Dear Governor McKee, Director Gray, Director McNamee, Legal Counsel Mary Kay, and RIDEM Administrative Staff
The RIDEM needs to select the Town of Narragansett Proposal for the following reasons as outlined below.
If the Town of Narragansett's leaders are the only ones complying with your request for additional information, it would be very troubling if you approve another proposal where the bidders are not complying with the RIDEM requirements. The request was to have All Bidders provide additional information, not just the Town of Narragansett.
If the other bidders are openly defying the requests of the RIDEM to provide additional information, it would be suspect if either of the other proposals are accepted by the RIDEM. We already saw how Procaccianti violated the terms of their previous lease agreement. If a bidder is not complying with the RIDEM demands now in the preliminary review process, how can the RIDEM believe the other bidders will even comply with the proposals that either of the other bidders submitted?
The Town of Narragansett Proposal and the additional information they provided clearly complies with the original requirements as outlined in the RFP that was generated by the RIDEM and Procaccianti Developers. In addition, as the RIDEM requested all bidders to submit additional information, it is obvious Procaccianti Developers failed to comply with all that was needed by the RIDEM to make an informed decision. How ironic, Procaccianti’s Proposal does not even comply with the RFP they supposedly had a hand in its design, nor do they comply by giving the RIDEM the additional information that was requested. If Procaccianti cannot even produce a proposal to meet the requirements of its own RFP, how can the RIDEM award Procaccianti over the Town of Narragansett’s Plan that meets all the requirements outlined in the RFP?
Since Procaccianti previously breached the terms of his prior lease, the breach of his company’s lease by creating an eyesore should immediately disqualify Procaccianti to be able to renew his lease. If a private citizen breached the terms of his or her lease, he or she would be held accountable in a court of law. It would be ironic that someone who breaks a lease with a state agency is allowed to retain its lease. It was more than coincidental that the Champlin Marina and Resort was illegally expanded upon just prior to being sold to Procaccianti. The Attorney General’s Office had enough evidence to make two appointed CRMC Board members resign. In addition, it was more than coincidental that several months after the Champlin Marina and Resort was purchased by Procaccianti Developers that Procaccianti’s spokesperson states on record the most viable option for the leased land in Galilee is a massive parking lot with either a small strip mall or a small garden area. If I were a Billionaire with deep pockets, I would not have made that area become an eyesore. It makes Mr. Procaccianti look like a modern-day Mr. Potter as portrayed in It’s a Wonderful Life. The way Mr. Procaccianti has been buying and controlling property in Rhode Island, he may want to make the state change its name to Procaccianti’s Island.
The area of land is zoned GB, so a fish processing plant should not even be considered in this area. The only way a fish processing plant can be placed in this area would be for the town to approve a special use permit. A fish processing plant would also be out of compliance with the Master Plan Agreement developed for that area of land. If the RIDEM approves the fish processing plant, it would show the RIDEM has total disregard to the Town of Narragansett and its governmental leaders. In addition, as the Town of Narragansett will have the final authority in granting a special use permit, I would hope that any such request would be denied as it undermines the wishes of our Town and its governmental leaders.
If the seafood processing plant is so valuable to our fishing industry, then have it be built either in the GBi (Galilee Business Industrial) Zones of Galilee where there are existing parking lots, or have it built in the industrial center of Quonset Point.
Please listen to the will of the elected officials, our leaders in our Town such as our Town Manager and Town Planner, the Friends of Galilee composed of educated individuals who dedicated their lives to improving Galilee, members of the Galilee Advisory Committee, and our residents. We also have an online petition with 2700 signatures that support the Town of Narragansett’s Proposal. It takes the entire Town of Narragansett and even those from outside our Town to save our Gem of a Village: Galilee.
The original request is as follows: The DEM has asked the Galilee bidders to provide more detailed financial and other information with which to evaluate the bids. DEM has requested this additional information by close of business Monday, Dec. 27, 2021. As one can see at the link on the RIDEM website, only the Town of Narragansett complied with the RIDEM request for the additional information. Coastal Resources- Rhode Island -Department of Environmental Management (ri.gov). Therefore, if the RIDEM and its administrative staff does not want to be considered deeply suspect in their decision making, then they need to choose the Town’s plan for Galilee for all the reasons outlined above.
Respectfully Submitted, Dr. Albert Alba