BRISTOL, R.I. — Despite local concerns about the proposed development’s potential to exacerbate neighborhood flooding and the damage it will cause to wetland habitat, a Gooding Avenue hotel project that has been hanging around since 2013 recently received state approval to move ahead.

In a Dec. 6 letter to the developer, Middletown-based KenDan LLC, the state Department of Environmental Management’s Office of Water Resources approved the construction of a 76-room Mainstay/Sleep Inn Hotel on a nearly 10-acre woodland lot across the street from Broadcommon Road. The project will require filling in some 50,000 square feet (1.15 acres) of wetlands in an area neighbors say is already compromised by flooding.

The Bristol Conservation Commission and Save The Bay were two of the 35 organizations and individuals who submitted testimony to DEM in opposition to the project.

Tony Morettini, chair of the Conservation Commission, told ecoRI News the commission has serious concerns about the extensive alteration and the amount of engineering being proposed to mitigate the project’s impact.

The proposal to build on swampland “would seriously and negatively impact the function and value of that wetland, as it will no longer protect the subject property, nor properties downstream” of Silver Creek, according to the Conservation Commission’s testimony. One of those properties is the current and future home of Mt. Hope High School.

“We’re obviously disappointed with DEM’s approval,” Morettini said.

In its testimony to DEM, Save The Bay’s riverkeeper, Kate McPherson, noted the Providence-based nonprofit has been working with the town on habitat and water quality improvement projects in the Silver Creek watershed since 1999.

The wetland scientist said alterations to the Gooding Avenue property would result in the permanent elimination of swamp, perimeter wetlands, and forested habitat and would negatively impact wildlife species. She noted the site provides habitat for resident and migratory wildlife, including a variety of birds, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and insects.

The property is mapped within a Rhode Island Natural Heritage Area, indicating the habitat is of high enough quality to support rare and unusual species.

“The direct loss of habitat will eliminate perching sites, nesting and brood rearing areas, sheltering cover, feeding sites, sources of food, roosting areas, and narrow an important wildlife travel corridor through central Bristol,” according to Save The Bay.

The town, Save The Bay, and federal partners “have conducted salt marsh and buffer restoration along the tidally influenced portion of Silver Creek, stormwater management through rain garden installation at Mount Hope High School, and most recently, freshwater wetland and riparian restoration at the Bristol Golf Course, immediately upstream of the proposed development,” McPherson wrote in Save The Bay’s testimony. “We are invested in improving the health and function of the wetlands in this watershed.”

Save The Bay and its partners have planted thousands of native plants, shrubs, bushes, and trees in the Silver Creek watershed during the past quarter-century.

Silver Creek’s watershed has a relatively high percentage of impervious cover, and in the larger Bristol-Kickemuit rivers watershed, impervious surfaces cover 18% of the land area, according to Save The Bay.

“The size and scope of the project compared to the extent of wetland resources on the property results in unnecessary, avoidable, and significant detrimental alterations of the functions and values of these wetlands,” Save The Bay concluded. “There is room on this site, perhaps, to develop a single family residence similar to those immediately adjacent to the site on Gooding Avenue. There is not room on this site, 90% of which is wetland, to develop an 80 room hotel with a large parking lot.”

McPherson, a DEM biologist for 14 years before joining Save The Bay, explained that freshwater wetland regulations aren’t there to prevent wetlands from being built on.

“It can be surprising to some folks that might not think about our wetland regulations, and they’re like, ‘Oh no, that’s protected, like there are rules you can’t build in a swamp,’” she said. “The answer is you can’t build in a swamp without a permit. It doesn’t feel great. It’s not a good spot to put a hotel, but it’s the unfortunate downside of our regulations. They don’t protect wetlands in all cases.”

A 2012 DEM plan was designed to protect the Bristol-Kickemuit watershed. It notes on Page 1 that:

“Residents of the Bristol-Kickemuit River Watershed recognize that good stewardship of water is essential for the long-term vitality of the community. The water resources in the watershed are a central feature of the landscape and provide quality drinking water, habitat for wildlife and waterfowl, recreation opportunities and economic activities. It is important to protect and restore the quality of these waters for these uses, while maintaining the rural character of much of the watershed and allowing for the sustainable development of other areas to enhance economic progress in the watershed.”

McPherson noted the Silver Creek watershed is subject to flooding under current conditions and that in light of more severe storms and heavy rainfall the problem will only increase.

“Loss of wetlands and their associated buffers and increased impervious surface in the watershed will worsen existing flooding of low-lying public infrastructure,” she wrote. “As you know, there is a clear link between the amount of impervious area in a watershed and a decrease in water quality.”

The Office of Water Resources, in 2016, denied KenDan’s proposal to build a Comfort Inn on its property. DEM noted the elimination of 1.53 acres of freshwater wetland would have a detrimental impact on wildlife by eliminating habitat, including feeding grounds, breeding areas, and nesting sites.

The state agency told the developer it needed to study how stormwater runoff would impact Silver Creek, which continues downhill from the property and runs through two culverts at Mt. Hope High School on its way to Narragansett Bay.

In 2018, the Office of Water Resources approved a revamped application, but the hotel was never built and the application expired after a few permit extensions were granted.

KenDan submitted a new application for the same project in 2022 with no additional wetland encroachment, according to DEM.

“Wetland values including but not limited to wildlife impacts and the potential for neighborhood flooding were assessed and it was determined that the new proposal would also not result in the detrimental impact of wetland functions nor increase downslope flooding,” Kim Keough, DEM’s chief public affairs officer, wrote in an email to ecoRI News. “Measures to control stormwater have been addressed and the design meets the requirements for the RIDEM Stormwater Management, Design and Installation Rule including water quality standards, recharge standards, channel protection standards, and the overbank protection standards.”

The swamp and its 50-foot perimeter wetland cover most of the eastern and southern portions of the property, according to DEM’s biological evaluation of the site. The area includes red maple, black gum, highbush blueberry, green ash, winterberry, spicebush, arrowwood, cinnamon fern, and jack-in-the-pulpit.

The six-page assessment noted the property “is likely utilized by a variety of wildlife.” It listed tufted titmice, Carolina wrens, song sparrows, downy woodpeckers, fox, coyote, deer, Eastern cottontail, skunk, and black swallowtail, among other wildlife.

It noted the swamp has the ability to collect, retain, and slow the release of stormwater, “thereby reducing flood hazards.”

“Although I do not concur with every statement in the applicant’s written responses to address the review criteria, I generally concur with most of the findings that I am charged to review,” DEM biologist Jessica Lord wrote. “Based on the information available, it is my opinion that the applicant has satisfactorily demonstrated that all impacts to the wetlands’ functions and values have been minimized to the maximum extent possible.”

The Office of Water Resources’ approval letter outlines two dozen conditions that must be met, including the installation of erosion and sediment controls during construction; buffer zone plantings; and artificial lighting must be directed away from all vegetated wetlands. The permit to alter freshwater wetlands expires in a year, but can be renewed.

While McPherson is disappointed in DEM’s decision to allow such a significant project, she told ecoRI News that “DEM wouldn’t have approved this unless they truly thought that it wasn’t going to be a detrimental alteration to the wetland system as a whole, to the Silver Creek watershed.”

“Biologists at DEM really care about wetlands, and they they want to protect wetlands to the extent that the rules and regs allow,” she said. “It’s not like we have heartless biologists working at the state.”

To view the project plan, click here.