Warwick Comprehensive Plan Update Underway

WARWICK, RI — Tonight, 6 p.m. at the Sawtooth Annex, the Warwick Planning Board considers a Wharf Road boat workshop, a Knight Street solar array, and starts the Warwick comprehensive plan update.

Warwick City Planner Tom Kravitz said the comprehensive plan consultant, Weston and Sampson of Foxboro, MA, will not be able to make the meeting due to a conflict. The topic will still be discussed, but not in great detail as of yet, he said. First, the board needs to hear what the consultant has to say about the current plan.

“I suspect our first meeting with the consultant will involve hearing what they’ve accomplished.  Being so early on in the process, I’m more in listening mode right now, looking to accept ideas,” Kravitz said.

“The intent of this project is to act as a periodic update of our comp plan.  Statewide Planning looks at comp plan as having a 20 -year planning horizon.  Being only 10 years along as compared to the last time of update, we are focused on data.  To the extent new data informs and demands new policies here and there, we will consider such changes.  This type of update therefore does not demand 34 (I think that was the actual number Dan gave me) design, goal, policy, and action charrettes (planning workshops).  When considering something like City Center, it’s just getting off the ground, the idea is not to reinvent that or go in a different direction here at year 10,” Kravitz wrote.

In an email to Kravitz about the Warwick comprehensive plan update (see below), local airport and environmental watchdog Michael Zarum asked if there would be an opportunity for public comment on the comprehensive plan during the meeting.

“I don’t expect much discussion, however, being an item on the Agenda, if you have ideas for the comprehensive plan, please give them to me and mention it for the record.  Ultimately, it’s up to the Chairman as to how much time is allocated for public comment,” Kravitz wrote to Zarum.

Zarum also inquired about a repeat of public hearings dedicated to the comprehensive plan update, but Kravitz said public input will be collected over the course of regular meetings.

“We intend to follow the cadence of regular Planning Board meetings to hear from residents, received updates from the Consultant, and brainstorm new ideas.  While it may make some of our typical Planning Board meetings a bit more involved, spreading the project out over every monthly meeting will help us pick away at it,” Kravitz  wrote.

Zarum also urged the Planning Board to guard against  bias in favor of airport development over protecting residential neighborhoods, and to ensure the RI Airport Corporation honors prior agreements to not park or run aircraft along Field View Drive, which presents an air pollution health hazard for nearby residents.

Zarum’s entire letter is embedded below: Zarum-Warwick-comprehensive-plan-update