Providence City Plan Commission, May 19, 2026 meeting

Right. Good afternoon. We will call this meeting of the city plan commission to order. It is 04:46PM on Tuesday, May 19. Let's start with a roll call.

Noel Sanchez.

Charlotte Lipschitz.

Dave Caldwell.

Choyan Mandrakar, deputy staff.

Lev Simon, deputy staff.

Sharon Gardner, legal counsel.

And I am Michael Gazdako, chair. Moving into approval of the minutes from the April 28 and the May 7 special meetings, You all should have received those before, this meeting and had a chance to review them. I know when I did, I see no edits that need to be made. Anyone have any edits or we'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes as drafted.

Motion to approve.

Right. Do we have second?

Alright. All in favor of approving the minutes as drafted, aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions?

The minutes pass. Director's report.

And so commissioners mister Azar is not here, but we would like to take this time to announce that after four years, this is the end of an era. Our intepid once planning tech and now planner, Lev Simon, will be leaving us after this meeting. It's his last meeting. And during the time he's been here, you've seen him a lot at meetings, behind the scenes of planning planning events and whatever else. He's been great.

He's been an asset to the department. We'll miss him when he's gone. And, you know, Lev, if you like to say a few words, the floor

is yours. He's not leaving directly after this meeting. He is staying for a couple of more days.

That's right. But just a few. My last day will be on Friday. Anyway, I'll make this brief, but, it's been a great pleasure to serve the city plan commission and to, work with the d DPD. I've had a great pleasure, and a great time doing this work, and I've learned a tremendous amount.

I'd like to thank all of you for helping me with that journey and giving me a forum where I could learn so much and grow so much over these last couple of years. Like I said, I have learned so much and couldn't have you know, really couldn't have done it without you. So thank you all very much.

Well, you you definitely have helped make our job a little bit easier throughout your your tenure at the city, and I look forward to still running into you in restaurants throughout Providence as as has happened in the past. Alright. Moving right along to the first agenda item. It's a minor land development project request for extension.

Sure. And commissioners, this is a request for an an extension for an item that we had reviewed administratively. And the applicants here, it was a residential development and applicants here, and they'll just tell you a little bit more about why this is needed.

This working?

Yep. Alright.

Speak directly into it.

Okay.

So first, I would like to say to Lev that it's been a pleasure working with you. You've also helped myself learn in this business, and you will be missed by, you know, those of us private parties not involved with the city. So and best of luck with your future endeavors.

Thank you.

And, yes, we are here for an extension request, mister chair, and other commission members, other senior commission members for a minor lane development that was approved for 3865 Street. What has been submitted already is a couple of items of proof showing that, you know, we're working on we're serious about, you know, moving this thing forward. In March, the the the owner contracted with ZDS to get some updated plans and, you know, move this thing forward. I would like to submit into the record plans that were received today, and so that would be why you do not have them. But they are Stanford today.

They were received today to, again, further bolster that we are that are we're we're working towards, you know, getting this thing towards final approval. We're working towards satisfying the conditions to get final plan approval, working towards the items with the checklist. And once these architectural are completed, it will help us facilitate moving this thing right along. I do have I believe mister Kevin Diamond should be in the virtual room, and he can answer any questions that this commission may have. But we have requested a one year extension, and we believe that should be more than sufficient to get this to get final plan approval.

K. I just before we continue on, commissioners, if you have questions, I just wanna state for the record that that Lindsay Petanelli has arrived, and she arrived before the deliberations or discussion on this agenda item so she can hear and vote on this item. Thank you. And now is the time where if you have questions for the applicant or we can entertain a motion to extend the approval for one year as requested.

Alright. I'll make the motion to extend one year as requested. We have a motion.

Do we have a second?

Second.

All right. All in favor of extending as so moved, say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed? Any abstentions?

Best of luck.

Thank you very much, mister chair.

Moving right along to agenda item number two. It's the city council referral. Referral number 3615 for 163 To 167 North Main Street.

Sure. And mister Chit, quick introduction. This is a lot that's zoned RP and is occupied by a commercial building, and the applicant is requesting a rezoning to C 2 because they intend to build another a multifamily development on the site. So as is customary for these requests for zone changes, the applicant will be telling you about what they intend to do with the property and probably even show you some of their plans. So, yeah, I guess the applicant's here, they can tell you more about the change.

Ernie Garrity.

Chairman, members of the commission, John Garrity, on behalf of the applicant. Let me first echo what was said about Lev before. I didn't realize he was leaving. Very much appreciate the work that he's done from practitioners. Always available, always cooperative, always willing to get it done, always willing to help people, lawyers, and others.

And you're gonna be missed, Lev. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

So, mister chairman, this is an application for referral with respect to a zone change with respect to 163 To 167 North Main Street from the RP zone to the C 2 zone. I will say with respect to this applicant, this is the future of the city of Providence right here. This is a classical high school graduate that went out in the tech world to California and is making his way back to Providence to make a contribution. He's much better at graphs and illustrations than I am. He put together a presentation that's much better than I could have done, and so I'm gonna allow him to make the presentation.

Our architect, Christine West, is here who will comment with respect to the the application after he has made his presentations. So, Abraham, floor is yours. Think he wants to be allowed to make it. You're, Abraham

Darren?

Yes. Yes.

Great.

So you should be promoted and can share your screen, as whatever.

And then when speaking, just make sure you talk directly into the microphone. It doesn't really pick up if you're not talking directly into it. Very much. You got it. Share my screen here.

Yes. Sure. Yeah. Yes. Sorry.