Urban Planning and Transportation Issues in Biggest Little State in the Union
Urban Planning and Transportation Issues in Biggest Little State in the Union
Attorney General Patrick Lynch, leading the charge to bury the power lines at India Point in Providence (info), tells the Providence Journal that he predicts the project will get done. They're about halfway to the necessary funding, and plans (and backup plans) are being drawn up to get the rest of the way there. Luckily almost all local leaders are on the same page, knowing that an unmarred landscape at the head of Narragansett Bay is worth far more than the $5 million to be appropriated. Let's hurry up and get it on paper, guys.
In East Greenwich, 9 more acres of farmland are about to bite the dust to make way for an office complex and a self storage facility on Route 2. The EG Town Planner says the project will "expand the tax base for the town of East Greenwich in a way that fits very nicely with the vision the town has for itself." It seems pretty clear to me that the vision for EG is to completely give up on the Route 2 area. After all, why should Warwick be the only one to get in on the horrible congestion on that stretch of road? I shouldn't be too hard on EG, they can only triple their house evaluations so many times...
Down in South County, URI students presented a traditional development plan to expand the tax base while maintaining Exeter's sense of place. The idea calls for quarter and half acre lots (as opposed to the currently mandated FOUR!) for a housing development, both to preserve open space and to create a closer community. Amazingly, town planner said the Town Center is not dense enough! All this bodes well for Exeter and South County in general.
TrackBackSome comments:
1) The powerlines: the article is good news! Considering the current towers have been there around 100 years, someone quoted in the article wasn't kidding when he said this is a "once in a lifetime" opportunity. It's not as if they'd build new towers and reconsider doing away with them in a decade or so... $5,000,000 will look like a bargain when in 2104 they look back and see how much benefit (visual and economic) was gained by putting those lines under the ground...
2) East Greenwich: Not familiar with the suburban politics of RI yet, but if its anything like the suburban politics here in MN and in NY where my parents live, there is still the bovine mentality of, "Office parks good... Show we are prosperous and modern... Need wider roads and more highways..." Where my parents live, sanity is finally (after, oh, about 50 years of horrible development) starting to take hold as citizen groups are meeting to find ways to expand the tax base AND preserve rural character. Imagine that! See this link:
NY Journal News, "Putnam Growth Activists to View Big Picture" http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/051104/a0111growthgroup.html
This makes...
3) The South County article good news. Everyone is thinking in the right direction there! My impression of reading Projo and what not so far is that the Southern RI area has its head screwed on straighter than the Northern RI suburbs, yes?
Garris
May 13, 2004 01:58 AM"the Southern RI area has its head screwed on straighter than the Northern RI suburbs, yes?"
Nope. Everyone is nuts.
May 13, 2004 04:31 PM