Greater City ProvidenceThe Providence Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is pleased to announce that the second Community Meeting for the Providence Downtown – Knowledge District Development Framework study will be held on Wednesday, September 7, 2011. Please join us as we present the analysis and preliminary development framework concepts for Downtown and the Knowledge District, and solicit your input and ideas.
Community Meeting: Providence Downtown – Knowledge District Development Framework study
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
5:30pm – 7:00pm
Meeting Location: 444 Westminster Street, first floor
Providence, RI 02903
Our study area is Downtown and the hospital area of Upper South Providence, including the Jewelry District and the I-195 surplus land. This area is well-positioned to become a center for new economic growth in Rhode Island and the region. The DPD is exploring ways to harness emerging knowledge-based development to create jobs and drive innovation and entrepreneurship, while ensuring that new growth reinforces the mixed-use character of the area.
Major project goals include:
- Identifying a preferred land use and development scenario.
- Creating revised land development regulations, including zoning.
- Analyzing the existing capacity of utility infrastructure.
Please visit providenceplanning.org for additional project information and mapping.
Jef Nickerson
I went to the meeting and wrote about what I observed here: http://blog.jasonpbecker.com.
I generally understood what the residents want and why, but I also couldn’t help but to feel like their realism when it came to public funds stood in stark contrast to realism about what private funds existed. I’m not convinced there is a whole lot of private development money to infill the Jewelry District with mixed used development in its current state without allowing for some of the things the residents clearly don’t want– big investments by Brown, J&W, Lifespan, and hopefully some private industry to create big buildings.
Without that kind of development I don’t see there being any spark to light the kindling that exists for a great mixed use neighborhood.