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Garden City Alliance urges city to address long‑running Saugonasset intersection issues, vacant building and Topgolf fill pile
Summary
In public comment at the Aug. 25 Cranston City Council meeting, Pauline DeRosa of the Garden City Alliance described continued traffic problems at the Saugonassett/Hillside Road intersection, a long‑vacant office building and a large pile of fill behind the Topgolf site that she says has remained since 2016.
Pauline DeRosa, founder of the Garden City Alliance, told the Cranston City Council on Aug. 25 that long‑standing traffic and property issues in the Garden City Center — including congestion at a state‑owned intersection, a boarded‑up office building and a persistent pile of fill behind the Topgolf site — remain unresolved.
DeRosa described Hillside Road as an interior perimeter driveway within the Garden City Center that carries traffic to multiple points in the center and said congestion at the intersection of Saugonassett (state road) and Hillside Road forces additional delays. She told the council she was told in 2019 by a member of the Public Works department that the Saugonassett corridor work must be completed before the traffic situation could be addressed.
DeRosa also said a citizens‑call‑center building on Saugonassett (described in her remarks as the Veil Building) remains vacant with the main entrance boarded up. She said the Capionado Group proposed a six‑story building for that site in February 2016 but that large‑scale development has not occurred.
Finally, DeRosa raised concerns about a "very large pile of fill behind the Topgolf facility" that, she said, was promised in March 2016 by a Capionado Group administrator to be used on other projects but has not been moved and has become an eyesore and a source of fugitive dirt.
Why it matters: The issues raised touch traffic flow on a state road, long‑term vacancy of a building in a major retail center and a site‑management concern that affects local cleanliness and possibly stormwater/fugitive dust. DeRosa urged the city to address or at least acknowledge these continuing problems.
Council response and next steps: DeRosa asked the council to resolve or address the problems; the meeting transcript records the questions but no formal action or staff report addressing the specific claims during the Aug. 25 meeting. Earlier in the meeting, Director Moretti and council members discussed traffic‑engineer input related to other parking ordinances and indicated staff would handle related traffic‑engineering changes at future meetings.
Ending: DeRosa asked the council to take up the longstanding Garden City traffic and property concerns; the council did not take immediate action during the meeting and the items will require follow‑up by city staff or referral to the appropriate committee.
