Coventry Town Council on Dec. 8 approved an amended resolution to reduce the sewer assessment for the Coventry Crossing residential development, capping the reduction at $726,882 and requiring written confirmation from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank that grant funds will not be recaptured if the developer does not complete housing within the grant period.

The amendment, offered by Councilmember (speaker 3) and approved 5–0, followed a lengthy presentation by Bill Landry, counsel for the applicant, who said the developer would spend about $755,000 to build a sewer line to the Woodland Manor pump station and that, without the compromise, the developer faced roughly $1.6 million in sewer-related costs. Landry said the town would still receive about $940,000 in sewer assessment revenue under the proposed arrangement and an estimated $60,000 a year in sewer use fees.

Town planning staff described the arrangement as driven by an approximately $726,000 grant from the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank written with this project in mind to fund upgrades to the Woodland Manor pump station. Planning Director (speaker 12) told the council the grant program targets infrastructure projects tied to affordable housing and that the town had conducted peer review and capacity studies finding no system constraints to adding the development.

Council members pressed staff and the applicant on timing, fiscal exposure and environmental risk. Several asked whether the grant would be rescinded if the developer decided to proceed with on-site septic (OWTS) instead of sewer. Staff said the grant was awarded based on this project and that, while the town had good-faith assurances from RIB, it would obtain written confirmation from RIB before expending grant funds.

Concerns about the Woodland Manor pump station’s condition were central. The town engineer described the facility as older and in need of investment; staff said the grant would allow a retrofit that extends useful life by decades and produce benefits for hundreds of existing users of the pump station as well as the new development.

Councilmember (speaker 3) moved to limit the town’s assessment reduction to match the grant amount — $726,882 — and to make the reduction contingent on receiving RIB’s written assurance that the funds would not be recaptured if the developer failed to build the affordable units in the grant period. The amendment passed on roll call (5–0), and council then approved the amended resolution by roll call (5–0).

The resolution directs town staff to proceed subject to the amendment’s conditions; council and staff said they will obtain the written documentation from RIB before spending grant monies. The motion specified an open-book credit approach so the town’s reduction is capped at the developer’s documented construction cost and can be adjusted downward if actual costs are lower.

The council’s approval comes amid objections raised during public comment that reducing critical infrastructure revenue to secure a single project risks precedent and that grant funds should be treated with scrutiny. Council members said the decision balanced the immediate need to upgrade aging pump-station infrastructure with the town’s fiscal protections inserted as the amendment.