Valley Breeze: Tensions rise over parking problems at High Rocks condos

NORTH SMITHFIELD - Last year, a dispute over parking between residents at the High Rocks Condominiums and the company that developed the complex from the former Tupperware Mill drew the town's attention to the project, which is nearing completion after 13 years of construction.

Since then, town officials have enforced a previously unmet requirement that at least 10 percent of the units be designated as “affordable housing,” prompting the company to return to the Planning Board for approval of a final addition last Thursday, July 11. At the same time, residents are asking the town to ensure their needs are met before allowing the company to move forward with any activity on the property, saying the parking problems are only going to get worse.

According to Armen Harootian, one of the principals of the Blackstone-Smithfield Corporation that initially developed the property and owner of High Rocks II, a new LLC that now oversees the project, the issue stems from the gradual buildout of the former mill building over time. When the project was initially approved in 2006, the plans stipulated two parking spaces for each of the 120 residential units, with some of those spaces numbered and assigned to individual unit owners. Today, a residential sub-association oversees 128 units, and Harootian said the property has at least 256 parking spaces to suit the needs of those residents.

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Courtesy of The Valley Breeze