The Glocester Town Council on Oct. 16 continued several public hearings — including a proposed planned-unit district for FM Global (743 Reynolds Road) and an amendment to allow earth-processing in a B-2 highway-commercial zone for Kaluch Organization LLC (640 Putnam Pike) — until its Nov. 6 meeting after the planning board completes its review.

The council declared the hearings open and voted to continue them so the planning board can issue its recommendation and the applicants can present. The continuation covers a proposed FMSR (FM Research) plan district that would change future land-use mapping and would permit renewable-energy installations including ground, rooftop and canopy solar, battery storage and wind turbines on properties listed in the notice; the FM Global proposal also includes an insertion to Section 10 (Economic Development) of the town comprehensive plan. The Kaluch application seeks to amend the town’s table of uses to allow earth processing (not related to earth removal licensing) in a B-2 zone.

The council emphasized that the planning board’s recommendation and the applicant’s presentation must come first before the council takes public comment on the record. The clerk noted application files and supporting documents are on record and available in the clerk’s office. The council set the continued public hearings for Nov. 6, 2025.

Several residents who signed up to speak at tonight’s meeting were told they would have the opportunity to be heard at the planning board and again when the council’s public hearing resumes. “If you want your comments to matter, that’s the time they matter,” a council speaker said during an explanation of the legal process.

At open forum during the same meeting, resident Tricia Wagner urged the council to pause zoning consideration for FM Global until the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) completes an investigation into PFAS contamination linked to FM Global property. “Would it not be reasonable knowing that these contaminants are flowing from FM Global that we ask them to put a hold on any idea of zoning changes until this investigation is under wraps from DEM,” Wagner said.

Council members replied that statutory timelines for land-use applications require the planning board and council to act within set periods and that concerns about PFAS and other evidence should be brought to the planning board and included in the public record at the scheduled hearings. The council did not adopt any substantive changes to the applications and took no final vote on zoning changes on Oct. 16.

The planning board will supply its recommendation before the council’s Nov. 6 meeting, at which the applicants will present and the council will receive public comment on the record before any deliberation or decision.