What the judge said, what it means

Analyzing the Whalerock decision

By Will Collette

Last August, RI Superior Court Judge Judith Savage dismissed all the Whalerock cases and berated all four major parties and their lawyers for terrible legal work[1]. She sent the Whalerock industrial wind farm dispute back to the Charlestown Zoning Board of Review (ZBR) because their decision did not include documentation of any points of law to support their votes.

The ZBR reconsidered Whalerock’s appeal of the town’s reversal on their permit approval, added documentation drafted by the Zoning Board’s lawyer, and again decided that Whalerock met the requirements of the law with the same 4-1 vote as the previous decision upholding Whalerock’s appeal.

This confirmation of the previous decision by the ZBR led swiftly to a new legal challenge by the town of Charlestown to sue its own Zoning Board. Whalerock counter-sued. Trailing behind, a smaller group of neighbors weighed in with their own lawsuit. That put all four major parties who were tossed out of court last August back in Superior Court, but before a different judge.

Judge Rodgers was picked by former Governor
Don Carcieri who swore her in in 2009

Judge Kristin Rodgers issued her own ruling on April 10^th that gave Whalerock and its developer Larry LeBlanc just about everything they asked for, vindicated the Zoning Board, once again embarrassed the town and left the group of neighbors led by the CCA Party’s Ron Areglado with nothing more than their large legal bills. 

The Planning Commission also may have taken a hit when Judge Rodgers definitively stated that in this case, the Commission’s role is purely advisory, even though Planning has become Charlestown’s de facto ruling regulatory and legislative body.

A careful reading of Judge Rodgers decision shows that neither the Town of Charlestown, represented by Town Solicitor Peter Ruggiero nor the Areglado plaintiffs represented by James Donnelly were able to mount challenges that were any better than those rejected by Judge Savage last August.