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Rhode Island
RI needs strong partnerships to produce more housing | Opinion
Rhode Island has a serious housing crisis and every municipality has an obligation to help solve this statewide problem. However, some of the housing laws adopted in the last legislative session are not consistent with long-standing state policies. There will be unintended consequences, and these laws will not fully achieve the objective of creating more low- and moderate-income housing.
The creation of more housing should follow the vision established in the State Land Use Policies and Plan 2025 that called for growth to be concentrated within areas where development could be adequately served by public water, sewers, mass transportation and other supporting infrastructure. All cities and towns are required to be consistent with the plan. In areas without supporting infrastructure, the state established polices for low-density development with clustered growth, where appropriate, to conserve essential natural resources.
More: After nearly being killed, Warren’s Penny Lane affordable housing project back on track.
The land use plan also had clear policies to protect invaluable drinking water supplies needed to sustain growth statewide. All the sites identified by the statewide planning program to support high residential densities were in areas with supporting infrastructure. This comprehensive and thoughtful approach to growth would direct development where it was most suitable, to avoid negative impacts to the environment and community character and to maintain the natural, cultural and recreational assets that make Rhode Island an attractive place to live, work and play.
Several of the housing laws adopted last year will encourage haphazard density that does not comply with state policies.
One law allows the conversion of existing commercial buildings to residential use and restricts municipal authority. A density of 15 dwelling units per acre is allowed by law. A mandated density of 15 units per acre in areas without supporting infrastructure is excessive and is not consistent with the State Land Use Policies and Plan. This can randomly add density to land that does not have a safe yield of drinking water from onsite wells and can’t support more development without negative impacts to water quality.
The Land Development and Subdivision Review Act was changed to place a new burden on an already taxed municipal planning staff. The responsibilities of town planners have increased significantly and the time to review and approve applications has decreased. Development projects that were previously reviewed in an open and public meeting will now be approved administratively. The new process lacks transparency and empowers an administrative officer to make unilateral decisions for multi-million dollar projects without any public input. This policy is a step backward for gaining the public’s trust in the land development process.
An amendment to the existing law to encourage more low- and moderate-income housing (LMI) has backfired. It has encouraged towns to repeal existing LMI ordinances. The new LMI law allows more market rate housing, making it impossible for municipalities to meet their 10% low- and moderate-income housing mandates.
More: Rhode Island’s housing crisis is at a breaking point. How did we get here?
The need for more housing should be done comprehensively and be implemented by considering all the other issues municipalities are required to assess in accordance with the Rhode Island Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Act.
To be successful in producing more housing, Rhode Island must have strong partnerships between state and municipal governments, the private sector and nonprofits. Establishing inflexible state mandates does not foster good partnerships.
Municipalities need financial and technical assistance to establish creative approaches to housing that must be customized to meet unique municipal needs.
Changes to the existing land use statutes will not be effective without comprehensively addressing all the economic and other issues that have caused the housing crisis.
Each of our cities and towns have unique characteristics, but by working together Rhode Island can solve the housing crisis and revise legislation in a way that appreciates the nuances of each community to maintain our beautiful state.
Scott Millar is an environmental scientist and land use planner.
New East Bay Bike Path bridges are open and ready for bikes
What’s it like to ride over the new East Bay Bike Path bridges? We sent a reporter to try them out.
I’ve long thought bike paths are among Rhode Island’s premier attractions, up there with the beaches, the mansions and the bay.
We like to knock government, but credit where it’s due, the state has done an amazing job building out an incredible pedaling network.
It’s clearly a priority.
At least I thought it was.
But they’ve just dropped the ball on what should have been a beautiful new stretch.
The plan was to finish a mile-long connector from the East Providence end of the Henderson Bridge all the way to the East Bay Bike Path.
There was even $25 million set aside to get it done.
Except WPRI recently reported that it’s now been canceled.
The main fault lies with the Trump administration, which is no friend of bike paths, and moved to kill that $25 million.
But it gets complicated, as government funding always does.
To try to rescue that money, the state DOT reportedly worked with the administration to refunnel it into a road project. Specifically, the $25 million will now be spent helping upgrade the mile-long highway between the Henderson Bridge and North Broadway in East Providence, turning it into a more pleasant boulevard.
That totally sounds worthy.
But it’s insane to throw away the bike path plan.
Especially for a particular reason in this case.
They’d already put a ton of money into starting it.
When state planners designed the new Henderson Bridge between the East Side and East Providence, they included a bike path.
It’s a beauty – well protected from traffic by a barrier, a great asset for safely riding over the Seekonk River.
The plan was to continue it another mile or so along East Providence’s Waterfront Drive, ultimately connecting with the East Bay Bike Path, which runs all the way to Bristol. Which, by the way, is one of the nicest bike paths you’ll find anywhere.
But alas, that connector plan has been canceled.
So the expensive stretch over the Henderson Bridge to East Providence is now a bike path to nowhere. Once the bridge ends, the path on it continues a few hundred yards or so and then, just … ends.
Too bad.
We were so close.
Most of the stories on the issue have been about the complex negotiation to rescue the $25 million by rerouting it to that nearby highway-to-boulevard project. But I don’t want to get lost in the weeds of that bureaucratic process here because it loses sight of the heart of this story.
Which is that an amazing new addition to one of the nation’s best state bike path systems has just been scrapped.
You can knock the Rhode Island government for blowing a lot of things.
The PawSox.
The Washington Bridge.
But they’ve done great with bike paths.
And especially, linking many of them together.
Example: not too many years ago, Providence bikers had to risk dicey traffic on the East Side to get to the more pleasant paths in India Point Park and on the 195 bridge to the East Bay Path.
But the state fixed that by adding an amazing connector that starts behind the Salvation Army building and beautifully winds along the water of the Seekonk River for a mile or so.
That makes a huge difference – and no doubt has avoided some bike-car accidents.
We were close to a comparable stretch on the other side of the river – that’s what the $25 million would have done.
But it’s now apparently dead.
Online commenters aren’t happy about it.
On a Reddit string, “Toadscoper” accused the state of being “complicit” with the feds in rerouting the money from bikes to cars.
And there was this fascinating post from FineLobster 5322, who apparently is a disappointed planner who worked on the project: “Mind you money has already been spent on phase one so rejecting it at this point is wasting money and also against the public interest … but what do I know? I only worked on the project as an engineer … I didn’t get into this to build more highways. I do it … to give back to communities and give them more access to their environment.”
Wow. One can imagine the state planning team is devastated. That’s not a small consideration. Good people go into government to make life better in Rhode Island, and it’s a bad play to take the spirit out of the job by first assigning a great human-scale project and then, after a ton of work, trashing it.
A poster named Homosapiens simply said, “We just accept this?”
Hopefully not.
The first stretch of the path over the Henderson Bridge is done, money already sunk.
What a shame to leave that as a path to nowhere.
It doesn’t have to happen.
Between Governor McKee and our Washington delegation, there’s got to be a way to get this done.
There’s got to be.
mpatinki@providencejournal.com
WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
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