North Providence panel continues Miner Street extension after residents object to blasting, mud and lack of stormwater upgrades

The Town of North Providence Planning Board on Monday continued consideration of a proposal to extend Miner Street by about 350 feet after residents raised complaints about site disturbance, blasting and water management.

The applicant, represented by attorney Dylan Connley and agent Andrew Cormier, told the board the plan is a preliminary proposal for a minor land development that would formalize a paper road as a public street and does not create new lots. The project team’s civil engineer testified that hydrologic modeling shows peak flow rates would roughly match existing conditions (the engineer cited approximately 0.3 cubic feet per second for a two‑year storm under existing woodland conditions and about 0.5 cfs with the proposed roadway in the modeled scenario) and said the design currently does not include a subsurface catch basin under the roadway.

Board members pressed the applicant on the absence of stormwater treatment and on volume versus peak flow. "You are proposing impervious asphalt on what is now woodland; how can you say you are not contributing to runoff?" a member asked. The engineer answered that the modeled change in contributing drainage area and reduced slope produce the modeled results but agreed to provide backup calculations and soil borings to support the analysis.

Dozens of neighbors told the board the site work already performed by a subcontractor had spread mud onto Atlantic and adjacent streets, blocked driveways and left dust and ruts. Several residents described heavy equipment and blasting activity and said the work shook nearby homes. "My house shook like an earthquake each time," one resident said. Others said they had been unable to access driveways while construction vehicles were staged and that a local gas line has been monitored for low‑level leaks by the utility.

Town staff and the applicant said the building official required a stop‑work and requested a soil/erosion control plan; the applicant said it had stopped work on site, would pursue erosion controls (silt fencing, construction fencing), would coordinate with the building department and Rhode Island Energy about the reported gas issue, and that it would post the state blasting permit on site for public view. The applicant also told the board it would repair any public infrastructure damaged by construction activities.

After hearing testimony and public comment, the board continued the public hearing to a date certain of June 10 and placed conditions on any future approval: submission of revised grading and stormwater management plans (including supporting calculations and soil borings), provision of erosion‑control measures reviewed and approved by the building official before further work, posting of state blasting permits on site, provision of police detail whenever the public right‑of‑way is impeded by construction, and repair or remediation of public right‑of‑way damage caused by the contractor.

The continuance keeps the record open for the engineering backup the board requested and gives staff time to review the revised plans before the board resumes the hearing.

The hearing record shows the town received a water‑availability letter from Providence Water; the applicant said it could provide additional water/sewer patching details, revise slope callouts on plan sheets and add biofiltration/bio‑swale or subsurface systems if the board desires upgrades beyond minimum code requirements. The board told the applicant it expects full supporting calculations and borings before it will consider final approval.

The board’s action at the meeting was to continue to June 10, with the applicant agreeing to provide the requested drawings and to work with the building department on interim erosion‑control measures.