To the editor:At its meeting on August 16th, the City Council had before it a resolution to ratify the Waterfront District Commission’s amendment to accept the Metacomet Subdistrict into the …
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To the editor:
At its meeting on August 16th, the City Council had before it a resolution to ratify the Waterfront District Commission’s amendment to accept the Metacomet Subdistrict into the 2003 East Providence Special Waterfront District Plan. This is part of the process set down by the enabling legislation, RI State Law Chapter 345.
Keep Metacomet Green was concerned that the Commission’s amendment to the Plan did not include language that limited development in the Metacomet Subdistrict to the traffic capacity of the Parkway, as is found in the language for two other Subdistricts in the vicinity. KMG submitted to the Council an “amendment to the amendment” that sought to rectify the situation.
In stark contrast to previous meetings over the past two years, where public commenters have been held to three minutes without any further opportunity to join the discussion, this meeting was marked by a cordial and fruitful interaction among KMG, the members of the Council, and even representatives of the developer.
At the conclusion of the discussion, the Council voted to ratify the Commission’s amendment to the Waterfront District Plan, but with the proviso that the Metacomet Subdistrict would be subject to the same limiting language as in the Kettle Point and Veterans Memorial Parkway Subdistricts. In short, the “scale of development” at Metacomet, if and when it takes place, “shall be limited to the traffic capacity of the Veterans Memorial Parkway to service such development without the addition of traffic lights.”
Also, “The access road from the Veterans Memorial Parkway must be carefully designed to be safe and efficient” and “the scale of development shall be limited by the traffic capacity of the Veterans Memorial Parkway.” This now goes back to the Commission for its stamp of approval.
This was a rare instance where the majority of the Council actually listened to the public and its concerns about the enormous impact development of the Met would have on the surrounding neighborhoods and travelers on the Parkway, and took action to mitigate that impact.
Surely there will more battles and frustrations and anger in the future, but, in this instance, KMG commends the courtesy shown to our group by Council President Britto in enabling our full participation in the discussion, which resulted in a win for the community.
Candy Seel
Director, Keep Metacomet Green