Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use Wetlands topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Bristol resident urges RIDE/DEM to explain permit allowing proposed Gooding Avenue hotel near school wetlands
Summary
At the Oct. 14 Bristol Warren School Committee meeting, Veronica Tucker, of the Bristol Land Trust, asked regulators to explain why a hotel on Gooding Avenue now has a permit after a 2016 denial and warned the three‑story plan would harm wetlands, nearby streams, senior housing and the high‑school site.
Veronica Tucker, a lifelong Bristol resident and member of the Bristol Land Trust, told the Bristol Warren Regional School Committee on Oct. 14 that a proposed three‑story hotel on Gooding Avenue could directly affect both the old and the new high‑school sites and nearby wetlands. "DEM declined a permit to this group in 2016," Tucker said. "I'm not sure what happened, what changed, that they have now given them a permit for this hotel."
Tucker urged the committee and local residents to press the Department of Environmental Management to appear before the public and answer questions about what changed and how the project’s impacts will be mitigated. She said Silver Creek runs through the neighborhood, that senior housing could be affected, and that the cemetery near the project could again be harmed by construction on wetlands. "Why all of a sudden are we building a hotel 3 stories high on wetlands?" she asked.
Tucker encouraged residents to attend planning‑board hearings, monitor the Bristol Land Conservation Trust Facebook page and write to Planning Board members (she named Diane Williamson as an addressee). She also raised local economic concerns, saying a new hotel could harm existing small businesses and the town’s defunct hotel property.
The committee did not take action on the project during the meeting; no RIDE or DEM official responded in the public forum. The chair and members acknowledged the comment and the meeting moved on to scheduled presentations. Committee members and staff did not contradict Tucker’s factual claims on the record during the public comment period.
Next steps: Tucker asked that regulators come before the community to explain the permitting change; residents seeking updates were told to check the Planning Board agenda and the Bristol Land Conservation Trust page for meeting notices.
