01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, August 15, 2007

By Maria Armental

Journal Staff Writer

CHARLESTOWN — The Town Council asked the town solicitor yesterday to draft a regulation requiring consultants hired by the council and working with any town board, committee, or commission to submit proposals that require a zoning amendment to the council prior to any public workshop being held on the amendment.

The vote was 3-to-2 with Council President Katharine H. Waterman and Vice President Harriet A. Allen voting against the request.

Ruth Platner, chair of the Planning Commission, said such regulation would compromise the board’s work.

“You are setting a situation where [we] can’t work with consultants,” Platner said.

Councilman James M. Mageau, who suggested the measure, said he was simply trying to stay informed of proposed changes, adding that he was embarrassed when a resident recently asked him about proposed zoning changes in the Route 1A area that he was unaware of.

“Then you should come to the Planning Commission meetings,” Platner told him, noting all discussions are held in public, “rather than trying to bring all the planning issues to yourself, pre-approving them, and then letting us work.”

The controversy stems from a public workshop held last week to gather input on a proposed ordinance to create a “scenic overlay” zone along Route 1 and parts of Route 1A. In addition to the Route 1 and portions of Route 1A, the new zoning district would encompass the traditional village district and the mixed-use and historic-overlay districts.

Residents at that meeting said they were concerned about the wording of the ordinance — although consultants stressed most of the language was copied from existing ordinances — which they feared would take some of their land rights. Some of the most controversial proposals were restricting clearing of commercial lots to 25 percent of the land — which some residents thought applied to residential lots as well — and tree preservation and management plans — which officials said would only extend over the state’s right-of-way, but residents feared would go farther into their land.

Much of that discussion continued last night.

Also last night, the council unanimously voted to hold a closed-door meeting next month on a proposed amendment to the town’s comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance that could nullify a lawsuit filed by Richmond.

The amendment was listed on the agenda for consideration and approval yesterday, but Waterman expressed concern over discussing the matter in public given the pending lawsuit.

Waterman and Allen had previously voted against amending the comprehensive plan and favored, instead, negotiating a settlement with Richmond and the owner of the property whose zone change from residential to business sparked the legal wrangle. Richmond contends that Charlestown illegally made a zone change that was not allowed under the Comprehensive Plan. Town Solicitor Robert E. Craven also requested the closed-door meeting to discuss with the council a recent meeting he had with the lawyer for the property owner, Thomas Burdick.

Charlestown changed the zoning of the site — a former fire station at 1645 Shannock Rd. — in November 2005 to allow Burdick to store vehicles and equipment from one of his family’s business.

Mageau has defended the zone change noting it is consistent with the area’s mixed-use character.

Charlestown

marmenta@projo.com