INVESTIGATION: Former Town Council President Gets Special Tax and Zoning Deal
Thursday, October 30, 2014
A former town council president in Smithfield is maintaining a junkyard on his property in violation of the town zoning ordinance all the while receiving a special property tax break, according to a lawsuit filed by an abutting neighbor in Superior Court last week.
The lawsuit alleges that Richard Poirier, a former longtime member and president of the town council who is running to get his old seat back, has a junkyard on his property at 320 Stillwater Road, in blatant violation of the town zoning ordinance, which bars junkyards in the kind of residential district where he lives. The lawsuit, filed by Providence attorney Anthony Bucci, accuses the town of not only turning a blind eye to the violation, but even being complicit in the violation.
Bucci claims the junkyard has diminished his client’s property value and hindered his efforts to develop homes on the property.GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
In the suit, Bucci says his client, real estate developer Vincent J. Mesolella, has filed repeated complaints, most recently on Oct. 15, to no avail. Those have followed on the heels of complaints of other residents in the area, according to Bucci.
“The Town has intentionally assisted Poirier in perpetuating, conducting and maintaining the private and public nuisance on Poirier’s Property, in violation of the Town’s ordinances,” Bucci says in the suit, leveling a charge he repeated in an interview with GoLocalProv.
Instead of cracking down on the violation, the town has granted Poirier a senior citizens tax freeze, the suit alleges. Poirier, who is in his late 60s, meets the age requirements, but the fact that he owns a rental property on the lot makes him ineligible for the tax break, according to Bucci.
“So he’s illegally obtaining an exemption he’s not entitled to,” Bucci said.
Official denies and dismisses allegations
Poirier denied the allegations over the course of two interviews and in an e-mail yesterday.
“Number one, it’s not a junkyard; it’s my possessions,” Poirier said. “I have a lot of stuff. What business is it of theirs?”
Poirier ticked off some of those possessions. They included a car and two trucks. Two of those three vehicles are registered, according to Poirier. Under the zoning ordinance, the presence of two or more unregistered and unusable vehicles would make his property a motor vehicle junkyard.
But the town also defines a junkyard as an “open area where waste, used or second hand materials are stored, including but not limited to scrap metal and tires.” Poirier said he also keeps other items in the 4.5-acre property, such as firewood, pipes, two trailers, and a boat. But he was adamant that he does not run a junkyard.
Included in the suit is the tax assessor’s field card which labels the property as a “junkyard.” Poirier responded by questioning the authenticity of the document. “I don’t think it’s authentic,” he said. In an e-mail, he suggested the document might have been “altered.” When a reporter informed him that the document was attached to a lawsuit that had been filed in Providence County Superior Court, Poirier questioned whether the suit had really been submitted to the court. He said he hadn’t seen a copy. (A link to a copy of the filing is posted below.)
Special tax arrangement questioned
Poirier also obtained a senior citizen tax freeze during his last stint on the town council, which ended in 2012. A series of memos, e-mails, and other town records show that he obtained that freeze over the express objections of the town tax assessor, Suzanne Kogut.
At issue is how to interpret what at first seems like the clear language of the ordinance on the freezes: “The tax freeze on real property shall apply only to single-family dwellings owned by the taxpayer in which said person resides.”
In an August 30, 2011 e-mail to the town solicitor, Edmund Alves, Kogut wrote that “real property” is defined as “land and all permanently affixed structures.” Kogut suggested that would exclude Poirier’s property, since he has more than just a single family house. (The other buildings include two barns, a garage, and a duplex which he rents out, according to Poirier.)
In a Sept. 9, 2011 memo, Alves disputed her interpretation, saying that the mere presence of other buildings did not disqualify Poirier.
Kogut then informed Poirier that she would accept his application, but noted her objection. “I have spoken with Attorney Alves and he is of the opinion that the single family dwelling in which you reside should be eligible for the freeze. Although we have differing opinions, I will follow his recommendation and accept your application,” Kogut wrote in a Sept. 13 letter to Poirier.
As a result of the ruling, Kogut had to carve out his home from the rest of the property by manually entering the information into the town computer system, according to two separate sources familiar with the situation. Poirier receives two tax bills: one for the house with the freeze, and one for the rest of his property. His is the only property in the town that has such an arrangement, according to the two sources, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity.
Those sources also noted that Alves was hired by the council when it was under Republican control.
Poirier confirmed that he receives two tax bills. But he insisted there is nothing inappropriate about the arrangement. He said his property had multiple buildings on it and was established as a single lot long before the advent of modern zoning regulations. “It’s not my fault that my lot was created in the 1800s before these rules were in place,” Poirier said.
Candidate blames his opponents
In a series of conversations, Poirier, who is a Republican, responded to a reporter’s questions by saying local Democrats were trying to discredit him. “This is clearly a last-minute, last-ditch attempt by my opponents to discredit me,” he said.
But Poirier was not certain what ties if any Bucci or his client had to local Democrats.
His Democratic opponent for state Senate in 2012 did weigh in on the situation, expressing concern over the allegations made in the lawsuit. “If true, I find it unconscionable that someone in public office would seek to gain an unfair advantage through a one-of-a-kind exemption while no other resident is afford that exemption,” state Sen. Stephen Archambault said in a brief interview yesterday, when asked for comment.
Two Democratic members of the council, Bernard Hawkins and Suzanna Alba, also attempted to hold a special meeting to address the tax freeze in a memo sent to the town manager, Dennis Finlay, the day after the lawsuit was filed.
“As you are aware, it has come to our attention that there may have been undue influence on a department head in regard to a senior tax freeze on a multifamily property. It is imperative that the matter be addressed forthwith,” Hawkins and Alba wrote in the Oct. 24 memo.
Finlay did not respond to messages seeking comment yesterday.
Stephen Beale can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @bealenews
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