At tonight’s City Council Committee on Ordinance’s meeting, Chairwoman and City Council Majority Leader Jo-Ann Ryan (Ward 5) introduced legislation that requires community engagement through a process which is already in place through the City Charter established City Plan Commission (CPC). The Commission is charged with ensuring that development in the City is consistent with the City’s Comprehensive Plan, and any major street alteration should fall under this open review process.

The substitution requires major street projects or alterations to be treated as Major Land Development Projects as defined in the City of Providence Land Development and Subdivision Regulations. Further, the amendment defines “alterations of a street” as the removal or expansion of on-street parking, installation of bicycle lanes, or installation of traffic calming measures such as permanent speed bumps.

“Over the past several months, I have heard from residents across the City that they feel that they are not part of the decision-making process when it comes to the street in which they live,” stated Chairwoman and Majority Leader Jo-Ann Ryan. “Transparency in government is critically important. When we are using precious tax dollars to create an Urban Trail rather than fix our sidewalks and roadways or are crumbling schools, we need to ensure that we are prudent in our spending. It is unacceptable that our Capital Improvement Plan only earmarks $12M for sidewalks and $20M for the Great Streets initiative. Following an already established process for outside developers, this creates a process of notification and engagement and will go a long way to help our neighbors better understand what is happening in their community, and allows them to be part of the process.”

The CPC requires three levels of review, technical oversight, complete plans that are drawn to scale, and public information sessions and hearings before a project receives recommended approval and finally sent to the City Council for vetting and passage.

Chairwoman and Majority Leader Ryan continued, “With a system that has been in place since 1996, and has worked well, and allows for the community engagement is an important step in any redesign process. I have been advocating for more community engagement around city projects since last year – when the two-way bike lane was installed on Eaton Street without notice to neighbors and caused a great deal of stress and outrage in my neighborhood. My neighbors and I have been characterized as being ‘anti-bike’ or ‘anti-bike lanes,’ which is simply not true.”

Exemptions to this ordinance include:

• Alterations to sidewalks or curb cuts required for development on private property.
• Installation or maintenance of any public utility.
• Any projects implemented by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation.

This amendment to the Code of Ordinances would not impact any road repairs such as potholes or general maintenance including paving, and restriping of roadway lines. What it does do is call for community engagement around proposals and plans that have a significant impact to the design of any city roadway. It allows the opportunity to create meaningful dialogue with residents about how they want their neighborhoods to be designed.