Zoning issue delays Gov. Francis sewers

Phase III of the Governor Francis sewer installation project will be delayed at least one month, as the Warwick Sewer Authority must halt its intentions to award a contract to wait for a 10,000 square foot piece of land to be subdivided and re-zoned in order to build a pumping station that will eventually service the area.

Janine Burke-Wells, WSA director, apologized to the board during their Aug. 24 meeting at their headquarters on the grounds of the water treatment facility for not acquiring the permitting for the station sooner, and said she understood the board’s cautious decision to not go forward with the work until the zoning issue was figured out.

According to Burke-Wells, the holdup stems from a need for the owner of the parcel of land, located at the southernmost tip of the future force main to the southeast of Dutch Court, to subdivide and officially sell the property to the WSA before they can then apply for a rezoning permit from the Warwick Zoning Board of Review. The property is currently zoned for only residential use.

The delay meant that the board was unable to award their bid for construction, valued at $4,995,180, to CB Utility Company, Inc. of Bristol, RI. Thanks to contractual agreements within the bidding process, the WSA will now have 106 days to work out the permitting situation while that bid price stays frozen. If it takes longer, that price will no longer be required to be honored.

The price guarantee provides some cushion, but not much, as Burke-Wells estimated that the issue probably wouldn’t make it onto the Zoning Board of Review agenda until their Oct. 10 meeting. Additionally, the zoning board usually takes about a month to deliver a decision on any particular issue, which is then followed by a mandatory period of appeal, which lasts 20 days.

Still, Burke-Wells said that a substantial delay or a need to redo the bidding process for the project was “not likely at all,” and that she was “confident” that the rezoning will be handled successfully and the project will go forward after the short delay as originally planned.