The Warwick City Council voted at its July 6 meeting to hold a proposed rezoning of the vacant Aldrich Junior High School property until September 14, after more than a dozen nearby residents testified against a plan that could allow up to 93 apartment units on the site.
According to the meeting agenda and testimony from Planning Director Tom Kravitz, the city has tried twice before to redevelop the roughly 100-year-old brick school at 771 Post Road, most recently through a deal with a developer that fell through after the company failed to secure low-income housing tax credits. The ordinance under consideration, PCO23-2026, would apply a "planned development" zoning overlay to the property, which sets a higher maximum density than current zoning and is intended to attract more bidders when the city puts the site out for sale again. Kravitz told the council the change would not commit the city to any specific project; a future buyer's plans would still need separate approval from the planning board and the council.
Nine residents spoke against the proposal, citing worries about traffic on side streets, the loss of the building's character, falling property values, and the strain new families could place on nearby schools. One resident described the vacant building itself as a hazard, citing rodents and structural decay. Chief of Staff Bill Fanti told the council that no specific residential project has been proposed and that a subdivision would still separate the school building from the ballfields and tennis courts, which are protected by federal recreation funding restrictions. Several council members said they wanted more time to work with neighbors before advancing the zoning change, and the council voted by voice to hold the matter until September, giving the city time to formally divide the property into two parcels.
Local sponsorWorld-class website design at a small business priceCompany 50In a separate zoning matter, the council voted 8-0 to approve, on first passage, a zoning change requested by an attorney representing a development company that wants to demolish an aging commercial building and a house on a two-lot property elsewhere in the city and build 11 townhouse units. The attorney, Joseph Brennan, told the council the applicant has been working for several years with a city councilman and neighbors to adjust setbacks and add landscaped screening near an adjoining home. No members of the public spoke for or against the plan, and council members praised the outreach process before voting in favor.
Earlier in the evening, the council's finance committee debated a $1.28 million request from the police department, presented by Major Robert Hart, to purchase 16 patrol and supervisor vehicles, including two larger SUVs. One committee member questioned whether the department was replacing vehicles faster than the five-to-six-year cycle it has historically followed, noting the city has bought nearly 100 police vehicles in the past six years. The committee vote ended in a tie, sending the item to the full council without a recommendation; the full council later approved it by a 6-2 roll call vote.
The committee also scrutinized a separate $197,000 request tied to a police department warehouse project, after 14 change orders — for items including paving, fire-rated walls, and stainless steel roof fasteners — were approved and completed before coming to the council for a spending authority correction. Committee members pressed the police department and a staff attorney on why the increase was presented after the work was already finished, calling it a breakdown in the city's spending oversight process. The council ultimately approved the item 6-2 as well, with the dissenting members saying they objected to the process even though they did not oppose the underlying building.
Other finance items included the purchase of a roughly $429,000 sanitation truck from the Department of Public Works, presented by Director Eric Earls, and about $64,000 for replacement trash and recycling cart parts from Rehrig Pacific Company, both approved by voice vote. The council's intergovernmental committee also voted to reappoint an attorney to the city's Board of Canvassers.
Separately, the council's ordinance committee voted to hold two pending measures for further work: a proposed ban on camping on public property, held until November 23, and a proposed tax on vacant, non-utilized real estate, held until August 17 so it can be narrowed to apply only to commercial property.
Residents who want to weigh in on the Aldrich Junior High rezoning can attend the council's September 14 meeting, when the item is scheduled to return for further discussion.