Our time is short and your time is valuable, so I will make this as brief as I can.
On Monday, April 19th, there will be a continuation of the Joint Public Hearing of the Charlestown Town Council and Planning Commission to discuss the proposed Comprehensive Plan. This plan rigidly sets the priorities for the town for years to come. https://www.charlestownri.org/compplan2020
Our current comprehensive plan is already years overdue for an update and this document has been in the making since 2014. Now, with pandemic restrictions and with a town-wide survey being planned, this is being rushed to approval. The proposed new plan is so different that a side by side comparison to the old plan is not possible. It has been watered down and anything that doesn’t fit with dark and quiet has been removed.
The town is on the verge of a town wide survey to find out what all the residents of the town truly want for our community. The survey has been stymied at every opportunity by the CCA-led majority of our town council when a comprehensive plan should take into account public input. The only logical conclusion one can come to as to why the CCA wants to push this comprehensive plan through now is because they don’t want public input.
If you want Charlestown to be anything other than dark and quiet, with public recreation greatly reduced and the remaining undeveloped land relegated to open space properties that the town doesn’t maintain, a place that is not conducive to raising a family, and a statewide reputation as a bad place to do business, we need to make our voices heard.
If you enjoy festivals and sporting events in Ninigret Park then write to your town council and members of the planning commission demanding that this comprehensive plan not be approved until after the results of the town-wide survey are available. Regardless of what they claim, the vast majority of our town has not participated in this process and they want it that way. We have to ensure that not only those with time, money, and inclination to be involved get to dictate our town’s future.
Please send your comments by Monday to Amy Rose Weinrich, Town Clerk, at arweinreich@charlestownri.org.
An example of a letter can be seen here. Please modify that as you see fit and send it as an email to arweinreich@charlestownri.org.
Then, log in to the meeting on Monday, April 19, at 7 p.m. and raise your hand to be heard! https://www.charlestownri.org/virtualtownmeeting
While not a CRU statement, another article objecting to the proposed Comprehensive Plan as it's currently written can be read here.
Respectfully, Jodi Frank
Charlestown Residents United
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