The town of Johnston’s attempt to seize 31 acres of land is no longer being considered in state court after both parties requested the matter get tossed.
Providence County Superior Court Judge Christopher Smith dismissed the town’s condemnation action, leaving the case solely in U.S. District Court, where the landowners are suing Johnston officials over what their attorneys call a “sham taking” of the property.
“We shouldn’t have had to go through this to begin with,” Providence attorney Kelley Morris Salvatore said in an interview while leaving the Licht Judicial Complex. “And now the case is going to proceed where it always should have.”
SCLS Realty, LLC, and Sixty Three Johnston, LLC, had plans to build a 252-unit affordable housing complex on the site. But Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena Jr. wants to build a new public safety complex and town hall on the site.
Polisena said he remains confident the town will come out on top in its bid to take the land.
“We continue to believe the town has acted correctly on behalf of the taxpayers of Johnston and now we look forward to addressing the matter solely in federal court,” he said in a statement.
Earlier this month, Johnston’s Town Council authorized Polisena to legally seize the property off George Waterman Road by eminent domain. Under Rhode Island General Law, eminent domain can be used to remove hazardous buildings, revitalize abandoned lots, and clarify land ownership. Municipalities typically reserve the legal tool for road projects.
Attorneys representing the property’s owners argue that the seizure was pretextual, claiming Polisena decided to use eminent domain only after making multiple public declarations against the project.
Two days after developers filed their federal lawsuit, the town briefly gained ownership of the land after filing a petition and depositing $775,000 into the court’s registry, the assessed value of the site. But the town was ordered to change the land records back to developers Ralph Santoro and Salvatore Compagnone, who said the seizure was done without notice to them or their lawyers.
That same afternoon as the initial ruling, U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose issued a temporary restraining order pausing the town’s efforts to seize the land for 30 days.
With the case no longer in state court, the $775,000 deposited by the town will return to its account pending the final outcome of the federal court case, Polisena’s Deputy Chief of Staff Dominique Turner said in an email Monday.
A status conference in the federal lawsuit is scheduled to be held in the next four to six weeks, according to online records.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
