The Tiverton Planning Board delayed action on a proposed 12-unit affordable housing development off Bulgarmarsh Road at its August 4 meeting, setting a site walk for August 12 and pressing the developer for answers on a possible historic cemetery, gas line permission, and the town's drinking water contamination problem.
The board also postponed a decision on a Stafford Road construction company's proposed office and storage building after the applicant and board members agreed that continuing to September would actually be faster than approving it that night. And the board scheduled a special September 15 meeting devoted entirely to the Seasons Corner Market gas station and convenience store proposed at Souza Road and Main Road, a project that has been in town review since 2021.
The meeting was posted as a regular Planning Board session at Tiverton Town Hall, with four public hearings on the agenda.
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The application is a comprehensive permit — a state process that lets developers who set aside affordable units ask for relief from local zoning rules that would otherwise block the project. Because Tiverton has not reached the state's 10 percent affordable housing benchmark, the board's discretion is limited. The town solicitor described the standard plainly: the board weighs the interest in low- and moderate-income housing against local zoning requirements, and a refusal has to be reasonable or it can be appealed.
Attorney Matthew Landry, representing the applicant, told the board the proposal is at the master plan stage, which under current state law is optional and closer to a concept sketch than an engineered design. The plan shows three triplexes, a proposed single-family home, a proposed duplex, and an existing duplex on a single lot of roughly seven to eight acres.
Most of the debate was about buffers. The site is subject to a 75-foot no-cut buffer, meaning a strip along the property lines where trees cannot be removed. Landry said the project meets the 50 percent open space requirement but cannot meet the no-cut buffer, and is asking for relief where structures encroach. Board members pushed back on two long, narrow strips of protected open space running parallel to the proposed road, arguing they provide little habitat value and are easily eroded by everyday human use over time. Landry said the site is too constrained to relocate that acreage.
The archaeological question remains open. Landry said the applicant obtained a roughly $12,000 estimate from an archaeology firm for a desktop review and site evaluation, and argued a full Phase One survey is not warranted at the concept stage. But a July 28 letter from the state historical commission indicated there is a cemetery in the area — contradicting an earlier July 22 letter — and the chair said she wants the underlying information provided before the board acts. A speaker later told the board the documented burial ground she is aware of sits on the other side of Indian Hill, and that overgrowth has prevented her from documenting it. The state commission has advised that any confirmed historic cemetery requires a 25-foot buffer.
Susan Anderson, representing Bliss Four Corners Congregational Church, an abutter, asked what "open space" actually means for the strip 42 feet from the church's stone wall, and asked the board to require written consent from the gas company before construction equipment crosses the gas easement. Landry said the applicant has contacted the gas company, does not anticipate a problem, and does not object to a condition requiring documentation. A board member said he wants that documentation in the file, not just a verbal assurance.
A neighbor on Indian Hill Road testified that nine units are proposed on a parcel smaller than the area holding three existing houses nearby, and said wildlife using the site will be pushed out. Meridith Mucci, of East Road, suggested shifting the road slightly east to give the buildings more separation from the no-cut zone, and questioned whether the trees can survive construction.
Residents also raised the town's PFAS contamination. A planning official said the town does not yet have a map of the affected area, that the Department of Environmental Management has contacted wells it believes may be at risk, and that current regulations do not require PFAS testing for new wells. The board said it does not have authority to halt the application over the contamination and has been told the issue sits with the town administrator and Town Council. One resident said her well is 250 feet from contaminated wells, that she was never contacted by DEM, and that she was denied a test. The board noted a public meeting with DEM, the Department of Health, and the town is scheduled at the high school, with members identifying the date as August 10.
The board took no vote. The hearing continues to the September 1 meeting, with the review deadline — the "time clock" that limits how long the board may take — left at September 4 for now. A site walk covering both this parcel and a Spring Street subdivision is set for Wednesday, August 12, beginning at 10 a.m. and moving to the Spring Street site at 11 a.m.
Spring Street subdivision pushed to October
On the first item, the board voted by voice to extend the time clock to October 31 and continue the hearing to the October 6 meeting. The applicant's attorney said a drainage design change requires sign-off from Fall River, which is not expected until September.
Stafford Road construction office: approval withdrawn to move faster
Landry also represented the applicant on a proposed construction office and storage building at 1248 Stafford Road, in the town's pedestrian-friendly zoning district. He presented a revised architectural rendering replacing what he called a metal-box design with a New England-style building including a false second story and a covered porch. Board members called it a clear improvement, and the applicant agreed to add landscaping along the boundary with the abutting church and to place boulders along the property line.
The engineer said the site is currently almost entirely asphalt with no stormwater controls, and that roof runoff would be directed to a rain garden for infiltration.
A motion for conditional master and preliminary plan approval was made and seconded — then withdrawn. Board members said they had not had time to review the town consultant Weston & Sampson's comment list or the engineer's responses, which arrived shortly before the meeting. The applicant said he has been pursuing the project since January, faces a $279,000 deposit deadline on the building, and is losing his busiest season. After discussion, the solicitor advised that continuing to September and granting preliminary approval then, with final plan handled administratively, would be faster than approving that night and requiring a separately advertised final plan hearing in October.
The board voted by voice to continue the hearing to September 1, with the applicant placed first on the agenda.
Seasons Corner Market set for special September 15 hearing
Attorney Rob Stolzman of Adler Pollock & Sheehan, representing Colbea Enterprises LLC, doing business as Seasons Corner Market, gave a procedural history rather than testimony. The proposal is a roughly 3,600-square-foot convenience store with a drive-through and four fueling pumps under a canopy on about an acre and a half at Souza Road and Main Road, on land that was a fuel depot into the mid-1980s.
Stolzman said the board denied the master plan in September 2022, the zoning board reversed that denial in January 2023, the board granted master plan approval in June 2023 with conditions, and Superior Court upheld the zoning board in June 2024. He said the zoning board granted the required special-use permits in 2025 after 10 public hearings.
An abutter, Jennifer Andes, told the board those special-use permits are under appeal and questioned why the project is advancing. The solicitor said no court has issued a stay, so the board has no authority to refuse to hear the application, and told her applying for a stay is an option. She said she intends to do so.
The board voted by voice to open a public hearing on the project at a special meeting on September 15.
Board demands earlier delivery of its own paperwork
Under general business, board members said they received hundreds of pages roughly 25 hours before the meeting, and one said the volume made the volunteer board look unprepared. The board agreed to request a weekly electronic update from the planning office every Tuesday, including a note when nothing was received, and full meeting materials seven days in advance. Members who prefer paper asked for hard copies in their mailboxes; one said he did not receive a printed agenda for the meeting.
Members also asked that the town's consulting engineer attend meetings again, noting that had been standard practice in past years, and that written decisions be circulated to the board.
The board approved the June 2 minutes by voice vote with corrections, and deferred the June 16 minutes. It also received an update from the harbor commission on grant plans for kayak racks, waterfront lighting, floodgate warning signs, and a letter to the Coastal Resources Management Council seeking a water-type reclassification for Nanaquaket Pond.
What happens next
The Bulgarmarsh Road housing hearing and the Stafford Road building hearing both resume at the regular meeting on September 1. The site walk for the housing parcel and the Spring Street subdivision is Wednesday, August 12, at 10 a.m. The Spring Street hearing resumes October 6. The Seasons Corner Market hearing is set for a special meeting on September 15. Residents with questions on plan details were directed to the planning office; those with documentation of a historic cemetery on the Bulgarmarsh Road site were asked to bring it to the planning office as soon as possible.