ProJo: Legal fights mire Hope Mill development

The R.I. Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday from one developer who says his efforts to redevelop the historic Scituate site date to 2002. In the other case, Paramount Development Group calls a zoning board denial of its $52M plan “a transparent attempt to prevent development and affordable housing in the town of Scituate,” a charge the town denies.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Town of Scituate is involved in legal disputes with two would-be developers of the historic Hope Mill, and one case will go before the state Supreme Court on Tuesday.

In the other case, Paramount Development Group of Massachusetts is appealing a Scituate Zoning Board denial of its $52-million plan to build 193 residential units on the 38-acre site, at 1 Main Street in the Hope Village Historic District. Paramount's Superior Court complaint calls the zoning board denial “a transparent attempt to prevent the development and affordable housing in the town of Scituate,” a charge the town has denied.

Paramount's plan called for 118 of the 193 units to be affordable. Less than 1 percent of Scituate's housing stock is affordable, according to the 2017 Factbook by HousingWorks RI at Roger Williams University. Only Little Compton is further away from meeting the state mandate of having at least 10 percent of the housing stock deemed affordable.

In the first case, Vincent R. Coccoli Sr., has appealed a 2016 decision by Superior Court Justice Michael A. Silverstein rejecting his $22-million lawsuit against the town. The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on March 6.

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