The Woonasquatucket River Greenway was created by the Providence Plan, and a few state agencies, in the hopes of protecting the river and its surrounding environment, providing recreational opportunities for the community, and spurring economic revitalization in the surrounding neighborhood. To accomplish these goals, these groups must protect a continuous corridor of land along the river, through a variety of different methods. In addition to purchasing the entire property, or receiving an easement on part of the land, the state should employ the use of zoning regulations for long term protection. This would allow regulation of the use and development of undeveloped properties along the river, without having to purchase the land.

A greenway overlay zone could effectively protect undeveloped parcels for the long term, while other fee-simple and less-than-fee-simple methods of acquisition could protect those parcels along the river that are already developed. This overlay zone would create development standards and establish a setback along the river, within which a greenway corridor could run. Such an overlay zone is similar to many of the techniques used in other areas, from Massachusetts, to California, to Portland, Oregon. All of these zoning techniques restrict interfering uses along the river, try to halt new development, and/or create a review process for the development of the property. This type of zoning would be more protective then present regulations, such as the state wetlands regulations. Wetland regulations only prohibit development if it will have a significant impact on the wetland itself and would not halt development within the greenway corridor, if the development would not also have an adverse effect on the river.

To be effective, an overlay zoning technique must be careful to avoid the takings issue, and not hinder the rights of the private property owners along the river significantly. This involves two major issues, the relationship between the regulations and the exactions it imposes, and the amount of economic value removed from the land. By only affecting part of the property, and strongly relating the greenway to many public benefits, a greenway overlay zone should be able to avoid these issues. Also, the presence of other overlay zones, within both the Providence and Johnston ordinances, should give both towns the previous experience necessary to create effective overlay zoning, without overstepping their constitutional bounds.

Zoning should allow the long term protection of the land from debilitating uses and development, by creating further criteria and standards for the land owner who wishes to develop his property. While this tool can only affect those properties along the river that have not been built up, it should be a sufficient complement to the purchase of the necessary parcels.