Four properties on Seaview Avenue have been denied permission for extensions into the public water supply.
The town council, sitting as the board of water commissioners, unanimously denied the applications May 20 during a public hearing.
Attorney Christian Infantolino, on behalf of Jeffrey Saletin, of 14 Seaview Ave., and Paul Frechette, of 19 Seaview Ave., and attorney Joelle Rocha, on behalf of Glenn Andreoni, of 10 Seaview Ave., both said they would “absolutely” be appealing the decision. Appeals can either be made to Newport Superior Court or the Rhode Island Water Resources Board.
Along with Stephen Zimniski, of 7 Seaview Ave., all four applicants essentially echoed the same three problems: inability to relocate a well on their properties, insufficient yield of potable water from their wells and brackish water coming from their faucets.
Councilman Randy White gave his reasons for his denial with an hourlong monologue to open the hearing. The requested extensions are in the rural district, not the urban district, he said, and the rules and regulations amended in 2018 prohibit extensions “to and within the rural district.”
“Our responsibilities are limited,” he said. “We are specific. Our job is, as I pointed out through the rules and regulations, to maintain and preserve the public supply of Jamestown for its users.”
Mary Meagher, vice president of the council, sympathized with the applicants. She said the decision to deny was simultaneously “so hard … yet clear.”
“We have in front of us, four families, members of our community, who find themselves in difficult straits,” she said. “My heart goes out to you because water is essential. Your current systems are deficient. I recognize your sense of despair and frustration, and I recognize your effort to fix your programs.”
Her role as a commissioner, however, obligates her to “a different, smaller community,” which comprises the 3,600 customers in the urban district to “whom I am responsible.”
The exception for extensions in the rural district, according to the rules and regulations, is if the board determines that approved applications would “improve the quality and quantity of water furnished to existing water uses.”
“There has been no mention by any of the applicants, or their attorneys, of any benefit to be derived from these extensions beyond the benefit to the applicants themselves,” Meagher said.
Infantolino and Rocha, however, argue that a state law passed in 2022 supersedes the local rules and regulations. It says if a well does not meet the industry standard for “yield per depth,” and drilling a secondary well is not feasible “due to the unique characteristics of the property,” local boards are not able to deny an application. They believe their clients meet both criteria.
White is interpreting the law in a different way. He said the provision only would take effect if the commissioners voted to expand the water district into the rural area.