Yesterday the Head of the Bay Gateway project and the Friends of India Point Park hosted a placemaking workshop to discuss the future of India Point Park and the old Shooters night club property. The event drew and excellent crowd of Fox Point residents and community groups who all seemed to agree that the area is ideal for creating a vibrant public waterfront access point that should not be monopolized by condo developments. As reported in today’s Providence Journal:
India Point Park is in the midst of a total reinvention. It has been chewed up by backhoes involved in the Route 195 project for the last few years, but once the highway relocation is complete, park advocates say, the foundation for a larger and better-used park will exist — if it isn’t gobbled up by developers interested in high-rise residential development.
It was quickly clear that the Shooters site was seen as the key to reinventing the larger park. Participants yesterday said that they hoped to see a marina built at the site, flanked by restaurants offering outdoor dining and publicly accessible space available for use that would draw residents from around the region.
WaterFire creator Barnaby Evans, who oversaw the group assigned to the Shooters site, said that the dilapidated property is the lynchpin of the efforts to improve the waterfront.
“We clearly saw it as a resource that is ours to grab now, and will not be there again,” Evans said.
The Providence Working Waterfront Alliance supports the Head of the Bay Gateway project as it is an ideal location to provide public waterfront access in the city.
America’s Marine Highway Initiative, sponsored by the U.S. Maritime Administration, is working to promote greater use of U.S. waterways and ports to relieve gridlocked truck traffic on our interstate highway system. Below is a roughly 15 minute video detailing the many ways, like short sea shipping, that our waterways can be used to create an efficient marine highway for the transportation of goods. If properly protected and promoted, the Port of Providence would be a perfect location for many of the shipping options described below.
Rhode Island’s Ports and Commercial Harbors: A GIS Inventory of Current Uses and Infrastructure & Recommendations for Future Enhancement
This project will provide new statewide data that will inform the waterborne freight, marine transportation and land use planning decision making process. It will: 1) Prepare a comprehensive Geographic Information Systems (GIS) based inventory of marine commercial/industrial uses and infrastructure and their current utilization of Rhode Island ports and commercial harbors; and 2) Using inventory data, and input from key stakeholders, make recommendations for future enhancement of marine commercial/industrial uses and infrastructure that can collectively resolve some pressing state issues.
Federal surface transportation legislation calls for joint decision making on a metropolitan level in conducting transportation planning which addresses land use and transportation interactions. In Rhode Island’s shoreline region, port and commercial harbor planning has traditionally occurred in isolated fashion, with little attention paid to the impact of decisions on the economic, environmental and social resources of Narragansett Bay as a whole, the State of Rhode Island, or Southern New England (emphasis added). This study will improve the level of coordination in the planning for the future of RI ports and harbors by bringing relevant data into the decision making process, by providing for stakeholder and expert input into the formulation of specific policy-based recommendations. As with other states, ports and harbors may provide solutions to resolve many of Rhode Island’s future problems including freight transportation, traffic congestion, and economic development, many of which are identified as goals, strategies, policies and objectives in Transportation 2025, Land Use 2025, the Coastal Resources Management Council Marine Resources Development Plan, and others. A comprehensive understanding of Rhode Island’s marine commercial/industrial uses and infrastructure is an essential element of good, proactive, planning. By looking ahead at anticipated transportation-related problems, Rhode Island can make better use of the unique resources represented by its ports and commercial harbors and their connections to the greater marine transportation system.
For more information on this project or to join the listserv, please contact Austin Becker at abecker@crc.uri.edu.
The R.I. Supreme Court’s decision to support Promet Marine Services Corp.’s bid to buy the 5-acre waterfront parcel it operates on is a victory for private-property interests.
City officials opposed the purchase because they want to use the property for mixed-use development – including residential elements. Two years ago, the Providence County Superior Court threw out Promet’s $1 million bid on technical grounds and issued a ruling saying the city had the right of first refusal to purchase the state-owned land that Promet sits on.
The Supreme Court’s reversal of the lower-court ruling is similarly convoluted. And since the city has appealed, Promet is not yet celebrating its victory.
This issue should not turn on a technicality. As a matter of good public policy and common sense, the city should respect ongoing, successful businesses. Promet has been operating on the Providence waterfront for 35 years, providing services that are needed for the state’s maritime industry. Pushing out thriving companies in favor of speculative development (especially in light of the current downturn in housing) is not only wrong, it is bad for business and bad for the economy.
A “perfect storm of opportunity” could drive the East Coast to embrace short sea shipping and put ports such as New Bedford and Fall River back on the map as significant players in moving cargo up and down the Atlantic seaboard.
Climate change and transportation issues, including the push to cut emissions and rising fuel prices, could combine with the re-emergence of cities as sought-after places to live, spinning up the “perfect storm of opportunity,” according to Douglas I. Foy, former state secretary of Commonwealth Development.
In a Providence Journal op-ed, shipping expert Richard DeSimone, president of Travelers Ocean Marine, argues that the U.S. shipping industry will continue to grow even during the current economic downturn:
The economic storm signals signals are all around us: the wild swings in stock markets globally, the contraction of credit availability worldwide and the frequent use of the dreaded R-word. Is the United States headed for a deep recession? Is a recession already under way? Will the slowing U.S. economy drag the rest of the world’s countries into recession as well?It’s enough to make those of us either in or aligned with the maritime industry wonder what the future holds. Should we batten down the hatches, yet proceed full speed ahead to ride out what may be a temporary squall? Or should we be looking for the shelter of a safe harbor until the worst of the storm passes?
In the insurance industry, we have confidence about what lies ahead for the shipping industry. That’s largely because we’re used to assessing risk and taking a long perspective that smooths the bumps of short-term disruptions. One large trend (globalization) and two sets of statistics (U.S. exports and shipbuilding rates) are enough to give us optimism about the maritime industry overall, and shipping in particular.
Rhode Island is known as the Ocean State, and if we properly protect and promote our ports we can directly benefit from continued growth in the shipping industry.
Providence’s waterfront stands at a crossroads. Too often, we have to choose between jobs and open markets, or between jobs and the environment. Domestic maritime freight, known as short sea shipping, is ready to expand, particularly between New York and Boston. This change will ease highway congestion, shrink the region’s greenhouse-gas emissions and create jobs. Providence should reject proposed changes to the industrial zone, and keep private residences a safe distance from the port. Providence needs a working waterfront to become a leader in U.S. short sea shipping.
Promet Marine Statement Regarding the Rhode Island Supreme Court’s Decision in the Case of Tidewater Realty, LLC v. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation, et al
Promet Marine has operated a marine repair facility in the Port of Providence for nearly 30 years. Promet operates its business on two adjacent parcels of waterfront land in the Port, one of which it owns and one of which it leased from the State of Rhode Island. Following a lengthy public bidding process, Promet was the successful bidder to purchase the leased land from the State. Before the sale of the leased land to Promet could be completed, however, the State changed course and sold the leased land (over Promet’s objection) to the Providence Redevelopment Agency.
The Rhode Island Supreme Court has recently ruled that the State should have sold the leased land to Promet as originally agreed. According to the court, the Providence Redevelopment Agency exceeded its powers and acted improperly in purchasing the leased land on which Promet operates an on-going business. With this decision in Promet’s favor, Promet now looks forward to completing its purchase of the leased land so it can continue to grow its business.
Short sea shipping is a developing transportation solution where goods are shipped via barges from large ports to smaller regional ports for end distribution. Short sea has been in place in Europe for more than 20 years, and now due to increasing road congestion along I-95 and the North East corridor, the method is attracting serious attention here in the U.S.
On February 29th, a group of short sea shipping experts joined the Working Waterfront Alliance for a tour of Providence Harbor. Led by Scott Borgerson of Columbia University and Robert Kunkel of Coastal Connect, a start-up shipping company, the group spent 3 hours touring the port and talking with area businesses about the possibilities and benefits of locating a short sea shipping operation in Providence.
Scott Borgerson addressing the tour on Promet’s pier.
Advocates for short sea shipping – a regional alternative to long-haul trucking – want to see if Providence could be instrumental in restructuring regional shipping.
Short sea shipping works like this: When imported materials headed for Rhode Island arrive at a large port, such as in New York Harbor, they would be kept in their overseas containers and moved to a smaller barge that would bring them directly to the Ocean State rather than being driven here on Interstate 95, said Robert Kunkel, chairman of Washington, D.C.-based Short Sea Cooperative Program (SCOOP)
It’s an attempt to curb both pollution and traffic congestion caused by trucking, Kunkel said. Environmental benefits would come from lessened trucking congestion – shipping 150 containers via a barge would emit fewer pollutants and use less energy than driving the same 150 containers between New York and Providence, he said.
“Rhode Island comes into the mix because you do have that very nice highway infrastructure,” said Kunkel, who will be touring Allens Avenue on Friday, Feb. 29. “It takes you more or less directly from Providence out into the hinterlands.”
On February 29th, the Working Waterfront Alliance will be hosting a group of national short sea shipping experts who will be touring the are.
Responding to an opinion piece by Working Waterfront Alliance member Julie Gill of the Oil Heat Institute of Rhode Island, Patrick Conley’s “Little People vs. Big Oil” letter to the editor in the February 4th Providence Journal contains a number of inaccuracies and misleading statements.
Conley comments:
The new comprehensive plan and its anticipated re-zoning would have no legal impact on Sprague.
Working Waterfront response:
While the comprehensive plan’s anticipated re-zoning would not have an immediate legal impact, the plan would allow for mixed use condos or hotels to be located directly adjacent to Sprague’s Allens Ave. terminal. Future condo residents and hotel guests are sure to complain about the noise and constant truck traffic typical of a busy industrial oil terminal. These complaints will inevitably lead to political pressure to impose operating restrictions on Sprague’s business which could ultimately force the terminal’s closure.
Conley comments:
Since Ms. Gill holds no position in the Salt Spreading Institute, she did not address the visual affront and the environmental hazard created by Sprague’s mountain of salt. It is the most prominent feature on the Providence landscape for travelers approaching the Renaissance City from the south. Apart from visual pollution, the salt also pollutes the river as it melts and drains into the immediately adjacent water. The usually vigilant Coastal Resources Management Council should open salt talks with Sprague Energy.
Working Waterfront response:
Sprague’s salt pile is in compliance with all state and federal environmental regulations and does not pollute the water in the Port of Providence. This stands in sharp contrast to Mr. Conley’s development which dug up contaminated soils without the proper permits from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. Further, while Mr. Conley may not like its visual appearance, the pile is an essential source of road salt for public works departments throughout the state and region to maintain the safety of our roads and highways during the winter.
Conley comments:
Ms. Gill suggests that my prospective recreational marina, though shielded by my huge fixed pier (“Dock Conley”), would pose a navigational hazard to oil tankers. Does she know that a recreational marina is owned and operated by Sprague as part of its oil terminal in Portland, Maine? Are Rhode Island’s famed yachtsmen less skilled than those in Maine? Are we more likely to ram a tanker than the sailors of Portland or those of other coastal cities that have both marinas and terminals in their harbors?
Ms. Gill also suggests that a ship backing out of the Wilkes-Barre Pier on the opposite shore could cross the half-mile channel and “demolish” my proposed marina “the first time” one backed out of that facility. I would ask Ms. Gill and her purported experts how many times in the last 100 years has a ship backing out of the East Providence terminal run aground on the Providence shore? That imaginary vessel could just as easily back into the Sprague pier or the IWAY Bridge or ram into the LNG storage tank at ProvPort. Are Rhode Island tugboat operators and Bay pilots so incompetent as to back so far off course?
Working Waterfront response:
Sprague purchased a break-bulk terminal in Portland, Maine in 2004 which included a small marina with a limited number of boat slips in an area to the north of the terminal. At the request of the facility’s former owner, Sprague agreed to continue to operate the marina under restrictive conditions. All boat owners using the marina must acknowledge by contract that the facility is an industrial worksite, that industrial activities take precedence, and that Sprague is not liable for any boat damage as a result of those industrial activities.
Further, Ms. Gill’s op-ed piece does not make the argument that Rhode Island’s yachtsman, tug operators, and Bay pilots do not know how to steer their vessels. Rather, her piece points to a very specific effect, propeller wash, which occurs when large ships and barges are turned around in the Port of Providence by powerful tug boats. Mr. Conley’s proposed marina would be directly adjacent to the vessel turning basin for the Sprague, Capital Properties and Promet Marine docks. The force of the propeller wash generated by tugs in the turning basin could easily overturn recreational boats in Mr. Conley’s proposed marina.
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about the resurgence of freight rail transportation, due in large part to the increase in international goods being shipped to U.S. ports.
The buildout comes as the industry transitions away from its chief role in recent decades of hauling coal, timber and other raw materials in manufacturing regions. Now, increasingly, railroads are moving finished consumer goods, often made in Asia, from ports to major cities.
If properly protected from incompatible mixed uses, the Port of Providence, which already has direct rail access, is perfectly situated to take advantage of this growth.
House Finance Committee Chairman Rep. Steven Costantino has an interesting op-ed in Sunday’s Providence Journal noting, among other things, the need to develop Rhode Island’s ports:
How can we grow jobs if we don’t develop our seaports and expand our airport?
Strengthening our high-tech manufacturing sector means ensuring thriving ports and an educated workforce.
The Port of Providence, with its 40ft federal deep water channel, is perfectly situated to take advantage of growing international shipping volumes, but only if our state leaders help protect and promote this tremendous resource.
Providence Working Waterfront Alliance Statement Supporting the Creation of a Special Legislative Commission to Study Economic Opportunities Relating to Port Development in the State of Rhode Island
February 6, 2008
The Providence Working Waterfront Alliance supports Senate Resolution No. 2099 and the establishment of a special legislative commission to study economic opportunities relating to port development in Rhode Island.
With international shipping volumes exploding and the growth of new shipping techniques such as short sea shipping, Rhode Island’s ports, including the Port of Providence, are perfectly situated to take advantage of these trends. If properly protected and promoted, Rhode Island’s ports can continue to grow and serve as an economic engine for our state by providing thousands of high paying jobs and supplying our region’s energy and raw materials needs.
We appreciate the leadership of Sen. Paul Moura on this issue, and we look forward to working closely with the study commission to develop a plan to protect and promote the Ocean State’s tremendous port resources.
On March 26th and 27th 
