 |
| THIS ISSUE |
| HOME |
| SUBSCRIBE |
Update on the Urban Coastal GreenwayThe Urban Coastal Greenway (UCG) Policy—the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council’s (CRMC) refinement of its statewide coastal development and buffer regulations for the cities of Cranston, East Providence, Pawtucket, and Providence—has been called “the most advanced urban waterfront planning tool that’s out in the nation” by NOAA, said Grover Fugate, CRMC executive director. The UCG Policy, created with the assistance of Rhode Island Sea Grant, allows more flexibility in buffer widths than the standard policy along the already-developed upper Bay shoreline in return for compensation such as public access or habitat conservation. In creating it, Fugate said, CRMC looked for models, and were able to take some components from other policies around the country. Still, CRMC had to create some of the policy from scratch, including the policy’s zones, in which different restrictions apply to sections of the shoreline based on environmental characteristics. Fugate said that CRMC has changed its regulations to maximize protection of zones where the highest quality vegetation and habitat exist. “We’re changing over from ‘Let’s make a deal’ to a performance-based system, but we’re allowing the developers a lot of flexibility in meeting the requirements,” he said. True to its name, the UCG Policy was intended to protect the swath of vegetation that still lines the shore in many places in the urban upper Bay, and to create in it a path that would provide points of access to the water. Public access in urban areas is especially important, Fugate added, because much of the population in those areas is “not that mobile.” The policy has been remarkably successful. “The Urban Coastal Greenway policy hasn’t been in place a year, and we’ve opened up over 7,050 linear feet of access to the shoreline, some of which hasn’t been accessible to the public since the Civil War,” Fugate said. The policy includes regulations for stormwater management and sustainable landscaping. “In Rhode Island, nonpoint source pollution is our largest pollution source” for pathogens and nitrogen, Fugate said. “The only thing that has shown promise for treating that is low-impact development,” which the policy incorporates. Sustainable landscaping is increasingly important, Fugate said, because “climate change is going to stress an already stressed water supply. Landscaping is going to be the first to go in terms of restrictions on water.” He added that CRMC will be discussing extending the UCG Policy to other waterfronts. —Monica Allard Cox
|
Rhode
Island Sea Grant |
Coastal Institute |