March 2021

The Global Symphony will be arriving any day now to conduct cable installation, repair and survey work for Orsted Offshore North America. The vessel arrived at the Port of Providence on Wed. March 17 after a transatlantic voyage and will appear off the shore of Fred Benson Town Beach shortly. The vessel is 426 feet […]

You can always cancel an event, but if you don’t plan for it first, you can’t have it at all. That seems to be the approach various organizations and town boards are taking when it comes to planning spring and summer events on the island. The Double Ender Committee, an independent not-for-profit group, is hoping

The Block Island Housing Board continued preliminary planning for its next affordable housing project, on an undeveloped lot across West Side Road from Ball O’Brien Park, at its March 9 virtual meeting. Member John Spier reported he had completed “most of the information for the application” for a zoning change for the parcel as he

The Zoning Board held public hearings, but made no decisions, on variance requests for two homes at its virtual meeting on March 3. The Board also approved the town’s requests relating to a new walkway at Andy’s Way, and one other application. In the first hearing, Pam Piper and Anna Pearce explained they were seeking

As the annual budget season begins on the island, the Town Council met on March 10 with Town Finance Director Amy Land for an update on the town’s current and future debt, and to discuss capital needs, priorities, and expenditures for fiscal year 2022. Town Manager Maryanne Crawford explained: “The council had requested a preliminary

The Historic District Commission held a special meeting on Thursday, March 11 to consider an application by the new owners of Champlin’s Marina and Resort off West Side Road (Plat 19, Lot 5 and 6) to replace windows and portions of siding on several structures on the property. At their February meeting, members of the

Two items on the Planning Board’s March 10 agenda were deferred until the board’s next meeting in April, but not before strong statements were put on the record in each case. The public hearing on Michelle Marino’s plan to construct a staircase over the bluff at her Southeast Road property (Plat 8, Lot 42), as

The Town Council held two meetings on rental mopeds on March 4. At 7:00 p.m., the council unanimously approved license renewals for the five current moped rental businesses in less than 10 minutes. At the noon public hearing on proposed amendments to the moped ordinance, however, the attorney for those businesses asserted the changes “are

History shows there are years that come marked with big asterisks. Years that one wants to simply file away in a “fahgetaboutit” trash can. Three quarters of 2020 and the start of 2021 are likely secure in both vaults. This year’s middle school boy’s Hurricanes basketball season was a season to file away in likely

Behind the scenes of the pristine environment that gave Block Island the designation of one of the Western Hemisphere’s “last great places” by The Nature Conservancy in 1991 are the people and infrastructure that protect it while providing vital services to the people who live and visit here. Those who provide water and electricity immediately