Credit Steve Bowman for cutting to the chase.

As the Smithfield Town Council’s discussions with developer Joseph Luter IV were about to go off the rails again last month thanks to a “revision of the revision” for a scaled-back, and warmly received, version of the controversial Grange at 10Main mixed-use development, the former mayor and now councilman asked Luter the point-blank question: Can you live with the 93-home version that a majority of council members clearly prefer?

Luter responded favorably, and the Grange, knock on wood, just might be on its quickest, cleanest path yet to construction.

There’s still the pesky question of whether town tax dollars are invested in the development’s signature public infrastructure, a permanent farmers market, but the outcome otherwise looks to be satisfactory to a lot of stakeholders:

• Townsfolk, who sent a strong message about their dislike of rapid residential growth by cleaning house in the November election, forced a nearly two-thirds reduction in the previously approved density that would have doubled the population of the historic district.
• Newly elected council members achieved their objective of controlling, not stopping, residential growth.
• Luter gets a still-financially-viable development and avoids any damage to the family’s legacy in a town that is immeasurably better because of what the Luters have contributed.
• The western entrance to Smithfield stands to be transformed from an eyesore to a welcoming gateway to the historic district.

The preferred plan calls for a mix of single-family homes and townhomes without the three-story apartment buildings that were part of a 267-home iteration approved in 2023. A badly needed hotel remains part of the development, as does a restaurant connected to the proposed farmers market.

A tweaked version of the smaller development would have contained 122 homes, causing consternation at the Town Council’s committee meetings, at which Luter appeared by video conferencing. That’s when Bowman steered the two sides back to common ground.

Significantly, even the harshest critics of the Grange have either remained quiet or endorsed the scaled-back plan. We urge thorough but expeditious review by the Planning Commission and Town Council. 

The Grange debate, though it dragged out far too long, has led to a compromise solution that everybody should be able to live with. Our American way of working out differences isn’t always efficient, but this proves again that it can be quite successful when allowed to work.