CUMBERLAND – A question on the ballot for Cumberland voters next month will ask them whether the town should go to non-partisan elections for Town Council.
CUMBERLAND – The Cumberland Town Council has accepted the Silva family’s promised donation of open wetland space at 45 Canning St., with the condition that it be protected from further
CUMBERLAND – Town officials say they’re frustrated after learning that local ratepayers will have to cover the bill for a water line break on private property.
Bill Descoteaux, acting superintendent of the Cumberland Water Department, provided the Town Council with an update of department operations two weeks ago, saying there have been 10 water breaks to date this year, most notably one on Fisher Road behind Diamond Hill Park at the Ski Valley Condominiums.
Descoteaux said workers were on their way to investigate a call from a resident stating that water was leaking onto Fisher Road when they were notified by the Water Department operator that the department had lost 15 feet of water in the Fisher Tank. After shutting off the tank, it was learned that 11 feet had been lost, or approximately 161,546 gallons in one hour, the cause being a 14-inch crack in the water main on Fisher Road.
3/10/2021
Roundabout flooding victims see town claims denied
Cumberland town employees work to connect a new municipal pipe to existing state pipes under Diamond Hill Road at the roundabouts early last December. (Breeze photo by Ethan Shorey)
CUMBERLAND – The town’s insurer has denied claims for damages from five residents whose properties near the new Diamond Hill Road roundabouts were flooded late last November, saying the cause of the flooding was ultimately determined to be an issue under the state roadway.
“After reviewing your claim statement, estimate and photos, we contacted the town of Cumberland to discuss what happened,” read a denial letter from the Rhode Island Interlocal Trust last month to one of the victims. “The town of Cumberland has investigated the cause of the loss and determined that the water backed up due to a blocked culvert under a Rhode Island state road.”
2/3/2021
Why didn’t Cumberland get earlier chance at well property?
This lot at 500 Nate Whipple Highway was acquired by the town of Cumberland for $600,000 last year after its previous owner purchased it for $275,000 a few months earlier. (Breeze photo by Ethan Shorey)
Parties shed light on $600,000 land purchase
CUMBERLAND – Since news last November that the town would acquire a Nate Whipple Highway property for a future municipal well expansion, some residents have voiced questions about the profit its previous owner was able to walk away with.
That owner, Cumberland’s Stephen Instasi III, ended up securing a profit of $325,000 when he sold the property at 500 Nate Whipple Highway to the town of Cumberland for $600,000 shortly after its former owner, John Boucher, had sold it to him for $275,000 last June.