you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you the All right. Good evening, everyone. The time is now 5.30 and the date is March 3, 2025. And we are opening a work session to interview the applicants for the planning board. Listed we have to be interviewed three candidates. I'm not sure if all are in attendance at the moment, so we'll start with the first applicant that I see in attendance, and that's Mr. Steven D. Simone. So if you wouldn't mind, please come forward. Let me pull up my notes. Good afternoon, good evening. I don't know what whatever applies. Yeah, would you mind just please introducing yourself to the council and providing a general background of who you are, what your work experiences, and how long you've been living in air against it. Absolutely. So I'm Stephen DeSimone. I live on Sunset Boulevard, 86 Sunset Boulevard. I've spent the majority of my life working in the construction field, both as a developer and a framer, a cider, a rougher, an excavator, operator, septic installer, real estate agent, real tour, you know, the list goes on. I've lived in Narragansett. My family's been here since the 50s. As summer people, we moved here full-time 36 years ago. So I've been here since I was four years old. I graduated in Air Against at High School in 2003 and I applied to join the planning board because I care about our town and I think, you know, you need somebody who knows the rules and regulations of the state and I've've appeared before planning boards in, I don't know, five or six different towns and done work in many towns in South County and in, you know, the other areas of Rhode Island situate, Tiverton, all over Jamestown. So that's good. Thank you. I do have a list of questions but before I go into my questions I'm going to turn it over to the council first and I'm going to start with Councillor Vignale because I know she had a couple of questions to start off with. Thank you for being here. Affordable housing is a critical issue facing the reganet and our goal to attract families back to the community. Speakers Karski and the Rhode Island legislators have made affordable housing a main focus of their legislation for the past few years and recently enacted laws aimed at promoting affordable housing through changes in planning and zoning regulations. What are your thoughts on the implementation implementation? I can't get to that. Implementation. Of these laws and you know like relaxing regulations around ADUs, streamlining the approval process or added benefits to developers. Great question. I'm strongly in favor of the ADUs. I think that's a great regulation. Since a lot of our population is aging, it'd be amazing if we could encourage them to keep their families and their homes in one place and bring in their children who are having children to the school system, which is made significantly easier by the allowable increases of ADUs. So I think that's great. There are other updated laws of the comprehensive permits, which involves the planning department. And I think it's a step in the right direction for sure. What it does is it allows developers, if they're gonna include, if they're gonna allow 25% minimum affordable units, which are the state sets the price. There's a monitoring board, actually we use the one here in the town hall, the Narragansett Housing Authority, and that greatly increases the incentive of developers to build affordable housing by allowing a higher density, because when you build affordable housing and you have a price restriction, what ends up happening is the price restriction is less than the cost of building those units. Outside of the land, outside of the development costs, outside of the infrastructure. Just the actual structure costs more than you can sell those units for by mandated state law. So what happens is no developer in their right mind would build those units if they were required to without the density bonus because you're working for losing money, which is counterintuitive. So the density bonus allows for the increase of market rate units to offset the losses of the affordable units. So I think that's a step in the right direction. I use it myself. I've done three developments now. I'm working on a fourth with affordable housing units at 25% and it's allowed me to keep families at least in the area. I haven't done any in air-gantza. I have one in South Kingston that has two families from air-gantza and a budding family from Charlestown that have moved in there. Thank you. No problem. Councillor Dirkin. Hey Steve, thanks for coming. So are you familiar with the setbacks that were announced by the state who were going to be relaxed, by able to be relaxed by the bill and inspector. So I'm not actually familiar with that. So far what we've had is we try and work within the setbacks in town zoning. And if we need relief, they just have a streamlined process to ask for that relief. Instead of it used to be you go to the planning board, then the zoning board, then the planning board, then the technical review committee, then the planning board, then the zoning board, all to try and get relief from setbacks and other things. Now it's streamlined into three planning board meetings and generally a technical review as well. Right. Yeah, so I guess since you don't actually build and there build a narrow cancer, you might not be aware of what happened. So I'll pass on that question. I'll certainly look into it. Yeah. No, it's that's fine. The second one, you answered, I actually looked at your place that you built in South Kingston. I found it to be a very suitable development for the area. And I actually looked at a couple of those units as a realtor, and I was really impressed. And then to find out that two of the three affordables were purchased by people from Narrow Gantzett who couldn't afford to live in Narrow Gantzett and probably maybe couldn't afford to live in South Kingston or were made available through that development. So I think they're very lucky people to be able to buy those units for those prices and get a good start. And one of them was a start in life and one of them was probably towards the end. Yeah, so. Do you think that your knowledge, do you plan on like, I know it's going to be hard for yourself because you're in that different type of, you know, you're on the other side sometimes of, you know, the board that you might sit on, will you cooperate with the men and women on the board and help them and give your knowledge to them so it makes it easier for them to do their job. Absolutely. I think it's really important to collaborate with the other board members and you know try and keep the town moving in the right direction and maybe stop getting sued. Yeah. It'd be nice. Yeah, it'd be nice. Yeah, nice change of pace. Thank you. Councillor Collinies. All right, thanks for coming. Appreciate it. I just have one question. The state recently passed a one person per bedroom up to five ruling. Currently, we do not have that. Do you support aligning our ordinances, student and unrelated with the states? So I'd have to look into that further. I actually, that's a complicated question because the unrelated ordinance, I'm not a lawyer, so sorry, but council can correct me if I'm wrong. I'm fairly certain there's an amendment to the Constitution. 14 or 15th that requires you to not discriminate based on family status. Is that accurate? Which if you're saying you can't have unrelated people, that seems to be family status, so I believe it's unconstitutional. So I don't know if three or four or five makes it any less unconstitutional. So that's my opinion. I look forward to being informed by Council. I, you know, because that's, it's an interesting topic. I mean, obviously you have zoning regulations and zoning power in municipalities, but it's a tough question for sure. Councilor Tororiale. Thank you for coming in this evening. How do you see the town changing over the next five years? So over the next five years, unfortunately, because obviously people are having less children, statewide, countrywide, most of the Western world. I'd like to see that reversed. It would be nice if we could keep a moderate and slow increase to our housing supply to control prices. And I'd love to see more families being attracted to moving back here. And I think ADU is actually going to serve a great purpose in that, because if you can talk your parents into moving in and doing ADU on their property, and then you take over their house and pay their mortgage, that would be great. And that would let a lot more families stay here. Thank you. How would being on the planning board facilitate that particular vision? Well, being on the planning board, I would have a more vocal role, I suppose, in informing the other planning board members and the town at large, what we can do and what we cannot do, which I think is one of the most important things to have on our board is we seem to continue to flout state and national laws and it keeps getting us in trouble and making it very hard for anybody to come here and do business. So I think that would be very helpful. Okay. Thank you. You had mentioned earlier that you've gone before five to six different planning boards and other municipalities. Could you speak to the similarities and differences in local communities like South Kingston and North Kingston as there are direct abutting neighbors? Absolutely. So I have not worked in North Kingston. Charles Town perhaps? Charles Town I've worked in in South Kingston and they're very similar townships facing very similar problems. Obviously none of them have the natural assets that Narragansett does. It's one of the reasons our property values are so high. We have a ton of beachfront property, waterfront property. We have great aquifers. We have all the natural resources you could hope for. Some of the other towns in South County have those, but not as great supply as the town of Narragansett. And all of them are facing similar problems of aging populations and not dwindling, not growing housing supply which tends to increase demand and increase prices and price out the younger folks who just can't afford it. Thank you. Similarities and differences with regards to regulations, building, how do they compare? Yeah, believe it or not, you're quite similar with most of the other townships. There's a lot of pushback on intensified development in every town. As much as we all want more housing and more affordable housing and more families and all of those towns It's a key problem across South County We also don't want Too much development. We don't want green spaces cut down. We don't want water pollution We don't want air pollution. We don't want noise pollution So they're very similar issues and in working in those towns what I I've seen is the primary move or the primary motivation is to try and balance all of those concerns. And the state law has superseded a lot of local zoning in a lot of areas. And the more in line, the more accepting of that towns are, generally, the more development happens in that town, which does reduce housing prices by increasing supply. But you're not unique in having this problem here. It's pretty much statewide. It's certainly all of South County has a similar problem of it, just not enough housing to support the population growth that they desire. One last for me, but do you also share that vision of preserving green spaces and not over developing? I think green spaces are very important. Obviously, we don't want development that over taxes are natural resources. I wouldn't want to see a wall of buildings block out our views of the ocean or, you know, the sun or anything like that. But it definitely needs to be balanced with the other desires of the town, which if you want affordable housing, you're going to have to approve development. Because especially under the new comprehensive permit, permit you're legally obliged to in most cases and it actually increases the housing supply and the affordable housing supply. Thank you. All right. All right. Let's see. So I'm going to just go off of just some general questions on your understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the planning board. So with that being said, can you articulate what your understanding is of what the planning board's role is and how the planning board interacts with zoning? Sure. So the planning board's primary objectives, well not objective, but the primary duties are to Like look at plans and developments that are proposed and make Recommendations to the zoning board and to the town council about changes that they could make to zoning whether or not They should accept developments as is or deny them and fight them in court. One of their most important roles is as a check on development, obviously. So that's something that they take very seriously and I take very seriously. But I also take seriously that if developments are going to happen anyway, the town should work with the developers in an affirmative way to make sure that those developments happen in a way that is beneficial to both the developer, the residents, the move there, and the town. Thank you. How familiar are you with the Comprehensive Plan? I am fairly familiar. I've read the comprehensive plan, the background plan, the roadmap and the action plan. OK. Can you describe what your philosophy is on affordable housing? My philosophy on affordable housing is pretty easy. Affordable housing is great. It's a wonderful way to bring people who can't afford the median house price in Narragansett, back to Narragansett or two Narragansett. I think it's a great thing to do. I think it's a great thing to promote. And a lot of these comprehensive developments, at least in my experience, end up being condominium developments, which not only have the affordable component, but allow people who want to stay in town, but maybe don't need a four or five bedroom mansion now that their kids have moved on to stay in town. So for instance, the development I did in Westerly was almost entirely populated. I'm not supposed to, I'm a realtor, this is an ethical violation. It was mostly populated by Westerly residents who had since sold their house and were trying to downsize. And I think that's an important part of keeping our residents here, as well as opening up more houses for sale, which will depress the prices. have you ever served on any committees or boards? No, haven't. Okay. Thank you. From your point of view, obviously there's a lot of different issues that get put forth before the town council, we get all sorts of emails, you know, even knocking on doors during the election season. People just love to talk and chat about every issue under the sun. So from your experience as a resident in this town, what do you foresee are some of the biggest concerns that residents currently have with the ordinances that are currently in place in relation to the planning board? Okay, great question. The residents, I feel there's a lot of concern over rental properties and the number of rental properties increasing. I don't necessarily see that as a horrible thing. I myself, while I was getting married and having my children rented a house in the town of Narragansett year round, and it was expensive. But it was less expensive than renting all winter and all summer, or possibly relocating. So having a good rental economy is important, but valuing the concerns of the neighbors are also important. The planning board side of that is, I think it's important, mostly to stay within state and local regulations, but to promote development of more residential housing. I think that's very important, not just to control prices, but also to bring families back to Narragantite. Thank you. When it comes to working with other planning board members, should you be elected? How would you go about navigating differences of opinion, conflicts, should that arise? I would love to think that would never happen on our planning board, but I just would like to know how you would go about navigating and having those kinds of conversations with your fellow planning board members. Absolutely. First and foremost, I will voice my opinions upfront. I'm not a deceitful quiet guy. Obviously I'm outspoken. I have no problem voicing my opinions. Now explaining why my opinions, why I think my opinions are correct, is something also that I enjoy, and I'm happy to listen to other people and why they think their opinions are correct. And most of the time, I believe you can find common ground and find a way to come to a resolution that is in the best interest of everyone involved. But I'll be doing all of that in a chair at the planning board, not elsewhere. You won't see me discussing town business with anybody but the town and maybe my wife. I think just a couple more questions and then I think I've drilled you enough. One question and if I'm ad-libbing here correctly, I want to make sure it's, how would you go about determining whether or not to approve a variance or a special use permit request? Well, I suppose I would have to balance and consider the opinions of the landowner and the neighbors, but most importantly, would be the town regulations, and whether or not it's in-comport with the town comprehensive plan. I mean, the comprehensive plan does say we need more housing, we need more housing stock, but we also have to protect green spaces and coastal features and the integrity of our neighborhoods. So it's never easy to address one of those things, but as a planning board member, your guiding principle is supposed to be the comprehensive plan. And I also think it's important that we are in compliance with all other laws so that we are not, you know, sued constantly over every decision we make. If you had a magic wand and you could solve all of the town's problems but one thing that we really want to focus on addressing is retention of our families and our year round residents. What kind of recommendations would you have if you could do it today on better supporting our families and our year round residents and kind of continuing to ensure the longevity of a strong year round residency here in New York City? That's a great question. If I had a magic wand and I could fix all the problems, I would. But more specifically, I really strongly think 80 use are if implemented properly, a great way to retain both the aging population and families, especially families that grew up here and want to stay here. I also think that allowing development to occur, especially things like, I know we have a 55 plus regulation, there's statewide regulations like that, those I don't personally like to do those because that requires the owners and developers to put restrictions on their own property. But most developments of that nature, single-level living, things like that, we could move a lot of our population out of neighborhoods that have been traditionally family neighborhoods into areas that are better suited for them now and move families into those neighborhoods that were designed and developed for families. I think that'd be great. And two other questions. One, do you foresee any issues with conflicts of interest while serving on the planet board? I don't. I haven't done any work in Erie, okay. So thank you. And you don't foresee doing that in the if you should. I would know to refuse. I'll never work in the town of Narragansett. It's beautiful here. I wish I'd to be honest. I wish that I thought it was more advantageous advantageous to do developments in the town in Erdogan City. Thus far, it seems like it's more work than it's worth in a lot of cases. So I don't think I'm going to have any conflicts of interest, but I can't guarantee I'll never buy a piece of land in Erdogan City again, and I certainly will recuse myself if that's what's required. able to do that. I'm not sure if you're ever going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if you're ever going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if you're ever going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if you're ever going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if you're ever going to be able to do that. Excellent. Well, does anyone else on the council have any additional questions or comments? Final thoughts? Nope. Yes? Steve, you had mentioned ADUs if implemented properly. Can you speak just a little more to that? What does proper implementation look like with regards to this? So great question. Obviously you have to kind of balance the property owners' rights to do with their ADU as they see fit, but I would prefer to see them built for a purpose where you're going to move someone into the ADU who is a family member primarily and then allow the main structure to be to house a full family. That's what I think is the purpose behind the regulation. But I can't say that that's the proper thing to do. I don't want to tell people what to do with the property any more than the board already has. Like as long as it's within the regulations that is passed by the zoning board and the town council and the planning board and the state legislature, I'd prefer not to overstep, but I do think that the purpose behind that regulation is to say move your parents into a nice apartment and then you get to stay in the house with your kids. I think that'd be nice. Thank you. I actually came up with a question. So Steve, prior to the new state law on ADU's, the town had a ADU ordinance of its own. Most people didn't use it because it just didn't, I don't know, it just was too cumbersome or whatever. So if the town decided to, now that we have to have an ADU on its, and we decided to somewhere down the road, keep the affordable housing ADU on the books, what would you see as an incentive being a developer to build an ADU? I think what most people would like to do is build a separate unit on the building, on the thing like a burger garage or something. Like what would you think the town could do to make it an incentive to make the ADU affordable rather than year round? So that's a great question. I hadn't thought much about it. I was here in other meeting when you talked about the affordable ADU that we have on the books now and why would anybody use that if they can use this other thing and not make it affordable. So generally when you're going to entice developers or landowners to price restrict something, you have to give them something in return. There's an expression, nothing's free. You never get something for nothing. So I would want to work with the planning board to figure out if there's a way we can make that regulation so that it does incentivize the building of those units. I honestly, I'm not sure why right now. You would build one instead of building just a regular ADU unless I mean it's great for people whose parents are you know retired collecting Social Security and they absolutely qualify and you know they're gonna qualify but at the same time your your children when you grow old may want to rent that to somebody who makes more than they have to to qualify. So there's no incentive now. I'm in most cases, an incentive would be some kind of relief from onerous zoning regulations, sidlot setbacks. I mean, right now you can't even build a detached garage. So it'd be very difficult to build an ADU above a detached garage. If you could do a carriage house, that would be great. But right now you can't do it. So if that was something that came in with the affordable criteria that you got to build a detached extra unit, I think that would be helpful. but I'd have to look more into that, to be honest, because it's a tough problem to solve. Yeah. Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, well, thank you for coming out this evening, this afternoon. Really appreciate your transparency, your comments, and sharing your expertise with us, and we wish you the best luck. My pleasure. Good luck. I don't know if either of our other interviewees is an attendance, Sarah, can you just confirm that both Mr. Jerry Bernetto and Melissa Colatides were both extended the interview invite and both did accept and acknowledge the interview request. Yes, they did both. Okay. I didn't hear anything otherwise. And no other follow-ups. No follow-ups. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. So then seeing that neither of our interviewees are present at the time of the start of the meeting. Is there a motion to adjourn at 6.08 p.m. Motion to adjourn. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Any other questions?