Mayor looking to purchase string of National Grid properties

NORTH PROVIDENCE – On the eastern edge of town, dotted along several streets, there are small properties owned by National Grid that once acted as stopping spots for power lines.

Mayor Charles Lombardi confirmed to The Breeze this week that he’s in discussions with National Grid officials on a purchase package that includes several of those properties. The goal, he said, is to avoid purchasing any properties that the town can’t do anything with. Of the seven or so properties in the area, there are “probably four smaller parcels that we’re looking to enter into an agreement on,” he said.

“We’re trying to convince the Grid to become part of the purchase,” he said.

Lombardi said he is in agreement with Marieville residents that officials need to develop some recreational amenities for children in the Charles Street area, which is why he’s targeting these parcels for potential new small park areas.

“There will be a tot park or some type of playground down in that area pretty soon,” he said.

Though some residents have suggested purchasing a Grid property at 1 Charlotte St., right off Charles Street, it’s become pretty clear that the energy provider doesn’t want to let go of that parcel, said Lombardi.

The properties in the area have been a source of frustration for residents in the area due to their often unsightly appearance, said the mayor, but officials have taken steps to address issues as they’ve come up. There are now concrete barriers keeping vehicles out of the Charlotte Street property.

Officials with National Grid are “not as excited about getting rid of the Charlotte Street property” as they are the others, said Lombardi, particularly given the presence of an electric box on the property.

Lombardi said he would have some concerns about safety given the property’s close proximity to the highly traveled Charles Street.

The National Grid properties sought through negotiations are in the area of Langdon, Roosevelt and June Streets.

Ken Amoriggi, District 2 councilman in the neighborhood of the properties, said he met with Lombardi a couple of weeks ago and the mayor indicated that the Charlotte Street property wasn’t available but that National Grid is willing to part with a pair of properties in the area behind it. Amoriggi said he has been talking with resident Megan Hall and others in the neighborhood about various community initiatives they could undertake, and one of those relates to upkeep of National Grid properties. If the town acquired those properties, that effort would be made a lot easier, he said.

Amoriggi noted that the town set aside some $30,000 or more a couple years ago for development of park space in this area, so there’s some funding available if the mayor moves forward with the purchases.

Lombardi said he’s intent on continuing the progress that’s been made on improving the town’s recreational assets following the successful purchase and upgrading of Camp Meehan and the approved purchases of two other properties for new athletic fields in the area behind Ivan Street and Mineral Spring Avenue.

“We’re going to be doing some business with the Grid for some additional properties,” he said.