Proposed Development at 102 and 2 is "Disastrous" Development, Exeter Official Says

Exeter Planning Board member Frank DiGregorio wrote the following open letter to the town of North Kingstown regarding the future of the Routes 102 and 2 area — the site of the former Bald Hill Nursery property.

A Rural Gateway?

by Frank DiGregorio, Town of Exeter Planning Board

Exeter’s concept of setting the facts straight in preserving the western intersection of Routes 2 and 102 is very different from that of North Kingstown. The original intent of both towns was to protect and preserve this intersection via a commitment that was achieved through the purchase of the Bald Hill Nursery property Development Rights by Exeter, North Kingstown and a private party.  

The Town of North Kingstown’s intention to preserve this intersection  was subsequently again documented when the North Kingstown Town Council at a Public Hearing on January 10, 2011 designated that area as a Transfer Development Rights (TDR) Sending Area for the Post Road Corridor which was the TDR Receiving Area.

The The Town of North Kingstown recently submitted Comprehensive Plan, Future Land Use Map, and Water Service Area Map Amendment with a North Kingstown companion Zoning Amendment creating a Compact Village Development. This clearly constitutes a reversal of their intention in preserve this unique transition between a rural community and a more suburbanized community.

North Kingstown abrupt reversal of planning policy in this area raises many very serious questions. What factors are behind the drastic reversal of the intention to preserve this unique transition between a rural community and a more suburbanized community?  Factors that were so powerful that they also reversed their commitment to their own Comprehensive Plan and Statewide Planning’s 2025 Land Use Plan. Most troubling is North Kingstown’s steadfast and unilateral resolve in amending its Comprehensive Plan, Zoning and Water Service Area while squandering the appropriation of taxpayer open space bond money to preserve this area, and ignoring its neighbors, its residents and their own paid consultants for the apparent profits of a single developer.

Contrasting North Kingstown’s current developer friendly initiatives with respect to this intersection, the Town of Exeter remains steadfast in its commitment to preserve it. Exeter recently completed a study designated as “A Vision for Exeter” with the goal of preserving the rural/agricultural character of Exeter. The results of this study rejected the Route 102/2 western intersection as a possible village site. Furthermore, no plans for a future village at this location or any other location have been contemplated or incorporated into the Exeter Comprehensive Plan or Zoning Ordinance as suggested by North Kingstown public officials. 

There are more than just two scenarios possible for this area as recently stated by the North Kingstown Town Manager. The Stakeholders Group presented five possible development scenarios. One of them was a Conservation Design scenario. I as the non-voting representative from Exeter had prepared a variation of that concept for consideration accompanied with some preliminary graphics. Unfortunately I was not afforded the opportunity to present that variation to the study group. That scenario would have preserved that area as a bona fide Rural Gateway and transition between different communities. It would also have incorporated the abutting residential areas into a neighborhood with pedestrian and bicycle access to all four quadrants of this intersection. It would transform this intersection from a high speed pass-thru location to a destination location and a true Gateway to South County. The proposed North Kingstown Compact Village Development is not a viable village or a Rural Gateway but just a continuation southward along Routes 102 and 2 of the disastrous type of development that continues the cancer of suburban sprawl and commercial strip development.

Exeter Town Officials have and continue to reach out to North Kingstown Town Officials with a goal of working together and including participation by all stakeholders to achieve a coordinated and positive planning strategy for this unique intersection respective of its town wide and regional impacts.