Jamestown planners table fire station zoning change, citing 'creep' into rural districts

The Jamestown Planning Commission on Wednesday declined to act on a town-requested zoning change that would have made it easier to build fire and police facilities in the town's most rural residential districts, sending the proposal back to staff to be narrowed.

The commission voted by voice vote to continue the item until its September meeting, according to the Jamestown Planning Commission's published meeting recording. The practical effect: no zoning change takes effect now, and any revised amendment would have to come back to the commission before it could be recommended to the Town Council.

The request grew out of a long-running effort to put a storage building for fire equipment in the north end of town. A town official explained that the fire chief had presented a plan to the Town Council, and that a parcel associated with the reservoir had been identified. The Conservation Commission, asked for a formal opinion, objected to that location; that opinion was included in the commission's packet. The official said the site was not off the table, but that the town wanted to look at all options along North Road, within about a half mile north of Route 138.

The zoning problem is that most parcels in that area, including town-owned ones, are zoned RR-200, RR-80 or RR-40. Under the town's use table in Section 82-601, fire and police stations are already allowed by special-use permit — a case-by-case approval with conditions — in RR-80 and RR-40, but are not allowed at all in RR-200, the most rural and largest-lot district.

The town official was explicit about what is intended: "we're not proposing a full-blown staffed fire station," he said, describing a building to store two or three trucks, most importantly tankers, in an area not served by hydrants. It would not be staffed and would not host training, he said.

Commissioners were not persuaded that the amendment as drafted matched that description. The original request would have changed multiple use categories across multiple residential zones. One commissioner said that read as "a lot of new ability for the town government to place structures in residential zones," and warned that anyone critical of the change would worry about "decades-long creep" — a volunteer department becoming a paid one, a garage acquiring sleeping quarters and a kitchen. Another concern raised was that a future council could read a broadly worded category as permission for other government buildings entirely, such as a gymnasium.

Not everyone agreed the risk was serious. One commissioner argued that because a full fire station is already allowed by special-use permit in the denser Shores districts, worrying about a station on 200,000-square-foot lots was inconsistent, and said he would have voted to make the change.

Vice chair Duncan Pendlebury floated the compromise the commission ultimately adopted: create a defined category of "fire substation" with a limited scope written into the ordinance, so abutters can see the limits in the code rather than relying on assurances.

The town's legal and planning discussion sharpened that idea. It was noted that "fire and police station" appears in the use table but has no definition and no standards section in Article 12, while a government-owned garage does. Under state law, a use can only be handled as a special use if the ordinance sets specific and objective standards — height, size, setbacks, hazardous materials. The suggested fix was to define fire station, police station and fire substation, and to attach performance standards, which would also make the use available in the southern part of the island where a Beavertail facility has been discussed.

The town official said he was not in a rush, but noted a practical cost of waiting: negotiating a lease or purchase is harder when the buyer must tell a seller that the use is not merely subject to a permit but not yet permitted at all. He asked that the matter be continued so staff could return with a revised proposal.

Nancy, the town's zoning and planning official, said she would draft definitions for fire station, police station and fire substation.

The commission's next regular meeting is September 2, with a second meeting expected September 16. Any revised amendment would still require review by the commission and action by the Town Council, and a zoning ordinance change requires a public hearing.