Town Water Officials Weigh In On Wickford Junction, Part One

Let me begin by saying, in a perfect world, all of the drinking water and planning professionals who manage the vitally important groundwater resources here in North Kingstown would love to be able to set aside all of the land area overlying our aquifer and permanently protect it from any type of development, because, the fact of the matter is that there is a level of risk, albeit minimal in most instances, to any sort of development in these areas. But unfortunately we live and operate in the real world; a world with development pressures, landowner’s rights, and economic opportunities that have the potential to, in the future, make a real difference to the folks who live and work in North Kingstown. 

Additionally, like it or not, lifestyle and housing preferences here in the New England and for that matter, across the nation are changing. These changes are driven by an aging population of empty-nesters and an expanding number of younger adults who, by preference or due to their own economic realities, do not choose to buy into the “American Dream” housing choices of the Baby-Boomers and their children – a big house with a big yard in a neighborhood where all housing units are spread apart substantially. These folks, the younger ones and the retired or retiring empty-nesters, are making different choices; they want a different lifestyle in a different type of neighborhood, a neighborhood with smaller, smarter, lower maintenance living spaces replete with amenities, walkable and bikeable spaces, and a sense of community. Look no further than the very successful development at Mountain Laurel Estates Condominiums which sold out in record time or West Cove off of Prospect Avenue which also filled up in the blink of an eye, for real life local examples of this reality.   

All that said, the staff at the Water and Planning Departments in Town, are required by both our professional charges and our personal consciences, to proceed in a protective and proactive manner, cognizant of the very real truth that development at this critical location, in this state with some of the strongest riparian landowners rights in the nation, is going to happen.  We need to stay ahead of that development. We need to plan appropriately for that development.  We need to prepare a strategy to protect the critical resources that are there, so they remain there, available to future North Kingstown citizens. We have to do this while remaining aware that, here in Rhode Island, folks who own land have a right to develop that land within the constraints set up by the community. We feel that this Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy as well as the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) ordinance are excellent tools in our town “tool box” to assist this to happen.

To start with, traditional residential developments have two critical problems that are inherently dangerous to the water resources that lie below them. These two risky aspects are generally completely overlooked by the “average Joe,” but the reality is that they represent, short of a catastrophic contamination event, the largest risk factors to groundwater aquifers. These two dangerous characters masquerade as benign and unimposing, but they aren’t that at all, as big managed manicured lawns and landscapes and improperly managed and maintained septic systems present the biggest risks an aquifer can face. Lawns, whether they be managed by homeowners or landscapers, in general use far too much water to keep them green and vital (no, it doesn’t matter really whether you use a private well or public – same bowl of water, different straw!) and they generally are fed way too much nitrogen-rich fertilizer, are a magnet for pets and birds that leave behind nitrogen rich and bacteria-laden wastes, and come with adjacent impervious surfaces and compacted soil surfaces that impede groundwater recharge. Individual homeowner-managed conventional septic systems do not do anything to reduce the nitrogen in human wastes and if not looked after properly (which sadly happens all too frequently) can be nitrogen and bacteria feeders impacting groundwater in a “death by a thousand cuts” scenario that leads long term to trouble.

So why is this Transit Oriented Development concept or for that matter, the Compact Village Development or Post Road District development plans better? First and foremost because these strategies are set up to require nitrogen-reducing waste treatment septic systems, managed, maintained, and operated on a regular basis by trained professionals’ not busy homeowners. 

Systems like this, including the one already in place at Wickford Junction, are required to meet performance standards protective of the groundwater. Frequent discharge water chemical analysis is mandated, alarms, bells, and whistles notify trained professionals of any problems, and reports are required to be submitted to both the town and the state on a monthly or quarterly basis. Essentially this means, no more death by a thousand cuts for the water resources in the area.

Also, there is no doubt that manicured lawn and landscaped areas in these types of developments are a small fraction of what is found in your traditional baby boomer neighborhood. Less water is used therefore, and because it now becomes a cost subject to control, less fertilizer is applied. Less pet wastes also make it into the ground water and there are less grassy areas so far fewer Canada geese and their kin stop by to leave their trademark “fertilizer piles” behind. 

As for groundwater recharge, in these developments the town requires the installation of sophisticated storm water management structures that aid in recharge while protecting the groundwater from contamination. Again these requirements make for safer groundwater reservoirs.

So to wrap it up, I really believe that the TOD strategy makes sense in this location which I feel I must reiterate, is going to be developed whether we like it or not.  

I can’t resist adding the historic perspective to all of this. First, we are in this predicament because of our predecessors. Way back in 1836 when the folks from the Providence and Stonington Line, the original owners of what is now the Amtrak main rail line, were planning to run rail through South County and came a-calling in North Kingstown, they came with a plan that had the rail line running in what is now the Post Road Corridor, through the community just like it does now in East Greenwich. These 19th century railroad planners had a station they were going to call Wickford Junction, set to be built at the line’s intersection with what is now West Main Street.  The folks who lived in NK at that time said in essence “No Way! Take your black smoke belching train somewhere else, we don’t want it here! Besides this new fangled train thing will never catch on.” That’s why the rail runs across our groundwater area and that’s why a station out in Lafayette is called Wickford Junction. 

My second history point is this and it’s simple. I love the idea of folks getting back to a housing strategy where they live next door to their neighbors, where they are forced through proximity to get to know each other, to talk to each other, to care about the folks they live next door to. So I applaud this “forward to the past” housing paradigm shift. All too often, in big giant neighborhoods with big yards and houses far far apart all we can do is manage to wave at each other from a distance. We all need to get up close and personal and shake our neighbor’s hands, clap him on the shoulder and get to know what makes them tick. That will make for a better world; just like it used a hundred years ago in villages all across North Kingstown.

Tomorrow we will post Director of Water Supply Sue Licardi's views.