's food and all of that, but it's got a lot of open area to in the back and all. And you know, with the music, I think it could bring something maybe lend itself to a little more than just having, you know, maybe a small sandwich and then, but more of like a, um, an entertainment venue, then a restaurant, you know, like a big open area. So, so that's the only thing I can see. I'm really not in favor of having it go to one o'clock every night. I mean, especially on that part of Boone Street, it's really on the southern end, you know, even the northern end is P.J.'s pub, it's a lack of a better word, it's a little more commercial, but that bus right up against the residential area. It's now against it. I mean, you can't have a commercial property and be able to rock and hit a residential home near it. That's some of the constraints. So I'm just wondering if it's needed to the 1 a.m. every night if there would be a consideration of maybe cutting the music off at a certain time, 9 o'clock or 10 o'clock, like you did at the other place. I am more than willing. Or at weekends, something like that to try it. I am more than willing to absorb any recommendations for limitations on live music. I think one thing operationally that we have invested a fair amount of money and a lot of energy into is responsibly staying open until that hour. One great thing about the way that the building is constructed is that we kind of have this natural barrier to the sound with this big socket that overhangs ten feet out. These tall side elevation walls of the train station and then the stockade fence that we have constructed along our residential a butter. I again not to continue to put all my cards in this basket but I really do feel it's where noise aware really helps us in identifying those areas. Operationally I am really pushing for that one a.m. closure but from a live music perspective I couldn't agree more. I think it's way more realistic to limit live music until you know nine o'clock or whatever the council seems, seems fit. I also think there's a lot of peace in mind in knowing that this license is something that is renewable every year. And you know, you can bring me before you want calls. If any of my systems are to fail, you have every right to drag me right here and hold me to account. And then I think my final reminder to the council is that of our residential units above. So similarly on there against it out with the in rooms, we still we have that obligation to our tenants above to ensure that this doesn't turn into that nightclub vibe as we stay open. We really want to serve our service industry folks. Quick question. I don't know. Janet, Jim, Mike, Trio has live music and I believe the Mexican restaurant, I don't know his name, have a live music. What time do they end during the weekend? Do we know offhand? 10? 10 o'clock? Maybe that's something that we might find reasonable to have be the same as the other outdoor music. I actually don't mind them just going to plan and then reassessing. So that's kind of where I'm leaning. But I was. I don't think it's unreasonable. I mean, if you look at it, it says 129 seating capacity. Is there any, is that include all a standing capacity tour, is there more standing capacity between the patio outside? It seems like you could get more than 129 people. My final capacity numbers will come from Kevin Tuttle, not from any. So do we know those? Do we know what the- We were waiting for those numbers to come back in last time. Jack checked with Kevin. Again, Kevin's been at the property twice this week alone. He is very, very familiar with what's going on there. That's one of the actually conditions. So, right, it's listed in the conditions. So, that goes in what happens just to give you like a little inside info on what happens. If I start to manipulate my occupancy numbers by removing tables. What then happens is, and I believe it's on Wayne who does this, it then converts not to a seat capacity number, but a square footage of occupied space. So it's one person for every square feet. If I was to just say, I don't want any tables in my restaurant. Right, but shouldn't we know those now when we're ready to either permit this to go forward or not, shouldn't we have a vacuum? We have a vacuum. The occupancy numbers, you do have that. I do have that, the 129 seating. Yes. and I just wanted to make sure if there was a standing capacity different from that that's as seating. No, so I as, yes, as it is my choice, I guess we could use the words to use either that standing capacity algorithm or a table and chair occupancy algorithm. And that's what we through numerous talks with planning and zoning and everybody else. We arrived at those occupancy numbers based on tables and chairs, which is what arrived us at our parking numbers for zoning. be in favor of limiting some of the music into the evening 10 p.m. and then you know even the 1 a.m. closing and for the weekends maybe but not the rest of the week. Thank you. So I'm actually to go to the public. Is there I see a lot of people in support? So is there anyone in opposition to this license out there that would like to testify. I don't see anyone. I'll see anyone in opposition. So, okay, a discussion on the council. So anyone wish else wishing to comment from the public? Dr. Alba. Dr. Al Alba, 24 Eagles and S. Terrace. Please read it right hand. You saw me, so I have a testimony you're about to give in the matter now in the airing. Will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, bad. I do. Please stay and spell your name from me. Dr. Albert Alba, Diaperia Albert, Albiati, Alba Alba, Albiati, Jr. 24 Egos Nesteris. That's Narragansett, Rhode Island, O2-882. So, first of all, I'd like to, you know, congratulate the owners of their establishment and I do wish them well on their new business. They've shown they have entrepreneurial skills and hospitality skills. So we should very much support that. I know parking could be a concern. So, you know, I was even thinking of somehow maybe reconsidering having maybe a trolley type system in there. I guess not only for their business, but for other businesses. If we do have time parking limitations of three hour parking, well, you know, maybe a trolley system for the area restaurants. That might be a good thing to consider. We can always look into that. I know the near against Chamber, which is that, to that in the past. And I do agree. Council of Ferrandi did bring up some good points. You know, we, I am pro business, but we also want to consider the neighborhood and the neighbors. She is using due diligence and she just say, you know, we can always, you know, there's gonna be a one year review. And I think what we should do is, you know, I also believe in being equitable and fair. So obviously of trios, whatever we've established for trios and the other restaurants, I know it's not gonna be trios, they're gonna be adjusting it down the road. But I think we should be have consistency. So trios is allowed to have a band at X amount of certain hour. Well, then it should be, I think, a level playing field for everyone, just to be fair. And we do have to be considerate of our neighbors. And I know she's very mindful, she's going to have these high-tech devices out there to monitor. So I do respect that greatly. But I also feel some concerns, as Councilman Ferrandi mentioned, in regards to the neighbors, and I don't know if the neighbors in that area, the abutting area if they're invited saying you know this is a proposal this is what's going to happen and maybe another of them will have any issues with that you know but I think for the town to do do do do do diligence too we can maybe send out a little mailing to all the abutting neighbors in that area and get their feedback too because I believe after everyone reviews the owners record and they have a stellar record You know, I think that they are going to be supportive of this and I think we should be but we also want to make sure that you know We're mindful of all of our neighbors. Thank you Anyone else from the public wishing to comment? Council President, yes. I made an error. Trio is to 11. Okay. Trio is to 11. Anyone else from the public wishing to speak? Seeing none. Do I have a motion to close the public hearing? So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion by council lawler second by Councillor Copic motion passes 5 0 next up we have a motion to approve the application from the market at Gansett rail LLC doing business as Boone Street market for a class B. Victual or alcoholic beverage license assessors plat D lot to 211 145 Boone Street, Narragansett, Rhode Island, subject to restrictions listed in the special use permit, as well as state and local regulations. So moved. Second. OK, any discussion from the council? I'd like to ask if the applicant would volunteer to cut the music off at 11 p.m. and consider the closing time during the week not at 1 a.m. My question is that. My question is that. Restriction. I've 1,000% agreed to the modification of the outdoor music, live music hours. I would be remiss if I didn't continue to push and pitch for a 1 a.m. closure. And doing so seven days a week, also just again, if my motivations for staying open that late are what they are and being able to provide a safe haven of a place for industry people, our service men and women, our healthcare professionals. You know, their weekends aren't what our weekends are. people are service men and women are health care professionals. You know, their weekends aren't what our weekends are. So sometimes, you know, if somebody's getting off at 11 o'clock on a Tuesday or midnight on a Wednesday, I want to be able to serve that population and serve that population respectfully and responsibly. Yeah, I think I'm right now. so you would just like to amend your requesting an amendment to close on the music. The music I live in. Not close. Stay up until one. I support that by the way. With the 11 a.m. Can I ask you a 21 question? The question was just brought up about the butters. There wasn't a butter notification process. Can you please explain that so that everyone knows that the neighbors did have a chance to speak? Yes, so by law, they have to be anybody that's in 200 feet of the property has to be notified of our request to the council, which gives, ample opportunity to head letters to come in support or opposition. It's actually a part of our dumbness review that has to be completed prior to me standing before you. And just to make your attorney do a little work tonight. Did anybody show up for planning your zoning from the neighborhoods at all to voice against this? No. OK. Thank you. 5-0 on. Yeah. I was going to make sure sure as far as the neighborhoods who were noted did they come and say they did. Okay. Okay. So what I hear from the council, the council for Andy want to make a motion to amend that to include just to, is the other first of all are the other council members in agreement with having the music stop at 11 p.m. Yes. Okay. So is that both indoor and outdoor? Yes. Both indoor and outdoor. Okay. So would you like to do a motion to? A motion to amendment. Yeah. Oh the approval to the entertainment indoor and outdoor to cease at 11 p.m. every night of the seven days. I'll second that. Any discussion with the council? In the public. All in favor? Aye. Aye? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Now, now, going back to the main motion as amended, all in favour. Aye. Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion passes. Motion by Councillor Lawyer, the main motion Councillor, the public motion passes 5-0. Okay. So that is the end of our public hearing portion. Congratulations, we'll look forward to checking them up please, so. Thank you. Thank you. All right, so Mr. Crane, I didn't know it was going to take a look. Thank you so much for being patient. And thank you, everybody, for your support of the new business. I'll give it a minute. I'm here. Six people in the building. You mean they weren't here for the housing? What? You know how to clear a room. Maybe I should build an affordable bar. I think so. Good point. All right, Mr. Crayon. Thank you very much for staying. Again, I'm really interested in hearing your recommendations. And we've been really looking forward to hearing your report. So thank you again for being patient and staying. So back to you. Thank you. There's eight recommendations. This is the first one. You have a lot of underutilized land. One short analysis that we used was to look at the art 10 zone. And you have about 99 lots there that are larger than necessary to put the house on. You could rearrange your zoning to allow additional units on those lots. And that would open up 99 lots just in the art 10 zone you have also additional ability in other areas recommendation number two is to Integrate new legislation in town zoning by lots. Oh, basically there's a lot of legislation that came down from the state to open up more affordable housing throughout the state and various municipalities. One of them is H6058, which it talks about inclusionary zoning. This has an opportunity to open up new units. However, as it's written, I don't recommend you adopting it right now, because there's two provisions in it. One is to allow a density bonus, which is the good part. The second part is there's a mandatory two market rate housing units for every affordable housing unit produced. So if you are producing two market rates for every one affordable housing unit rate, And you have another law that requires municipalities to have a 10% of their total stock be affordable. You're going to continue to lose ground. And I don't think they really thought about that very well. And I think they should really agree consider that two for one. It's one step forward, two steps back and it just doesn't make sense. So recommendation is to lobby the legislature to change that second provision and then adopt an inclusionary zoning for an incentive. Recommendation number three is that there are, during my work with local landowners, it's been noticed that there are people who have properties that can be partnered with nonprofit affordable housing developers. And since this is a private negotiation, those people are not named in the report or will be here. But there is opportunities in their GANS to partner, to have the town create a partnership between private landlords and nonprofit developers. The both can come with certain assets. The nonprofit developers come with the ability to gain housing tax credits, to operate as a nonprofit, to come with labor, to manage properties, the private property owners can come to the table with the property, and incentive for profit. And I think there's an opportunity there. So some specific negotiations could be held there. Recommendation number four, activate your affordable housing trust fund. You have an affordable housing trust fund, just nothing's in it. And if you'd like, I can give you a dollar right now. This is $10, isn't it? You got? This $10, isn't it? Okay got? This $10, isn't it? OK. All right. I think Susan's going to put in a little bit. No, we did at the meeting. We put in a couple of things. Oh, you did? OK. OK. So now it's got a little bit of money in it. Just $10. After 10 years, it's got $10. We get some ideas. is possible is a loan from your general fund or and or from the real estate conveyance tax. Last year you generated $633,000 in one year plus another $395,000. You have almost a million dollars just from the real estate conveyance tax. You can take some of that, say you take half of that. And you invested at 5%, in three years, it'll be worth $578,000. In year three, you make a distribution of $50,000. You keep and it grows and then you are able to have $612,000 growing. And it continues to grow like that. Every third year, you make a distribution to an affordable housing project. Each year, it's about $50,000. You can make a distribution in your 3, 7, and 10. The repayments come back. So actually, the principle grows more than the scenario that I have there. And also additional deposits from the transfer tax could help grow this. So this is a very conservative scenario. But with an initial loan from the taxpayers, you can create this trust fund which in 10 years or 15 years, it could be self-sustaining. At any point during that time, the taxpayers needed for an emergency, but then you could just take it back. But if they don't, then it creates this housing trust fund. And in 15 years, you return the loan back to the taxpayers anyway. So it gets the ball rolling at primes the pump and it eventually starts to grow. In 20 years, you will have the ability to make 50 to $100,000 distributions for various affordable housing projects. And that can go towards a lot of different things and you may or from subsidizing down payments to just a lot of things you can do with the things from subsidizing down payments to, there's just a lot of things you can do with $50,000. Recommendation five, engage the University of Rhode Island in developing new housing. Okay, they are, you know, they are... You know, they... I don't want to... I don't want to disparage the university. I mean, they're a major employer and it's a very important asset and you're benefiting from the university in a lot of ways. They educate your people and they, therefore, return an educated population which generates larger amounts of revenue, which is a great thing. So just like any major employer, there's a downside to everything. And it would be justified to try to get some sort of project where the university built 400 units. And they could work with a nonprofit housing developer who can access low-income housing tax credits. And the university would be the landowner and they would build these units. The developer gets the development fees and the builders' profit plus 30 years of management revenue while the university retains the property and the asset. The units are retired after 30 years, so they own them outright, which they can, at that point, they can do whatever they want with them. And the town provides a density relief to the project, but also with those 400 units, you've now achieved your state mandate of 10% low moderating income housing. In a lot of ways, it could be a win-win. It's, again, this situation with the university is unusual, and it's really difficult to imagine a solution to your affordable housing situation in Narragance without engaging the university. They have to be part of the solution. Recommendation six. Create some sort of financial incentive I'll just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and just go ahead and to try to help you on a two bedroom unit. The net revenue of the upper right, year round rentals is in blue there and the red circle, $14,400 is your annual revenue from an average two bedroom unit. That's the revenue, net revenue, $14,000 to the landowner. Okay, a short term rental on the right and green there. A short term rental is for the net annual revenue because you have 10 weeks and you have larger expenses, it's $4,859. So there is no incentive to have short-term rentals if you own a property. You're making more on year-round rentals, a lot more, $10,000, $9,541 more year. So it's not the summer rentals that are causing the issue with a shortage of rental units. It's when you add that $4,859 to the two together, you get $15,659. So that's your generating more revenue from the two business models, the short term rental and the students. versus a $14,000 year-round rental from a 12-month rent. So, you're earning $12,000, $12,000, $159 more. The break-even point, I have it at $13,150. But that's the incentive to make it even. A landowner should be indifferent if they have $1,300 more on an average to the federal unit. Everything is going to be variable depending on the situation, but you have the ability to provide some sort of incentive. If you had affordable housing trust funds, you might be able to provide that incentive. There's an opportunity there. There's a lot of details that have to be worked out. Now, this recommendation 7 goes in combination with the first one I just showed you. The number 6 of one I just showed you. This works in concert. Prohibit short term rentals less than 7 nights. Okay. That's the way your summer rental tradition used to be. Narrow Gansett was like most summer cottage homes where towns where the invented it out for a week and then the landowner would actually use it also and when Airbnb came around, you started to have a lot more short-term rentals and your length of stay here is on the table on the left there. Your average length of stay is two or three nights. So 44 plus nine you have 54 53% of your short-term rentals are less than three nights or less than four nights. Start eliminating that. That's something you can do tomorrow. You start eliminating that and you have another incentive to move towards a incentive towards converting those units into year round. So basically there are games that has a stock of rentals and you need to move them back to year round if you want to create some affordable housing. It also eliminates, it also eliminates unfair competition with commercial lodging businesses. So commercial lodging businesses are up against different set of requirements than Airbnb units. So there's a lot of ability to change the market dynamics and you have it under your control right here. The last recommendation is to allow accessory dwelling units by right. Okay right now it's a special use permit. It shouldn't be a right especially use permit. You just let them build. Let them build in an accessory dwelling unit. Right now the unit has to be 30% of the primary, which is kind of ridiculous. Sorry. It's a little bit too small. I mean, if you have a thousand unit, a thousand square foot house. You can only build 300 square feet. Okay, you need to loosen that up. A unit by right should be up to almost the same size as the existing unit. Maybe just a little bit less. And it should be built, you should be allowed by right. So it's no longer, especially use permit, it's permitted. And then you go through the regular permit process, like a regular unit. You could do that tomorrow. And you could, you would also have a lot of people interested in building ADUs. So those are my eight recommendations in a nutshell. I'm happy to talk about any of them if you'd like. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Crane. That was a great presentation. Thank you again for staying, because I don't think you could have finished. I was looking at the time, like earlier, it was like, I don't think you can do this in two minutes when I realized you were going to recommendations. And yeah, I definitely couldn't get through all those eight in two minutes. So thank you. I just have a quick question in regards to number five, collaborating with the University of Rhode Island. When you talk about that, are you saying, land, building it in Narragansett? Yes. Where? Just curious. Okay. Yeah. So that was one question. And the other one, short term rentals versus the year round, I would love to see more year round rentals. With the calculations, the math, like the profitability, were those, where did you get that number? Because I know most people want the short term, because they do charge significant amounts compared to, like, what a monthly rate would be and then it pretty much a lot of it quite a ripple. So I was just curious where you got that data in terms of you know summer rental versus year-round. The cost? Yeah. Yes's those are advertised prices. And I've interviewed people who rent. And it's a 10 week revenue versus 52 weeks. And there's a lot more expenses. So if you're in a business of property management, those expenses go down a little bit, but so it may be more profitable for certain individuals. But the expenses are standard. It's 29%. I would... The expenses came from interviews with local companies, and it's about 65%. So, you know, that's where I got the numbers. And the revenue, you know, a summer weekly rental for a two bedroom is $1,400 on average. Thank you. Yeah, I gotcha. So yeah, there was, yeah, and I do like some of the recommendations that I've aimed to them fairly quickly? Obviously, those are great to start the process. Any council members wishing me any questions? Councilor Frandy? Yeah, I would agree that the, maybe on a two bedroom it's lower, but I mean, I would agree that I know a lot of in particular enabled, I live in, it's getting at least $ know 3000 a thousand dollars a student and you know 3000 a month that's 27 thousand just for the winter and that's on the low side sometimes these houses have 4 and 5 and 6 maybe not the two bedroom example but I think the profitability of running the you, short term rental in the summer and the student in the winter time is could be as much as 40 to $75,000, depending on the size of the house. So that's I think disinscentive for them to do a full time, but I think your number is a little bit low, but maybe it's just for a two-bedroom, you know, one of the smaller rentals. In any event, you can see what that is. It's chewing up all the available housing and that's what's going. That's why we can't get full-time people to rent. They just be in boxed out. There's... I think you could be right, the numbers could be a little low. But you know, I have also the incentive to be not very large. What you're saying is the incentive could be not 1,300 but 5,000 or 6,000. There's probably some opportunity there. There's also companies that are now doing this as a business, identifying summer rentals and bringing them into year round. I have identified one in the report, full report for you to kind of access to. Thank you. Thank you. Any other council members? Questions? All right. Thank you very much. Mr. Crane, appreciate it. Thank you for, again, for staying longer than you anticipated. Have a great night. Thank you. So next we're going to move on to the open foreign public comment portion of the meeting. I know this is just taking the right we're just getting it was a presentation. The open foreign public comment portion of the meeting we're just getting to that now if anyone wishes to speak. I don't know if you had the list still Mr. Terini. There was one person that signed up, but Todd Corey, but I believe he was with Lindsay's grant. Okay, great. Dr. Alba. Dr. Alaba, 24 Egliness Terrace. Tom Manager and I, we attended and also Councilman Ferrandi. We attended the State Properties Committee meeting where I gave testimony in regards to the egregious act that our EDM has created by trying to attempt awarding a 20-year street level parking to Proxyante Pellino. After the grave harm they created, I just hope that our town council will step up to the task. I think it's your producer responsibilities to fight this. The town of Richmond and next to the half-fourth this, and they won. Other, there are other states where towns have fought the litigations against agencies, you're serving the powers of the local municipalities and they won. But if we do not fight, we've just sit back, we're all going to be looking at street level parking lot for the next 20 years, which to me is horrendous. It's awful, especially in light of what they've done to our beautiful village. I also hope, you in light of what they've done to our beautiful village. I also hope, you know, I know that you, we all have different platforms, all different ideas, you know, I know that signage is going to be positive, positive, be put up, and I know things change over time. So it might be good. When we might look this summer, we might end up finding out the signage has not worked. It has not deteriorated parking. We're still going to have a bumper to bumper cars, an ocean road, a lot of people are going to maybe get hit with $50 tickets. It's going to be an outcry. And nobody knows what the future will be. I know several of you will be running. I think three of you will be running. But we don't want the signage We saw that signs was put up you know was not effective It did not deter people from talking on the roads and then what do we have so I think that if we do put signage up It should be temporary so that if we do get a whole new council and they say that the signs should not be up there We're not gonna have to you know spend a lot of expense to have them taken away. So that's another concern of mine. And also we have wind farms. We have a proposal of wind farms. I hope that all of you can speak out in regards to wind farms. Wind farms have shown to have negative effects on our marine life. The fishermen are upset during the blessing of the fleet. And I know Councilwoman Bonanno was there. We also saw that they were petitioning, arguing that it's going to, you know, potentially and have a great harm to the fishing industry, to the marine life. We've seen whales beached, and even though they said that, you know what, some people are saying that it's not causal, causal. There is research out there, there are, which I've seen by documentation that shows that, yes, seismic sounds do adversely affect the sea animals. out there there are which I've seen by documentation that shows that yes seismic sounds do adversely affect the sea animals so thank you very much I appreciate it. Thank you. Anyone else from the public wishing to participate in the Open Forum public comment seeing none I'm going to move on to consent agenda to have a motion to accept the consent agenda so moved second All in favor I all opposed motion by council lawler second my councilor copack motion passes 5 0 Next up for new business from the parks and recreation department We have a motion to approve a request from life safety solutions LLC to host the summer safe Ocean State 5K Waterment Eco Challenge, Road Race on Saturday, July 20th, 2024, subject to state and local requirements. So moved. Second. Any discussion from the council? All right. I just have one more question. Council for any. One question. I did, I'm looking at the sheet now. I did see one, I think initially there were two routes where this could be and I just want to make sure that it stays, one went through the neighborhood, the village, not the village of Point Judith, it looked like and this one looks like it goes through the escape road and the main road I just want to make sure that that you know if the route can stay the way it is and the escape road and not go through the you know the neighborhood is kind of a school. Yeah it is for the escape road I did speak to the organizers and it is going to be the escape road. Any other questions from the council? I can see a escape road at 7 a.m. So I understand. But if they decide to move it to the pier right now. No, this is fine. Yeah. Anyone else? Anyone from the public? All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion by Councillor Lawler, second by Councillor Copac, motion passes 5-0. Next step from the Public Works Department, we have a motion to award the bid for stone and fog ceiling, various roads to the lowest bidder, Comor Contract, and incorporated at their quoted unit prices for a one year period, and authorize a town manager to sign the the public. The public is a member of the committee. The committee is a member of the committee. The committee is a member of the committee. The committee is a member of the committee. The committee is a member of the committee. The committee is a member of the committee. The committee is a member of the committee. The committee is a member of the committee. The committee is a member of the committee. Any discussion from the council? Anyone from the public? All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion by council lawler, second by councilor Copac, motion passes 5-0. Next, we have a motion to approve a one-year contract extension for OEM plow parts for the public works department with the Janna truck equipment company incorporated at the percentage discount off list prices of 27% under the same terms and conditions as the original bid. So moved. Second. Any discussion from the council? Anyone from the public? All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion by Councillor Lawler. Second by Councillor CoPEC. Motion in favor? Aye. All opposed? Motion by Councillor Lawler. Seconded by Councillor Copec. Motion passes 5-0. Next up from the town clerk's office. We have a motion to introduce, read, pass, and accept as a first reading and amendment to chapter 14, entitled businesses of the code of ordinances of the town of Narragansett. So moved. Second. Okay. This, I can just kind of give a quick description. There's some minor changes. Let me see if I can access the hold on one second. It's just some changes. Yeah, it's a 90 day notice is eliminated and let me see. Does any? Oh, yes, it's just some minor edits to it. Just changing some wording and taking out the public hearing port part of it. Any discussion from the council? Anyone from the public? All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion by Council, second by Councillor Copec. Motion passes 5-0. Next step is a motion to a reappoint Catherine Homan to the board of canvases. Canvacers for a six year term to expire on March 1, 2030. So moved. Second. Any discussion from the council? Anyone from the public? All in favor? Aye. All opposed. Motion by council lawler. Second by councilor Copac motion passes 5-0. Next, we have a motion to a reappoint cally, long wall, and Anthony Colombo to the Coastal Access Improvement Committee for a three-year term to expire on March 1st, 2027. So moved. Second. Any discussion for the council? Just want to say that's the representative from the town council. Both Kelly and Tony are a tremendous folks on that council. They're really, they do a great job. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone for the public? All in favor? Aye. All opposed. Motion by council lawler, second by councilor Copic. Motion passes 5-0. Next we have a motion to appoint one individual to the rec advisory board for a term to expire on November 1, 2026. So moved. Second. Okay. So right now I'm going to ask for any nominations for this appointment. I'd like to nominate Roxanne Pereira. I'd like to nominate Casey Montenara. Any other nominations? Okay. Councillor Lawyer, why would are recommending Roxanne Perrera? The beach right now with all of the storms and the changes being made really could use the expertise Roxanne was on the record board years ago and with the recent change with losing the former record board director of Tom Warren, we could really use her historical knowledge of how the beach has been traditionally moved and managed during the summer months, especially, as well as her knowledge about other events in town. Councillor Copec. Casey is a, she's an owner of the Bike Stop Cafe. She is somebody who has been very involved with Narragansett Casey is a, she's an owner of the Bike Stop Cafe. She is somebody who has been very involved with Narragansett and she has a great interest in all aspects of the record. I think that it's important that we have somebody who is brought in her thinking about, you know, recreational activity in the town and I think she's just, she's really a wonderful, wonderful member of our community. Let's try to draw consensus in. Right, no, exactly. So, so that we're gonna go, now we're gonna go around the council and just be able to come up with a consensus so that we don't lose anyone down. That is the process. So, who, councilor Sissalina Bonanno? don't move anyone down. That is the process. So Councillor Sillano-Banano. I mean I know Roxanne well and I know Casey well. I think they both the great choices. The only reason I'm sort of leaning towards Casey is because Roxanne has had the opportunity to serve on that board and I just think it would be important to have somebody new and different with some different ideas. So I would support Casey. Councillor Ferrandi. I would support Roxanne for the position. She's got some legacy there and we're going to do a little bit of a tough time at the beach and also I think it's all good knowledge and I know Casey's running the restaurant and all good citizens but I would I know Casey's you know running the restaurant and all good citizens but I would favor Roxanne Piera. I also think thank you I also think they're both great candidates I do like the fact that Roxanne has served before and there would be some some kind of institutional background there and memory so I would support Roxanne so would somebody like to make a motion for an appointment? A make a motion to appoint Roxanne for our to the Parks and Recreation Board. Second. All in favour? Aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion by Councillor Lawler, second by Councillor Ferrandi. Motion passes 5-0. Next up we have a from the town solicitor. We have a motion to receive and make a determination on the validity of a voter initiative to amend the town charter to establish procedures whereby all candidates for town council and school committee in the town of Narragansett would be elected on a partisan basis that is by placing a party mark or designation on the ballot next to the name of any candidate if they belong to a political party. So moved. Second. Okay. Mr. Davis, could you just discuss this agenda, and please? Yes. As you likely know, the bill is Okay. Mr. Davis, could you just discuss this agenda? And please. Yes. As you likely know, the town charter sets forth procedures whereby voters by petition may initiate legislative proposals for consideration by the town council. The process permits voters to enact and or rescind town laws, regulations, ordinances and resolutions. And as you noted, on February 8th, I was provided a petition that was submitted by winters, B. Haymes III, from the town clerk reviewed it. You've read the petition and I find it to be legally permissible and as such I recommend the town council find the petition to be valid. Thank you. Any discussion by the councilor did exercise due diligence but I'm just wondering now is this what I'm actually going to go into play or could we vote upon this? No. The petitioner then has to satisfy the requirements, work with the town clerk, get the necessary signatures within a certain time frame, and only then does it come back for a decision to be put on the ballot at which time the voters would approve it. So there's hurdles to be accomplished before anyone gets to pass it or vote on it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion by Council Lawler. Second by Councilor Copic. Motion passes 5-0. Next we have an executive session. Do I have a motion to retire to executive session of the town council in accordance with R.I. General laws 42-46-4 and 42-46-5A2 for the purpose of discussing potential litigation. So moved. Second. Can I have a roll call please? Deb Copic, aye. Jill Lawler aye. Evadjushinsky aye. Susan Sicillini Bonanaly. Steve Verandi aye. Motion by Councillor Lawler. Second by Councillor Copic. Motion passes 5-0. We'll be back with a disclosure of executive session votes and for a German. Thank 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. At this point I'll do a disclosure of executive session votes. We had a motion to steal the minutes. Motion by Council Lawler, seconded by Councilor Copac, motion passed 5-0. Lastly we had an exit motion to exit and return to executive session. Motion by Council Lawler, seconded by Councilor Copac, motion passed 5-0. Lastly, do I have a motion to adjourn? Some options, again. All in favor? last week. I have a motion to adjourn. All in favour? Aye. All opposed? Motion by council lawler. Seconded by Councillor Copic. Motion passes 5-0.