"Rhode Island airport tramples zoning laws, official contends"

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Airport tramples zoning laws, Merolla contends
BY DANIEL BARBARISI
The Providence (RI) Journal
 

WARWICK -- Over the years, T.F. Green Airport's expansion has entailed
taking land that the city, through zoning, has envisioned for other uses.

Now, that independent approach has city officials crying foul, arguing that
the airport's actions violate the city's Comprehensive Plan and zoning
ordinance and that the Rhode Island Airport Corporation should be fined.

On Friday, Democratic City Councilman Steven Merolla filed a complaint with
the city's Building Department alleging that the corporation has made
improper use of two residential-zoned lots, one comprising 8.6 acres and the
other 6.9 acres.

"If the city of Warwick can't fight for itself and enforce its own zoning
regulations and Comprehensive Plan, what's the point of having them?"
Merolla said.

Rhode Island airports, including Green, have traditionally argued to state
planning authorities that they have a "compelling interest" that allows them
to use such property in a way that may be contrary to local zoning
restrictions. Those authorities -- and, later, the courts -- have generally
agreed with these arguments.

But Merolla argues that T.F. Green's use of one of the cited lots for rental
car parking and the other for servicing and washing airport vehicles does
not represent a compelling interest.

He keyed the timing of his complaint to the Building Department to what he
said were recently emerging legal arguments on the concept of compelling
interest.

His intent, Merolla said, is not to get the airport to abandon the two cited
properties, but rather to "put our foot down" and show that the airport must
respect the city's wishes in the future.

That effort has been slowly building since last year, when the City Council
asked the Planning Department to assess whether the airport's use of the
properties violated either the Comprehensive Plan or the zoning ordinance.

In a report to the council, Planning Director Mark Carrulo said that the
properties were being improperly used -- making the airport liable, he said,
to fines of as much as $500 per day.

Last week, Republican Mayor Scott Avedisian pushed the same issue before a
state legislative commission looking into the Airport Corporation's
stewardship of the state's airports.

Avedisian said the corporation's ability to go straight to the state for
land-use authorizatons invalidates the city's Comprehensive Plan and mutes
Warwick's ability to plan its own future.

"The city's Planning Department has, in years past, objected to development
plans forwarded by RIAC because they did not conform to the city's
Comprehensive Plan. Yet, statewide planning rejected our arguments, saying
that RIAC's plan need only comply with the state plan. Confused yet?"
Avedisian said to the legislators.

"If statewide planning approved the city's Comprehensive Plan, shouldn't
that mean that the city's plan is consistent with the state's guide plan?"
Avedisian asked.

The Building Department has referred Merolla's complaint to City Solicitor
John Earle for review.


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