Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Comp Plan moves forward in Providence

Members of the Working Waterfront Alliance and neighborhood groups around Providence have received little satisfaction on their concerns.

Here's the take from the Waterfront Alliance blog:

Sadly, at last night’s meeting, the City Ordinance Committee voted to approve a slightly amended interim Comprehensive Plan that directly threatens Providence’s working waterfront along Allens Ave. As Providence Working Waterfront Alliance Chairman Joel Cohen notes in today’s Providence Journal article about the hearing, “We look at it as the first nail in the coffin.”

Rather than first consult with affected businesses through a neighborhood charrette or conduct a real economic analysis of the value of the working waterfront, the city is rushing forward with a plan that changes the working waterfront’s designation from industrial only to mixed use, and opens the door to condo-izing this critical regional economic resource.

Allowing condos or other residential options along the working waterfront will be the beginning of the end for this vibrant economic resource. Future condo owners are sure to complain about and call for the closing of adjacent industrial working waterfront companies.

Perhaps the most striking thing in Daniel Barbarisi's coverage today in the ProJo is this:

The [Comprehensive Plan] process has bred some unlikely allies. Late last week, a coalition of nine groups including neighborhood associations from West Broadway, Olneyville, College Hill, Mount Hope and Summit, the Allens Avenue industrial businesses, the social activist groups Rhode Island Jobs with Justice and Direct Action for Rights and Equality, and the Mount Hope Neighborhood Land Trust all signed on to a letter urging the council to hold off on approval.

Cicilline | Development