For Plaintiff: Robert E. Flaherty, Esq.
For Defendant: Wyatt A. Brochu, Esq.
In this zoning appeal, Henry W. Archetto, Maria A. Archetto, Paul H. Archetto, Linda C. Archetto, and Maria A. Archetto-Hickman (collectively, Appellants) seek judicial review of a decision of the Zoning Board of Review of the Town of Jamestown (Board). The decision approved Defendant Christian R. Smith's (Applicant or Mr. Smith) Application for a dimensional variance. Jurisdiction is pursuant to G.L. 1956 § 45-24-69.
The plat plan covers an extensive area at the northern end of the island. At the time this plat plan was drawn, all of Conanicut Park was owned by the Conanicut Land Company. It is clear that the company's intention was to develop Conanicut Park into a residential neighborhood. The plat plan reveals a subdivision including more than 2, 000 lots, many streets, parks, groves, ponds, and even an area labeled 'Steamboat Landing' . . .
Most of Conanicut Park remains undeveloped today . . . [A] great many of the streets shown on the plat plan do not exist, [and] . . . Conanicut Park is actually a relatively heavily wooded area with considerable brush and briar . . . [D]evelopment of this plat according to the plat plan was halted in the late 1800s because of a contaminated well and an outbreak of typhoid fever among the residents of that time. Gammons v. Caswell, 447 A.2d 361, 362- 63 (R.I. 1982).
The Applicant's Property is bordered by a paper street called Circuit Avenue. Circuit Avenue has access to East Shore Road via another paper street called Providence Avenue. (Ex. 8D.) Although Providence Avenue traverses East Shore Road, this Decision only is concerned with the westerly portion of that paper street. Said portion is forty feet wide and abuts several properties, one of which belongs to Appellants. The Appellants' property is described as Lot No. 184 on Tax Assessor's Plat No. 1 (the Archetto property). (Ex. 8C and Tr. at 13, July 28, 2015 (Tr. I).). Currently, in order to access the Archetto property, Appellants use a driveway that is located entirely within the area delineated as Providence Avenue.
The hearings were held on July 28, 2015 (Tr. I.), September 22, 2015 (Tr. II.), and November 17, 2015 (Tr. III.) Mr. Smith testified on his own behalf (Tr. I at 12-25.) Attorney Robert E. Flaherty spoke on behalf of Mr. Henry Archetto (Tr. III at 11-22.), and abutter Paul Sullivan also testified. (Tr. III at 23-24.) At the conclusion of the hearing, the Board unanimously voted in favor of the Applicant and granted the dimensional variance.
Additional facts will be supplied in the analysis portion of this Decision as needed.