By Newport This Week Staff | on October 06, 2022
After four hours of testimony and water contamination concerns, the Middletown Zoning Board of Review unanimously approved on Oct. 4 a petition for a 23-room hotel on the property currently housing Rusty’s Bar and Grille.
“I am personally satisfied that the special-use permit requirements are all met,” said board member Stephen Huttler. “I accept the engineer’s conclusion that the proposed use is a significant improvement in many respects than the current use, so Middletown will benefit from that.”
Huttler was initially the sole voice of concern regarding the application, noting potential water contamination from the property on Wave Avenue to the nearby Easton’s Pond or ocean. However, he ultimately approved it after lengthy testimony from design professionals about the developer’s intentions to mitigate stormwater runoff, water treatment and other factors.
Abutters and residents attended the meeting and retained attorney James Callaghan, although none spoke.
The application came from property owner Harry Kyriakides, who owns two other hotels in the area. The proposal was filed in 2018 and has gained approval from the Planning Board and Conservation Commission. Despite delays due to the pandemic, lack of notification, and abutters retaining Callaghan, the board said neither the neighborhood nor the application had changed significantly and felt the recommendation for its approval still held up.
Since the Atlantic Beach Overlay District was established in 2021, the rules and standards pertaining to the area did not apply to the petition, the board determined.
The plan, according to Kyriakides’ attorney, David Martland, is to demolish the three structures on the site, including the restaurant, and construct the hotel. The hotel will feature 23 units varying in size from 600 to 850 square feet, each with a kitchenette. There are no plans for parking in front of the property. Instead, Kyriakides intends to construct sidewalks, plant vegetation and improve landscaping on the site.
Lyn Small, a project engineer with Northeast Engineers, provided testimony that the project would not impact the reservoir because of the design and an existing moat surrounding the water. However, Huttler disagreed and asked for assurances.
“Groundwater could be going under the moat and under the berm into the drinking water reservoir for Newport and Middletown, and that’s a serious problem,” he said. “I’m concerned by the testimony I’ve heard tonight that the water drains from the moat and into the ocean. Is that a reason why beaches are being closed more and more often in Newport and Middletown?
“I was hoping that we would be receiving testimony that these matters had been addressed and all will be up to code.”
Small countered that the proposal is up to code and that the design still requires approval from the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, along with the municipal endorsement. She said the proposal removes the existing impervious pavement and replaces it with pervious pavement, along with adding sediment control, water quality treatment and runoff reduction.
“We have stone layers underneath the asphalt that capture the sediment, so sediment is removed,” she said. “Underneath that layer of stone is a sand filter where the sand provides water quality treatment. Then it goes into another stone layer, at which time it goes into perforated pipe that’s underneath all stone layers, and then gets discharged into the moat.”
Small added the proposed design would improve water quality treatment at the site considering such mitigation efforts do not currently exist on the property.
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