[Editor's note: Usually people just comment on postings here, but Bill Clark, Portsmouth's Director of Business Development sent me this response and gave me permission to post it. I take his critique seriously, and apologize to our Town officials for appearing to endorse an apparently unjustified slight of their oversight. I very much try to get things right, and I appreciate the correction. I believe that my coverage of the initial Design Review meeting illustrates my support for our officials, and I'll let that speak for itself. Bill and I will have agree to disagree on my assessment of the "killer visual," which I still think justified in light of Target's initial signage proposal. -jm]

From: WClark@portsmouthri.com
Subject: COMMENT
Date: May 10, 2007 2:24:03 PM EDT
To: jmcdaid@torvex.com
Cc: jgborden@rwu.edu, rdriscoll@portsmouthri.com, rgilstein@portsmouthri.com

John -

You recently posted and endorsed a couple of comments that are of some concern to me as I feel the items you referenced need some clarification as they are misleading.

"Excellent letter May 3" - The most erroneous comments concern the Design Review Committee. The tradesman center she referred to was approved and permitted before Design Review was in effect. We were still creating the design review guidelines and preparing to enact ordinance changes. The builder did agree to voluntarily meet with the Committee unofficially where he did agree to a few minor improvements. Notably additional landscaping and the feeble attempt at beautification with the "eyebrows" along the front roofline. It did not take the Building Dept. and other concerned officials (Medeiros, Gonsalves, Crosby, Driscoll, Clark, Gavin) long to confront Mr. Clukies with violations of his approvals. He did not respond adequately and legal action was pursued. Most recently, the court ordered him to rectify several noted problems and actions and to comply with what was approved as to appearance and activity. The Design Review Committee has been working very diligently on other commercial developments and are considered to be doing a very good job. The Planning and Zoning Boards have endorsed comments and recommendations and have included most of the stipulations into their decisions.

"Losing 16 acres of wooded land…" Has the author looked at the site? Another letter to the Daily news referred to the parcel as "farmland." It has been and will remain a shale/stone outcropping. It has been a difficult site for the property owner to develop and the soil conditions will add to the expense of any project located there. Also it should be noted that it does not adjoin other commercial parcels which can mitigate sprawl. It is located at an existing traffic light intersection for one of the key cross town arteries. There are only three ways to cross between West and East Main Rds. The proposal has initially indicated additional road and control improvements and will be required to satisfy the State DOT and DEM, as well as Town boards and departments.

For a long time the planning and building departments, as well as other staff, in Portsmouth have been very aware of "Middletown." I doubt that Middletown Square was proposed with a promise of lowering the Town taxes. Most towns value growth of the commercial/industrial tax base without believing it is the key solution to holding down taxes. A strong and growing commercial tax base is valued because the commercial tax dollars add positively to the Town cash flow, but no one here says growth at any cost nor are they resigned to whatever will be will be.

On another occasion, the "killer visual" you referred to is a photo that has been circuited nationally in many pubs as a "how not to." It is not something Middletown is proud of and most people can see that Middletown has taken actions to gain control of signage proliferation. Much of the retail activity depicted in the photo began when Middletown had little or no development control. The double edge sword of "grandfathering" can cut both ways.

Bill Clark
Director of Business Development
Town of Portsmouth
2200 East Main Road
Portsmouth, RI 02871
wclark@portsmouthri.com
401-643-0382
401-683-6804 fax Portsmouth is an "Every Company Counts" network partner.