EAST PROVIDENCE — And the saga continues…
According to the legal representatives of both the city and the school department, the ball is now in the proverbial court, or better yet pitch, of the Bayside F.C. youth soccer organization as it pertains to the construction of an artificial turf field on the East Providence High School grounds.
At a special School Committee session held Monday night, June 15, the board’s counsel, Robert Silva, said as far as he was aware only two issues remained for Bayside and the city to formalize a 25-year agreement to undertake the approximately $1.4 million project — the handling of a sewer line that runs underneath the proposed site and Bayside’s willingness to pay tangible taxes on its equipment including the actually turf.
Reached Tuesday for his perspective, City Solicitor Tim Chapman said Bayside’s legal representative indicated the organization was willing and able to move the sewer pipe, which connects businesses on Taunton Avenue to a main line on Waterman Avenue.
Mr. Chapman said the final hurdle is Bayside’s willingness to accept the position of City Tax Assessor Steve Hazard that it pay the tangible taxes on any equipment — including the turf, goals, lights, etc. — it plans to put on the field. The solicitor noted Bayside could file the proper papers to enroll in the city’s tax stabilization program, which allows eligible businesses to pay a graduating rate starting from zero percent in the first year to the full 100 percent several years down the line.
Mr. Silva, at Monday’s meeting, told the Committee he has been led to believe that if the group has to pay taxes then it’s a no-go on Bayside’s end. “That’s second-hand information to me, but I believe it is their position,” he added.
City resident and Bayside F.C. vice president Tony Vieira, who leads the group along with city resident and president John Mark Andrade, confirmed the organization plans to move the pipe. He said he couldn’t as of yet comment on Bayside’s position about taxation.
Though Bayside first proposed entering into a public-private partnership with the school department last year, the project really didn’t pick up steam until this April when the organization’s leaders, Messrs. Andrade and Vieira, indicated it would take roughly 90 days to complete. It was the desire of both Bayside and the school department to have the field ready for use by their athletes in time for the start of the fall season in September.
School Committee members Joel Monteiro and Nate Cahoon were charged by the board to shepherd the deal between the sides. A “usage” agreement was fostered and the Committee voted unanimously to enter into the pact. The members did so with the caveat of sending the agreement to the City Council for its approval as well.
Mr. Cahoon suggested the Committee seek the Council’s input. Mr. Monteiro, then and now, remained adamant that wasn’t necessary citing Title 16 of Rhode Island General Law, which deals with “care and control” of school property. Mr. Monteiro’s position is that the School Committee has provenance on this matter, specifically, but Mr. Chapman’s expressed opinion was that the Council has oversight of the actual land upon which schools sit.
The Council did give its unanimous support to agreement initially last month, however it was determined to have made a procedural mistake by not sending the proposal to the Planning Board for its review and observations. It was after doing so that the two remaining issues, the sewer pipe and tangible taxes, were brought to the fore.
The Post inquired the albeit informal opinions of two attorneys on the situation. Both said Mr. Chapman’s viewpoint was correct. One of the lawyers, who practices out of East Providence and is a solicitor for an East Bay municipality, also said the agreement was in fact a “lease” no matter what it was being called.