In a twist of developments and without any indication that it might happen, Mayor Frank Picozzi received Tuesday a proposed agreement from the Rhode Island Airport Corporation to build and make operational a traffic system so trucks can access the Airport Connection before the opening a $100 million air cargo facility. In the memorandum of agreement RIAC also says it will build the noise barrier the mayor has requested to parallel homes on Strawberry Field Road West.

Picozzi said Tuesday he’s prepared to sign the agreement and drop the administration’s legal review of the cargo plan to the Federal Aviation Administration once it is signed by the RIAC Board of Directors. The board will consider the MOU at its Jan. 11 meeting.

The mayor, who was planning to address the City Council last night before this development, said he would proceed with his remarks to fully inform the council.

The mayor said the revised agreement provides the guarantee he feels is important to help promote residential development in the intermodal zone between the airport and Jefferson Boulevard and a pedestrian-friendly City Centre. Between scheduled new apartments, condos and the conversion of the former Sheraton Hotel into apartments, about 800 residential units are projected to become available in the next three years.

Up until last week, when Picozzi characterized RIAC’s last proposed agreement “a joke” due to its stipulation that the noise barrier and traffic system would be built on condition of board approval and available, it appeared the dispute would be settled in court. Then with the New Year came a new agreement.

“We are hopeful the mayor and the council will begin to see this project as an opportunity for the residents of Warwick and not a burden. We have the opportunity to get heavy trucks off of Warwick’s streets and create hundreds of jobs,” RIAC spokesman John Goodman said in a release sent to the city and the news media.

Referring to UPS and FedEx, both of which have signed leases with RIAC, Goodman went on to say, “We have two well-respected companies that want to relocate their operations from Boston to Warwick; companies that want to put Warwick residents to work.” He projected the air cargo facility to be built south of the terminal in what was used as part of a long term parking lot would create over 1,000 construction jobs during a two-year period and another 100 long-term employment opportunities for area residents.

What neither the agreement nor the release address is the cessation of $500,000 in airport payments annually to the city in lieu of taxes. RIAC stopped the payment on the basis of an FAA recommendation that the state make the payment. That disclosure, along with Picozzi’s rejection of the earlier agreement provoked a flurry of excitement last week and what was to have been a joint meeting between RIAC, the mayor and legislative leaders. RIAC canceled before the scheduled appointment.

Elected leaders have questioned why RIAC doesn’t appeal the ruling on the payment in lieu of taxes and why suddenly the payments have been found unacceptable by the FAA when they have been made for years.

As for the impact of air cargo traffic on the city, Goodman writes in the release, “The master planning for this project started in 2016 and has spanned three administrations. We have never wavered in our commitment to build a sound barrier and produce a road mitigation plan that will keep semi-tractor trailers off of local roads.”

Yet, as city planners picked up, the environmental assessment of the cargo project, which was paid for by RIAC and approved by the FAA, does not provide a plan for trucks to access the Airport Connector. In addition, the schematic for the fully built cargo facility shows an egress and access to Main Avenue.