Document summarizes major goals and strategies of new statewide plan for sustainable prosperity.

Click Here to request a hard copy by mail.*

Adopted April 13th 2006, Land-Use 2025 is Rhode Island's innovative new State Land-Use Plan for proactively guiding the sustainable growth and development of our 39 cities and towns over a 20-year planning horizon.

The detailed plan lays out a comprehensive set of goals, objectives and strategies to accommodate new growth while building upon existing assets, safeguarding the environment, achieving efficiencies and strengthening economic competitiveness.

The task ahead, of course, will be that of implementing the recommended strategies at the state and local level to achieve the plan's vision. It is hoped that this Executive Summary will help to raise stakeholder awareness of the need and opportunity for protecting and enhancing Rhode Island's 'Quailty of Place' for the benefit of all Rhode Islanders.

View the Executive Summary as a pdf

*If you're a state legislator or muncipal official, a copy of the Executive Summary should already be on the way.

New members bring fresh perspectives from the business, development, real estate finance, engineering and planning professions

The statewide smart growth movement begins a new year with the addition of some new faces in the Board room.

At its December 15th meeting, the Grow Smart Rhode Island Board of Directors unanimously elected the following individuals to the board:

• Kenneth Burnett, Senior Vice President, BankRI
• Samuel J. Bradner, Development Director, Struever Brothers, Eccles & Rouse
• Dennis L. DiPrete, Principal, DiPrete Engineering Associates, Inc.
• Akhil C. Gupta, Vice President, Providence Campus, Johnson & Wales University
• Pamela M. Sherrill, AICP, Principal Planner, Pare Engineering Corporation

Board Chair Deming Sherman praised the Grow Smart Board Development Committee's recommendations saying "the addition of these talented individuals brings new and relevant insights to the many challenges and opportunities associated with revitalizing Rhode Island's urban, town a village centers while safeguarding its natural resources and rural landscapes."

The Grow Smart RI Land-Use Training Collaborative has scheduled the following workshops for the spring of 2007. All workshops and seminars have a registration fee and require advance registration.

Community Planning in Washington County Towns - What Council Members Need to Know:

Conservation Development:

The Rhode Island Housing Resources Commission (HRC) invites you to comment on its draft regulations for the $50 million bond program, now called Building Homes Rhode Island. The notice and proposed regulations are posted online.

The HRC is hosting public hearings on the regulations on February 8 at 12:00 noon and 6:00 p.m. at the Cranston Public Library, 140 Sockanossett Cross Road. Written comments can be submitted to Noreen Shawcross, Chief of Housing and Community Development, Housing Resources Commission, One Capitol Hill, Providence, RI 02908.

Starting this month, employees who use pre-tax dollars to pay for transit or vanpool commuting costs can take pre-tax payroll deductions up to $110.00 per month. The deductions are available to employees whose employers offer a commuter benefit program.

In Rhode Island, WageWorks and Commuter Check, two very popular national commuter benefits programs, are used by employers to offer these benefits.

Here’s how WageWorks and Commuter Checks work:

• Cover public transit, parking and vanpools
• Employer deducts costs of your monthly pass, vanpool or parking expenses from your paycheck to give you a pre-tax paycheck deduction
• You get pre-tax savings
• By using pre-tax dollars to cover your commuting costs you save on those expenses
• Employers also save on FICA and other payroll- related costs
• With WageWorks, you also get free monthly delivery of your monthly bus or parking pass to your home

Two new reports offer fresh insights and national comparisons

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a Report to Congressional Committees that examines the purposes for and extent to which eminent domain can be and has been used. It examines the process states and select localities across the country use to acquire land, including by eminent domain.

Also a report by John D. Echeverria of the Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Institute chronicles The Diversity of 2006 State Ballot Measures Addressing Eminent Domain for Economic Development.

In Rhode Island:

Grow Smart's Eminent Domain analysis - 2006 legislative session

Preview H-5079 - introduced 1/16/07

Click here to let us know if you would like your land-use/water resources related conference or workshop listed on our CommunityConnectionRI Calendar.

Thursday, January 18, 2007 (6:00p)

Thurs., Jan. 25, 2007 (8:30a - 9:30p)

Friday, February 16, 2007

Send us Your News We want to know what's happening in your community.

National

ULI Speakers Address Need for Compact Urban Design, Federal Focus on Urban Areas

NJ - Tax reform promotes better land-use, not short-term fix

Study warns that FL must curb growth or be overwhelmed by sprawl, gridlock

More cities rediscovering allure of street cars

New England

CT - Tax Reform Key to Preserving Rural Character

MA - MBTA plans to expand commuter rail fleet

MA - Bellingham town center plans proceed

Statewide

RI deficit looms large in ‘07

RI tree farms dwindling

URI, high schoolers partner on transit research project

The housing boom ends

Projo Editorial: New Port Potential

Projo Editorial: Property Tax Puzzle