Big Box Development Could Mean Tax Boon For EG

The developers of a proposed mixed-use development with a big box store on Frenchtown Road told the Planning Board on Wednesday that the project could generate $250,000 in additional taxes for the town of East Greenwich.

While only 10 of the 107 acres of the proposed project is in East Greenwich, land use planner Joseph Lombardo said the big box component of the proposal could yield a quarter of a million dollars in tax revenue.

The rest of the development would be located in North Kingstown. That component would include a bank, a pharmacy, a restaurant, residential housing and other retail spaces. Because North Kingstown has an ordinance against big box stores, it is advantageous to locate that component of the project in East Greenwich, project planners told the Planning Board. The project has yet to go before the North Kingstown Planning Board.

Jay Glasson, the attorney representing the project, said the developers are in talks with several big box retail companies, but declined to mention which ones for fear that the early publicity could sour the deal. A planner for the project did tell the Planning Board that the big box store would need to be at least 135,000-square-feet because the potential tenant would not utilize space smaller than that.

Planning Board members were largely supportive of the project, but had pointed questions about the ability of emergency services to access the project. East Greenwich Fire District Station 2 on Frenchtown Road west of South County Trail would be the closest ambulance to the development. Under the current road system, vehicles would have to pass the development and turn around on Post Road to access the development.