I hope you were able to take advantage of the Labor Day holiday and enjoyed your weekend. Labor Day is a creation of the Labor movement in the US and celebrates the importance of workers and labor unions. Labor Unions were instrumental in the creation of the 40-hour work week and continue to fight for workers’ rights. You can learn more about the history of Labor Day in the US here.
The City Council has our regular Council meeting this Wednesday at 6:30 via Zoom. To participate in the meeting, you must join either through the Zoom application or by calling in to the phone number on the docket. I encourage everyone to join the meeting and comment or ask questions when the Council is considering the various docket items. Your input is crucial to the process.
The Council will be receiving a communication from the Planning Board regarding short-term rentals during Wednesday night’s meeting. During the July 8 City Council meeting, we asked the Planning Board to further investigate short-term rentals, focusing on special use permits for guest houses, residential parking passes for guest houses, and transient guest facilities in the limited business zone. The new communication from the Board addresses all of these issues and gives preliminary recommendations to the Council. It is recommended that the Council take action to authorize the introduction of a renewal process for special use permits for guest houses in residential zones every two years and that we limit guest houses in residential zones to one parking pass per dwelling unit. The Planning Board also asked for more time for City staff to study the potential effects of allowing transient guest facilities by special use permit in limited business zones. With all of the recommendations from the Planning Board, the Council must now take action to begin the process of implementing them.
The Council will also be considering an action related to the Abruzzi Sports Complex and the ongoing work to transition it to a basketball court and skate park. Volunteers and City Staff have been working on this effort for some time and the action we are considering is related to funding from RIDEM to construct a basketball court where there is currently a T-ball field. While I support the desire for a skate park and a basketball court, I have questions on what the long-term plan is for relocating the T-ball league and how the City will accommodate all the sports leagues that currently play at the Abruzzi Sports Complex. I look forward to the discussion on Wednesday night and hearing from both staff and public on the project.
On a final note, tomorrow, September 8 is Primary Day for Newport – there are 12 candidate running for 4 At-Large Council seats and 3 candidates running for the 1 Third Ward seat. The results from tomorrow’s Primary will winnow the field down to 8 candidates for At-Large and 2 candidates for the Third Ward. I know that many of you will have already voted, either by mail or in person at City Hall, but if you have not yet cast a ballot, please check where your polling location is and make sure to vote on Tuesday.