Newport Council Takes Up Non-Owner Occupied Tax Rate, $20M Flood Grant Bid
The Newport City Council this week considered a resolution to adjust the tax rate for non-owner-occupied residential properties, while also weighing multimillion-dollar flood resilience grants and a Community Development Block Grant application for affordable housing. Because official meeting minutes have not been released for any of the recent sessions, voting outcomes and final actions remain unknown.
Zoning Board reviews variances for Barney Street, Bayside Avenue
The Zoning Board of Review met on June 22 with a docket heavy on dimensional variances. Petitions included:
- **18 Barney Street**: The Collection at Barney, LLC sought variances for an AC condenser and deck reconstruction that would push lot coverage from 59% to 61%, above the 45% limit.
- **32 Bayside Avenue**: Equity Investment Group sought variances for a rear addition and roof deck, increasing coverage from 29.8% to 36.9% (28.48% allowed).
- **153 Ruggles Avenue** was also scheduled for a full hearing.
The board voted on extension requests for 57 Marchant (six months) and 551 Thames Street (twelve months). A petition for 2 Wheatland Court was withdrawn by staff. A special use permit and variance sought by 640 Thames Street, LLC to convert a dwelling into a five-bedroom guest house without parking was continued to July 27.
City Council ponders flood grants, sidewalk work, and tax rate
At its regular June 24 meeting, the City Council faced several financial and infrastructure items, all still awaiting minutes.
A resolution to adjust the non-owner occupied residential tax rate was listed as Item #23. The council also considered two authorizations to apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grants:
- A $20 million request for South Easton’s Pond Dam flood resiliency.
- A $1.425 million request for the Elizabeth Brook daylighting project.
Other agenda items included a bid award for the 2026 Sidewalk Improvement Program (Item #16) and an ordinance revision to prohibit parking on Russell Avenue (Item #11).
Council hears CDBG application for Mumford Manor, learns of school deficit
The council held a public hearing during its July 2 meeting on a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application for Mumford Manor at 39 Farewell Street. The session, for which minutes are also unavailable, included a notice from Superintendent Colleen Burns Jermain of a projected school budget deficit, though no dollar figure was detailed in the agenda.
Among other proposals were:
- Authorization to accept a $321,600 Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant award.
- Ordinance revisions to prohibit parking on South Baptist Street and to establish a one-way designation on Bridge Street.
- A fixed-rate electricity supply contract and a contract for SCADA modernization at the Station 1 water treatment plant.
Coming up
No public meetings are currently listed in the city’s upcoming calendar for the next two weeks. The next scheduled session is the continued Zoning Board hearing for 640 Thames Street on July 27.
Generated from official meeting agendas and minutes — every underlying document is linked from the city page. Read the primary source before you rely on a detail.