Grow Smart Rhode Island Policy Recommendations
What is Grow Smart Rhode Island?
Grow Smart Rhode Island is a statewide non-profit group that represents a number of actors within the state of Rhode Island. Its mission is to combat suburban sprawl and to maximize the use of open space in urban areas, such as brownfield sites in the Jewelry District through collective recommendations. Grow Smart brought together individuals such as developers, lawyers, environmental consultants and municipal planners, the Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, Department of Environmental Management, Development and Economic Corporation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other non-profit organizations to discuss Rhode Island’s current brownfield plans. They hope to bring the issue of brownfields revitalization to the forefront for the media, the governor, legislature, congressional delegation as well as state and local officials (Grow Smart Rhode Island, 2001.)
Grow smart have seven major policy recommendations for the revitalization of brownfields in Rhode Island:
1) More effective leadership and coordination. Grow Smart believes that Rhode Island should increase its marketing of brownfield sites, coordinate state and federal efforts in obtaining funds, and that the governor of Rhode Island should make an Office of City Recycling specifically dealing with brownfields revitalization.
2) State agency staffing changes. Rhode Island should hire full time employees to focus mainly on brownfields revitalization like Massachusetts has. The state should also guarantee the developers a specific timeline, informing them how long a review of a brownfield redevelopment proposal will take. The state should create an easy and accessible brownfields data based website for the use of a brownfields redeveloper as well as the public that includes a brownfield inventory. The state should also work with private state-licensed environmental professionals in analyzing brownfields redevelopment.
3) Financial incentives. Rhode Island needs to create a revolving loan fund specifically for brownfield sites in the state, create a tax credit and loan fund for the assessment of brownfields, and ensure that appropriate state funding for brownfields is guaranteed each fiscal year.
4) Address liability concerns. Rhode Island needs to establish an environmental insurance program for brownfields to protect against cost over-runs and lost collateral. Rhode Island also needs to secure liability relief for municipalities, redevelopment authorities and community development corporations who want to revitalize brownfields.
5) Coordinate between state agencies and municipalities. Municipalities in Rhode Island should forgive taxes for innocent actors who take steps to revitalize brownfields as well as waive local permitting fees for those actors.
6) Reform arsenic policy. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management should set higher standards for reporting arsenic levels, especially in residential areas. It should also work with the Department of Health to make sure a developer knows the arsenic contamination history of a property.
7) Strive for new federal legislation. Federal legislation needs to address liability concerns for new owners of remediated brownfield sites (Grow Smart Rhode Island, 2001.)
Our Recommendations for Brown
Transportation in the Jewelry District
Brown University’s recent expansion into the Jewelry District provides real opportunities to increase the transportation availability for both their students and the Providence community in the Jewelry District. Brown should work with other transportation providers and actors such as the Rhode Island Public Transportation Authority to increase transportation lines in the Jewelry District.
Brown Buildings and future development
FormWe agree that Brown buildings in the Jewelry District should be LEED certified, utilize more renewable energy use, and implement their High Performance Design initiatives. The sustainability concepts that we recommended for the Jewelry District should also be implemented for Brown’s properties in the Jewelry District. Further, the sustainable redevelopment of Brown’s Jewelry District buildings needs to take into account the contamination of historical industrial uses in order to prevent potential public health deterioration and improper use for this property.
For examples, Brown should purchase recycled products as much as possible when redeveloping their buildings in the Jewelry District. They should also reuse and recycle their waste as much as possible. Brown should implement storm water runoff initiatives near the waterfront, work with their Jewelry District neighbors to develop a full cycle waste processing and composting system and thoroughly remediate the contaminants found on their property. Brown should work together with their neighbors to encourage mixed use development in their buildings to encourage economic growth and public access in the Jewelry District. It should contain green roofs on their buildings that can allow students to learn about gardening and local use production. Brown could also lead in the phytoremediation of contaminated soils found in the Jewelry District as well. The university should actively work together with all the other actors in the Jewelry District to encourage smaller building lots and street blocks to encourage walkability.
Overall, Brown should not be lax in the sustainable redevelopment of the Jewelry District compared with the other redeveloping actors. Brown should also be involved with an overall community sustainability strategy and work with city planners and other stakeholders to create this strategy. Brown should even take the lead in incorporating more sustainable initiatives for the betterment of the Brown community, Providence community and State of Rhode Island.
Brown is an important actor
FormBrown is an important actor for the revitalization of brownfields in the Jewelry District. It can stimulate other actors in the Jewelry District to redevelop in a sustainable way. Specifically, Brown should help prevent development that would discourage public access to the Jewelry District area and its buildings. Ideally, there would be retail companies or other public access services on the first floor of the Brown buildings. Its buildings should also incorporate Low Impact Development (LID) technologies for managing storm-water through the use of green roofs, storm-water collection systems, alternative permeable surfacing, vegetative swales and bio-retention basins or “rain gardens.” Brown should also work with its neighbors to incorporate underground parking or above ground parking garages in specific sites to decrease ground parking in the Jewelry District. Brown should also help prevent taller buildings and parking lots to be built near the waterfront to encourage more public use and access of the river.
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