The North Providence Town Council approved an access agreement Tuesday allowing contractors to excavate contaminated soil at the ends of several town streets along Allendale Pond, part of a Superfund cleanup the contractor said will take another six to eight years to finish.
The vote came at the council's August 4 meeting, per the town's published meeting recording. The council attached a condition requiring an indemnification and hold-harmless provision, meaning the town would not be financially liable if a worker is injured on town property during the work.
What the cleanup involves, and when
A representative of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and David Payne of the cleanup contractor briefed the council at the request of Mayor Charles A. Lombardi. Payne said the work stems from a 2018 settlement agreement under which a private party performs the remediation of the Centredale Manor Restoration Project Superfund site.
Local sponsorAffordable photography lessons in Newport, Jamestown, or your town.E.L. Photo RIPayne said the building and an adjacent apartment complex have already been investigated and remediated. Three areas remain: Allendale Pond and its floodplain soils, a large wetland behind a nearby apartment complex, and Lyman Mill Pond and its floodplain soils.
The access agreement covers the ends of town roads, including Aldrich, Centredale Avenue and Steere. "It's very limited," Payne told the council, saying excavation would barely reach paved areas and that the roads would be restored. Additional access along Lyman Mill Pond is for sampling and survey work.
The timeline Payne gave: floodplain soil remediation on Allendale Pond starting later this year, the pond itself next year, and roughly two years per pond. He estimated six to eight years to complete investigation, remediation and restoration.
Game room clears its last hurdle after six months
A game-room business on Smith Street got the council's help opening after telling members it had been blocked by a parking requirement.
The zoning board had granted the business a parking variance on the condition the council approve resident-only parking signs on Oregon Avenue, where residents have complained they cannot park in front of their own homes because employees and customers of businesses in the same building fill the street.
August Bogner, a co-owner of the Game House, told the council the business would not be able to open if the item were referred without action. "We've been waiting for about six months," he said, adding that the business applied in February and that bills have continued with no income.
The mayor said the Department of Public Works would install two signs, and the council introduced Ordinance 26-013 by voice vote, with a council member saying an ordinance committee meeting would be held within two weeks to formally pass the parking restrictions. A council member cautioned the owners that parking on the site remains tight; Bogner said the business operates 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays and 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. weekends, when the lot is largely empty.
Budget adopted, other votes
The council adopted the 2026–2027 operating budget ordinance, Ordinance 26-011, by voice vote with no discussion. It also:
- Accepted minutes from four spring meetings.
- Continued to September a zone change application and a related zoning ordinance amendment that would classify doggy daycare as a permitted use in three commercial districts.
- Passed Ordinance 26-010, adding parking restrictions on Cleveland Street.
- Approved a one-day Class F-1 liquor license for a mobile bar at a September 5 event.
- Continued a victualling license — a license to serve food — to September after no representative appeared.
- Approved a peddler license for a frozen-meat vendor operating in a retail parking lot, conditioned on the company uploading a state Health Department certificate.
- Approved a private investigator license and a Board of Canvassers alternate appointment.
- Renewed full liquor and entertainment licenses for a Mineral Spring Avenue lounge, after the council noted three police contacts and told the owners to stay vigilant on noise.
- Removed a golf-ball nuisance review from the agenda, with a council member reporting the course paid for a recently broken window.
- Sent six claims to the Claims Committee.
- Introduced Ordinance 26-014, amending the Flood Hazard District Ordinance to fix a lettering error and two dates. The council president said a special meeting must be held before August 27th to pass it for insurance purposes.
Residents press on noise, dirt piles and a plated bridge
A resident asked the council to create a daytime noise ordinance, describing an afternoon incident this summer she measured at more than 80 decibels from her backyard. She said police were initially unsure what ordinance applied and that one officer told her it was "not my problem." Council members said a daytime standard was discussed in 2024 but never adopted, and floated a rule based on whether music is audible 200 feet from the source. The matter was sent to the ordinance committee by voice vote.
Two residents presented a written proposal and petition for a green space on a town-owned property, including converting an existing basketball court and playground to parking for youth football and building a new court, playground and walking path. They also questioned why additional soil was trucked onto the site after they were told it would be graded and grassed, and said soil later washed into a street and over a small bridge into a protected pond. A town official said the soil is being stockpiled and will be spread flat once brush is cleared, and that he met the engineer and contractor the morning of the meeting and strengthened the erosion-control plan. The proposal was sent to the Finance Committee by voice vote.
Michael Porter of Hamlin Street told the council he now faces "a 60-foot mountain of dirt" across from his home at a town-owned farm property, and said children are riding bikes on the piles. He also said his street is overgrown and difficult to drive. The town's grants manager said one state grant for the project was withdrawn without prejudice because the approved design had changed so much it was no longer considered the same project, and can be reapplied for. The council voted to send the project to the Finance Committee and to ask public works to clear the overgrowth.
A resident of a nearby plat pressed for action on the Brook Farm Road Bridge, which he said has been covered by rented steel plates for about two years with no design work done. The mayor said the bridge is safe and that the town is trying to redirect previously approved federal funds toward the repair, which he said was last estimated at roughly $600,000 to $700,000. The grants manager said a decision on that redirection could come in two or three months. The council voted to ask the mayor's office to begin a conceptual design and gather quotes, and to have public works clean debris around the plates. One council member recused himself from the discussion.
Streetscape agreement approved after petition against a two-way street
A resident's representative read a petition signed by 269 people opposing any conversion of the Centerdale Streetscape / Bypass to two-way traffic. The council accepted the petition by voice vote, and the council president said members do not want a two-way street there.
The grants manager then told the council the $1.7 million grant could never cover converting the bypass, and that the idea had been a possible feasibility study after a 2025 safety plan revision flagged the bypass as a high-injury network. She said the project is back to streetscape and lighting work only, and that she secured a $392,000 state commerce grant for lighting that covers the required local match — the share a community must contribute to receive federal money. She said 101 lights need replacement and that functional removed lights would be reused in another village area.
A resident repeatedly asked whether annual maintenance costs would be known before a final design is chosen. Council members said maintenance figures would be discussed once a design is selected, and before a decision. The council then voted to authorize an agreement with the state Department of Transportation for the project.
Other business
A representative of a nonprofit forestry group presented findings from a state technical assistance program, reporting the town at 27% tree canopy cover — on the lower end of about a dozen Rhode Island communities analyzed — with significant impervious surface. An advisory committee set a goal of adding 2% canopy over 10 years, which she said means roughly 700 trees a year across public and private land.
A representative of a community-choice electricity program said its Rhode Island buying group is at 13 cents per kilowatt hour against a 17-cent residential rate taking effect October 1st. Council members pressed on the fact that residents are enrolled automatically and must opt out. The matter was sent back to the Finance Committee.
A resident petition signed by roughly 86% of eligible households sought speed bumps on a residential avenue. A police lieutenant reported a March traffic study over 10 days found 4,157 vehicles and an average speed of 17.13 miles per hour, with one driver clocked at 54. The council voted to send the request to the ordinance committee and to have police conduct a second study.
The council also voted to ask the finance director to direct the school building committee to use leftover bond funds for a privacy barrier promised to residents whose properties are exposed to a school building, and to send a Centredale Village Festival account request to the ordinance committee to create a budget line item.
What's next
The council must hold a special meeting before August 27th to pass the flood hazard ordinance amendment. The doggy daycare zone change and the food-service license return in September. The Finance Committee is expected to take up the town farm property, the green-space proposal and the electricity program.