Hopkinton First!

P.O. Box 167

Hopkinton, RI 02833

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Updated - December 21, 2006

Kindly go to the Important Links page to receive the latest available documentation pursuant to current events.

Hopkinton First wishes everyone a safe, happy and healthy Holiday Season and a very Merry New Year!

Special Thanks go to the Staff at the Hopkinton Town Hall for their unending and always helpful assistance to Hopkinton First!

To bring you all up to date in a nutshell, this is what's currently going on in our town.

The Clark's Falls Development Proposal Hearing appears to have been concluded with the decision that it is approved with condition. As printed material becomes available, we shall post it. Still working on that.

Ray Quinlan and Lydia Teixeira are proposing a new corporate site on Wellstown Road. They have gotten the green light from the Town so far. We wish them well.

Considering all of the new development talk going on at this time, we wish to remind you that this does not necessarily mean that our town taxes will go down if new developement does come to town.

To keep current with Town business, we urge you to subscribe to the Secretary of State's email notifications of Town meetings. You can have the agendas emailed directly to your mailbox. Click on this link to be taken there directly Sec'y of State Email Service.

We are currently working on creating a page where you will have access to local business services.

We feel it is vital to the Town of Hopkinton that residents patronize our local small business owners. These will not be paid advertisements. The best advertising is word of mouth. Only the highest quality enterprises will be represented on this website. If you know of a business that goes above and beyond for it's customers, maintains high ethical standards and is located in the Town of Hopkinton, please contact us.

Notes from the Town Council Meeting of 2-21-6

Please keep in mind, these are the notes and comments of private residents who kindly contribute to the content of this site.

Councilor Scott was absent.

Waste Management of Westerly was granted a renewal of their Commercial Haulers license.

Guiseppe Coen and son presented an overview of their conceptual master plan for proposed development of the former Maple Lawn Farm. 137 acres to be comprised of retail, theater, restaurants, mixed use, market rate residential development with 20% affordable housing. Considering the actual distance from Exit One, there was concern that this could open up a gateway to commercial creep into the Village of Ashaway. There was also discussion of if there was a plan to avoid any land being taken in the future per eminent domain. The council said there was already an eminent domain ordinance on the books to prevent the taking of land in this town. Comment was made that there is a concern of wether Route 3 would end up looking like Route 2 in Warwick. There seemed to be a consensus that a hotel would be better received than residential development.

The Chariho School Committee still has not adequately addressed the request to cut 1.5 million dollars from the budget. Preliminary figures reflect a cut of only around $400,000.

There will be a representative from Chariho at the Town Hall Meeting on March 6th to answer any residents questions. Please attend the District Financial Town Meeting on March 7th at Chariho High School. It is vital that our voices be heard and that we will not tolerate any tax increase over the State Mandated Cap of 5.5%.

The Council agreed to not spend money for mold abatement, but instead move forward to permanently repair the town hall's problem and address the issues at the Thayer House.

The snow plow policy was finally put to rest. No plowing of private roads unless it is an emergency and it is authorized by the Public Works Director or the Town Manager. Each incident shall be reported to the Town Council and will be made public.

Councilor Cordone acknowledged that there is no need to dissolve the EDC, as it would not be fair to people who serve on that board nor other commissions.

One Councilor suggested ripping up the floor and pouring concrete in to solve the mold issue. Someone then said maybe that is where they will find the Town safe.

Hazel Douthitt was appointed as an alternate to the Planning Board.

Tidbits from the Town Council Meeting of 2-6-6

Please keep in mind, these are the notes and comments of private residents who kindly contribute to the content of this site.

Ken Mott was appointed to the Chariho Audit Committee.

The Snow Plow policy was tabled again because the wording as written by the Town's legal counsel Lenihan, Grady and Steele was not the intent of the Council. The policy was sent back to to be corrected.

Scott McFadyen was re-appointed as Tree Warden. There was some discussion by Councilor Matson as to wether the position should be advertised because there were no other applicants for the position. We thank Mr. McFadyen for his dedication to the town and welcome his appointment.

SIDENOTE: Mr. Matson does bring up a good point, just because there is only one applicant, does NOT mean we should take what we are served. We believe there are certain positions in this town that must be re-evaluated. This town deserves the best and needs to focus its energies and finances into obtaining the most qualified people to lead us into 2006.

Councilor Matson discussed signage and lighting regarding the Ashaway School area and possibly redirecting bus traffic.

The waiver requested by Matthew Thompson Esq. was granted.

Mr. Scott Bill Hirst and Ms. Patricia Fontes spoke most eloquently about the Town taking the lead of future development.

Click here for the Hopkinton Conservation Commisson 2004 Annual Report

This development will cost each taxpayer an addtional $70.00, see underlined area in document.

NOTICE

It is of vital importance that you attend the Hopkinton Planning Board Meeting of this issue April 19th.

There is a proposal of a 64 house subdivision that will be continued at this Planning Board meeting. You may review the Application and the Narrative by clicking on the following links Comprehensive Permit Narrative and Clarks Falls Realty Application .

Community Notes:

The Town of Hopkinton now has an operating website.

www.hopkintonritownhall.org

Contrary to the website information, Mr. Majeika is no longer our Tax Assessor and Mr. Salerno is no longer our Town Manager.

Opal Data still has our tax roll information online. If you go to this link tax rolls, you will be at the A's. If you just change the a.htm to whatever letter you wish to see such as b to b.htm at the end, you can see any page you wish. There is no master index. We were told that the tax roll information was no longer accessible, but our fabulous sources found this way in for us.

The Hopkinton Conservation Commission is asking that any residents who have had their well water tested to please forward a copy of the results to: Hopkinton Conservation Commission, One Town House Road, Hopkinton, RI 02833. The Commission is in the process of gathering information to map out a benchmark on groundwater quality. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated in getting this information collected for the benefit of The Town of Hopkinton.

The Building and Zoning Office is now located in the former police station.

There are a number of vacancies on Hopkinton Town Boards and Commmissions, please see the Town Clerk if you are interested in serving in this capacity. We cannot hope to accomplish our goals of making Hopkinton the best town possible if these positions are not filled by concerned taxpayers.

"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." - Elie Wiesel

Please remember, we cannot guarantee, nor be responsible for the accuracy of dates and times. All are subject to change. Kindly contact the Town Hall for confirmation of your interests.