NEW: Chafee Announces $1 Million in Funding for Regional and Local Planning Initiatives
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Fifteen regional and local planning projects will receive approximately $1 million under the Statewide Planning Program’s Planning Challenge Grant Program, Governor Chafee announced today in a 3:00 p.m. public ceremony in the Atrium Gallery of the Department of Administration. Selected from 33 proposals requesting over $2.3 million, the 15 projects slated for funding come from a variety of project sponsors and propose innovative solutions to address land use and transportation issues faced by Rhode Island communities.
“These Challenge Grants represent a creative use of Federal funds to help Rhode Island cities and towns to plan for their future growth and development. They include projects of statewide significance, such as the Warwick Station Development District, to projects more local in scale, such as the Woonsocket Main Street Livability Plan, and the joint collaboration between Pawtucket and Central Falls. Through this partnership with our local governments and non profit agencies, we are working together to advance both state and local initiatives in transportation, land use, and economic development,” Governor Chafee said.
Grants announced today go to ten municipalities, three non-profit organizations, one academic institution, and one state agency and will support planning projects having an estimated value, including sponsor-match and leveraged funds, of approximately $1.5 million.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTGrant recipients announced today are: Grow Smart Rhode Island; the Cities of Newport, Pawtucket, Providence, Woonsocket, and Warwick; the Towns of Exeter, Johnston, Tiverton, Smithfield, and Warren; the Providence Plan; the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resource Center/Rhode Island Sea Grant; the Olneyville Housing Corporation; and Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. Projects include updates to local comprehensive plans, downtown redevelopment plans, funding for the Grow Smart Land use Training Collaborative, and the investigation of alternative transportation modes. A summary of the all grant awards including contact information is provided below.
As a component of the Department of Administration’s Division of Planning, the Statewide Planning Program is charged with preparing and maintaining plans for the physical, economic, and social development of the state; encouraging their implementation; and coordinating the actions of state, local and federal agencies and private individuals. Supported with planning funds provided through the Federal Highway Administration, the Planning Challenge Grant Program was initially developed by the Statewide Planning Program in 2006 as a means to further the implementation of the state’s official land use plan, Land Use 2025, and the state’s long range transportation plan, Transportation 2030. Together these plans urge state, local, and regional agencies to work together to create a constellation of community centers connected by infrastructure corridors and framed by greenspace.
Since 2006, the Planning Challenge Grant Program has provided over $2.8 million to state agencies, municipalities, universities and non-profit agencies for a variety of inventive and diverse transportation and land use projects: including the implementation of Rhode Island’s first transfer of development rights program in North Kingstown, creation of a new village center with accompanying zoning and design guidelines in the Town of Exeter, and a short sea shipping infrastructure assessment in the City of Providence. A complete list of all previously funded projects is available on the Statewide Planning Program website, www.planning.state.ri.us.
In announcing the awards today, Kevin Flynn, Associate Director of the Division of Planning commented: “We are particularly pleased to be able to make resources available to support these 15 local and regional planning efforts that will help us at the state level achieve the objectives of the State Guide Plan. As illustrated by the success of our past Planning Challenge Grant recipients, sometimes a relatively small investment can make the difference between a plan that ‘sits on the shelf’ and one that truly changes a community, a region, or a state. We are hopeful that in supporting these planning projects we can continue to transform ideas into actions that will make Rhode Island a better place for us all.”
