BY ABBY FOX 

The council approved the proposed CVS Pharmacy at Rt. 2, by Bank of Rhode Island, at a meeting Monday night – with a few conditions.

They include:

The pharmacy isn’t allowed to have a “minute clinic” for diagnosis purposes; it can’t get a height variance; a private educational facility [such as New England Tech] isn’t allowed; police detail is required until a traffic light is put in at Fairgrounds Way and South County Trail; and the developer would pay for the light, not the town.

Council President Michael Isaacs said he was pleased with the outcome.

“I think what it offers is we’re getting a lesser use than what could be on this property; this will become a unified site with the Bank of Rhode Island; it will eliminate curb cuts on Rt.2; and it will look good.”

Other council members also complimented the CVS’s look and design. One member called it “beautiful.”

Public Works Director Joe Duarte said the rain’s “been slowing us down quite a bit,” creating some erosion problems on the steeper slopes near the water.

The town has 95 trees to plant on the capped landfill by the cove, as well as hundreds of bushes, which it thinks it can get to in January.

“We think we’ll be done by the beginning of January,” he said, provided the rain the area has been experiencing since October doesn’t continue as it has. “We’re optimistic,” he said.

The council asked if the park would soon be open to the public and he said, “As much as I would like to have it open to the public, we wouldn’t like to, until the spring, and maybe the summer, because the soil is soft and the vegetation still rooting.”

The next day, Duarte said that the holes people may be noticing “are not sink holes,” but rather the many holes the DPW has put in for the trees.

“We followed exactly what Coastal Resources Management Council wanted us to do, which is to create a vegetated support system for the slope, adjacent to the cove,” he said. “Yes, we had a terrible storm recently and it created some erosion. It had more to do with surface runoff than the tides. We’ve met with CRMC, we’re going to correct it and they’re on board with it,” he said.

One place in particular has an underground spring, and “we think the rest of it has done just fine,” he said. “The vegetation needs to grow and until it establishes, we’re probably going to see [some more erosion.]

“The project is on target,” he said. “We’re following the procedures CRMC wants us to follow along the shoreline: vegetation between the cove and the hill, [as opposed to rocks.]  We’ve identified a couple spots where the surface runoff concentrates and in those pockets, we’re going to put in large stones.”

It’s true that “surface runoff is creating a problem and we need to deal with that as we see it, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he said. “It’s just a matter of time for the site to establish itself. We’ve already planted quite a bit of grass and bushes.”

The council appointed a school fields construction committee, including one town council member, fresh face Michael Kiernan, and voted on a committee charge.

The final budget has to be approved by the school committee, town council, town manager and town finance director, the statement said. Plus, the town also has a say in change orders over $10,000 and all future change orders, once they exceed the $50,000 mark.

“The town council will have oversight of this project,” Isaacs said.

Marcia Sullivan, director of the East Greenwich Housing Authority, told the council of the authority’s desire to buy 17, one-bedroom units, many of which, she said, she hopes will be affordable, in the area of 48 Greene Street, where’s there’s currently a single family home.

The council didn’t approve anything, but it heard her summary. The project could cost about $3 million, she said, and the units may be one-bedroom but they may also be two-bedroom, like “little cottages.” The selling prices are still up in the air at this point, she said, while Town Manager Bill Sequino added it could be in the area of $175,000 for a one-bedroom.

As the project moves along, Sullivan said, she would appreciate the council’s endorsement, in order to help raise money. The council replied that it was in favor of affordable housing but would wait to see whether the development would in the end be proposed as affordable or partially affordable and partially for-profit.

However the project takes shape, the interest is obvious: Sullivan said that 494 people applied for a place in the Greene Street project in just three hours’ time. From that number, a certain number will qualify, based on state and federal guidelines and requirements.

The town’s cove commission proposed before the council again its proposed ordinance amendment, that it be granted permission to “review plans of all public, private and commercial development proposals for the area east of the Amtrak rail lines.”

Isaacs said he would like some clarification on what “review” meant, considering the commission is an advisory board and thus doesn’t have the same authority that a zoning or planning board has.

Chair Glenn Moore said his proposal is not that the commission hold public hearings, but “we want to be formally included” in projects that would have an effect on Greenwich Cove. In the past, he said, “We found ourselves getting backdoor information” about proposed projects and the group would like to be more involved.

Town Solicitor Peter Clarkin explained that the issue was a tricky one, because “review” isn’t “permitted by state law,” he said. The commission can “get copies” of projects proposed and “attend meetings,” he said, but beyond that, “it would probably create a problem.”

Isaacs suggested the language could perhaps be clarified for next time.