Planning Board Approves New England Tech’s Master Plan

The Planning Board approved a master plan for New England Tech in a 4-0 vote Wednesday night, paving the way for the school to begin work on the first aspect of its plan: the construction of athletic fields. Apartment-style dormitories were part of the master plan, but school officials said their construction is still several years off.

“I think that the contribution the campus can make to the Town of East Greenwich could be very substantial,” said board chairman Brad Bishop in comments before the vote. “I think that you are taking the time to invest the money to do things in a way that reflects positively on you and on the Town of East Greenwich.”

The meeting included two hours of testimony from school officials and questions put to those officials by both board members and residents. There were about 20 residents at the hearing.

A master plan application is a conceptual plan, Bishop emphasized at the beginning of the hearing. So, while the college won approval for the plan, it will still have to return to the Planning Board before it can move forward on any part of that plan.

The plan was only required to present a 10-year plan, but at the request of a planning consultant with the town, NEIT’s plan goes forward 20 years. However, both board members and school officials acknowledged that it is difficult to foresee how the school and the town could change in that 20-year period.

Foremost on residents’ minds was the prospect of dormitories. The plan as submitted has a college-type “quad” directly to the south of the main campus building (i.e. the old Brooks building), ringed by both residence halls and academic buildings.

However, according to Joseph DeAngelis, NEIT lawyer and board member, “Residence facilities are still five years away.”

Also in the master plan is another cluster of buildings farther back on the property and closer to the western boundary with the Taylor Pointe condominiums. Those buildings have been designated academic or residential. But, DeAngelis said, that particular part of the plan would be developed 10 years or more in the future. Because of that, he said it was impossible to say now that they would be either academic or residential.

Traffic was another topic addressed at the hearing Wednesday night. DeAngelis said that construction of the much-discussed traffic circle on Division Street at the school’s entrance would go out to bid in January, with construction starting most likely in the spring. The school has embraced the traffic circle, he said, because of the distinction it would give the entrance.

Resident Renu Englehart asked about on the second entrance to the campus, also on Division Street, west of the main entrance. That second entrance is now chained.

“Is the second entrance to the campus just an emergency access road or actually a second entrance?” she said.

The question prompted an extended exchange. NEIT officials said the entrance would remain closed to all but emergency vehicles for now but that they wanted to reserve the right to use it in future years as the campus develops. Bishop, alternatively, said he wanted to make sure the town maintained the right to contest such a change.

On Thursday, Bishop commented on the difficulty of assessing a 20-year plan.

"We are asking them to tell us what it’s going to look like 20 years from now," he said. "Things change and who knows how this may change too."