Planning Board OKs Tartaglia Street Plans

At its meeting on July 12 at the , the Johnston Planning Board unanimously approved a proposal for nine new homes to be built off Tartaglia Street in the Bella Woods Vue development.

B&M Builders is the contractor for the new units, on about eight acres of land off Tartaglia, a side street to Simmonsville Avenue.

The planning board approved waivers that allow R&M to build 24-foot-wide roads, instead of the 30 feet normally required by town code; to reduce the size of the circular driveway at the entrance of the development to 15 feet, instead of 24; and to remove trees and brush from more than 5,000 square feet of each lot.

Engineer Joseph Casale told the board that the company was seeking the ability to clear more space on each lot — though it would not necessarily use that option.

"We certainly don't want to clear-cut these lots," he explained, adding that the company intends to keep buffer zones around each lot intact. "We want these houses to be marketable."

Harry Pezzullo, a resident of Tartaglia Street, said he opposes the plans and criticized the board for not allowing him to speak on the issue at its last session on June 21.

"We were told by you, Mr. Chairman, that we might as well go home because you didn't have enought time to hear it," Pezullo said to Chairman Anthony Verardo of the board's policy not to hear testimony on new projects after 10 p.m. "God forbid if you had to stay an hour later."