BRISTOL, R.I. — Despite local concerns about the proposed development’s potential to exacerbate neighborhood flooding and the damage it will cause to wetland habitat, a Gooding Avenue hotel project that has been hanging around since 2013 recently received state approval to move ahead.
In a Dec. 6 letter to the developer, Middletown-based KenDan LLC, the state Department of Environmental Management’s Office of Water Resources approved the construction of a 76-room Mainstay/Sleep Inn Hotel on a nearly 10-acre woodland lot across the street from Broadcommon Road. The project will require filling in some 50,000 square feet (1.15 acres) of wetlands in an area neighbors say is already compromised by flooding.
The Bristol Conservation Commission and Save The Bay were two of the 35 organizations and individuals who submitted testimony to DEM in opposition to the project.
Tony Morettini, chair of the Conservation Commission, told ecoRI News the commission has serious concerns about the extensive alteration and the amount of engineering being proposed to mitigate the project’s impact.
The proposal to build on swampland “would seriously and negatively impact the function and value of that wetland, as it will no longer protect the subject property, nor properties downstream” of Silver Creek, according to the Conservation Commission’s testimony. One of those properties is the current and future home of Mt. Hope High School.
“We’re obviously disappointed with DEM’s approval,” Morettini said.
In its testimony to DEM, Save The Bay’s riverkeeper, Kate McPherson, noted the Providence-based nonprofit has been working with the town on habitat and water quality improvement projects in the Silver Creek watershed since 1999.
The wetland scientist said alterations to the Gooding Avenue property would result in the permanent elimination of swamp, perimeter wetlands, and forested habitat and would negatively impact wildlife species. She noted the site provides habitat for resident and migratory wildlife, including a variety of birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and insects… Click here to read the full article.