KSPR Law partners Michael A. Kelly and Michael D. Resnick obtained preliminary approval for Rankin Estates, a 126 lot conservation development on 230 acres in North Smithfield that preserves over 100 acres of open space. The town’s Planning Board granted the approval on a unanimous 4 to 0 vote at the conclusion of a public hearing.
The project began in 2005, when an application was first filed with the town. Within a week the town approved a moratorium on new subdivisions. The firm challenged the moratorium and the Superior Court struck it down. A new application was filed in 2007, and the master plan for that application was denied based on allegations that the site contained Native American artifacts. The firm appealed and filed suit. The litigation revealed that the expert testimony about Native American artifacts presented at the planning board hearing was fraudulent, and that members of the planning board, the town solicitors, and that expert had met in advance to plan how the application would be denied. The firm’s position was that this violated the property owners’ constitutional rights, and the town settled the litigation on terms favorable to the applicant.
The application proceeded several years later and culminated in master plan approval in 2019 for the current conservation design. The remaining step is final approval, the last stage of the subdivision process and the most straightforward, since all of the engineering and design work is complete.
