Providence City Council Meeting | Febuary 26th, 2025 | Committee on Ordinaces
Call to Order and Roll Call
Councilman Pedro Espinal called the committee meeting to order and established a quorum through a roll call vote. He acknowledged attending planning officials and council colleagues before introducing the evening's public hearing on zoning alignment.
Item 1: Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance Amendment - Presentation and Map Amendments
The clerk read Item 1 regarding text and map amendments to the Providence zoning ordinance aligned with the comprehensive plan. Planning Deputy Director Robert Azar and Councilwoman Harris introduced several map amendments, which the committee voted to adopt.
Item 1: Public Hearing and Exhibits
Members of the public and stakeholders delivered testimony regarding housing density, parking mandates, and neighborhood character under the proposed zoning code. Following public comment, the committee voted to accept exhibits into the record and closed the public hearing.
Item 1: Vote on Comprehensive Rezoning (Phase One) as Amended
The committee considered final approval of phase one of the comprehensive rezoning ordinance as amended. The motion to approve was voted on and passed unanimously.
Adjournment
With no further business remaining on the calendar, a motion to adjourn was made and seconded. The committee approved the motion and adjourned the meeting.
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Ordinance. I'm councilman Pedro Espinal. Today is February 26, and the time is 05:46. Madam clerk, roll call, please.
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Chairman Espinal?
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Present.
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Vice chairwoman Peterson? Present. Councilwoman Harris. Present. Councilman Vargas.
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Present.
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Councilor Arroyas.
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Present.
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You have five present. You have a quorum.
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Thank you. I'd to acknowledge from the Department of Planning, mister Bob Beza and team share that are here. Also, city solicitor. And, of course, our colleagues, councilwoman Anthony, councilman Sanchez, and councilwoman Endebuah. Thank you for being here with us, and thank you to you all for being on our first public hearing for this year.
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As you know, we have already passed a comprehensive plan. And tonight, what we're doing is just aligning the, zoning laws in order to correspond with that. So with that, madam clerk, item number one, please.
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Item number one is an ordinance and amendment of chapter 27 of the code of ordinances of the city Of Providence entitled the City Of Providence zoning ordinance approved 11/24/2014 as amended to change certain text in articles two, three, four, five, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, and twenty, and to amend the base and overlay zoning maps.
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Thank you. We have an exhibit, so I'll entertain a motion to enter into the record exhibit one a.
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So moved. Second.
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Motion is made by councilor Peterson, second by councilor Vargas. All in favor, aye. Aye. Opposed? Abstained.
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The ayes have it. Thank you. Alright. Mr. Bob Azar, please, from Department of Planning and Development.
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Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Robert Azar, Deputy Director, Department of Planning and Development. It's good to be back tonight after a few months. As you'll recall, the comprehensive plan was signed by the mayor in November and became law at the local level.
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And immediately following that, we launched into this first phase of zoning changes. As we've discussed, there will be an additional phase where we'll be tackling some of the other challenging issues that are addressed in the comprehensive plan. But for now, this is a significant ordinance. It does deal with a lot of important zoning changes. Just to give you the highlights, we're adopting a brand new zoning map, base map and overlay map with significant changes.
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You'll recall that we are merging the R2 and R3 zones, the C1 and the C2 zones. We are dissolving the Capital Center District and the commission. We are incorporating new regulations into the R4 zone.
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We are
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adopting new regulations around small lots that include lots that had been previously merged. We created new regulations for multifamily, row house, cluster development. And then there are a series of other miscellaneous changes, some including recent changes in state law that require us to adopt certain things at the local level. You should have in your possession a letter from the City Plan Commission that found this amendment to be consistent with the new comprehensive plan and also with the purposes of zoning. And there are three amendments that I would like to just read into the record.
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They're all map changes, and they have all come in at the request of council members. The first one is 213 And 215 Camp Street. That's Platte 6, Lots 593 And 594, to be rezoned from R3 to R4. This was actually included in the future land use map of the comprehensive plan. But because of some issues with ownership, We didn't include it immediately in the zoning changes, but we're now proposing to include it.
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And there would be a footnote on the map that says development on these parcels shall be limited to, A, what is permitted in the R3 zone, or B, what is permitted in the R4 zone as long as there are no more than 16 dwelling units and four stories, with 100% of the units required to be affordable to households earning less than 80% of area median income.
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Thank you.
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Okay. That's number one. Number two is one hundred twenty five to one hundred thirty three Alger Avenue and 99 Dixon Street. That's Plat 89, Lots 38381382383, and 105 from M 1 to MMU 75. That's from the request of Councilman Taylor.
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And then finally, 41 Central Street and 45 Central Street, Platte 30, Lots 686 And 73 to be added to the transit overlay district for the request of Councilwoman Harris.
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Any question from committee members pertaining to the amendment?
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Chair.
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Councilor Harris.
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Yes. Miss Cesar, maybe I'm in the wrong ballpark. I was also wondering what would happen with the request of the change on Haywood Street.
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Yes, councilwoman. I am aware of that. And if it's something that you wanna do, now would be the time to put it into the record. And the committee needs to vote on all of these changes prior to the close of the public hearing.
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Yes.
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So so you you should read it into the record now if that's
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Alright. At this point, I would like to read, mister chair.
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Go right ahead.
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Item number one, this vote council. Hey 2 Haywood Street, 6 Haywood Street, 10 Haywood Street, 245 Pearl Street, 239 Pearl Street, Plot 3023 Lots 7637323 and 76632. Thank you, miss chair.
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You're welcome. Any questions on those? So, okay, so here it is, no further question. I'll enter the motion to amend.
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So moved.
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Motion is made by Councillor Peters, second by Councillor Bacotts. All in favor, aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it.
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So this petition is amended as requested and as recorded. Thank you, mister Azer. City sergeant, can I get the, list of people that have signed up to speak on this matter? Okay, so good evening everyone. Once again, our first speaker will be Mr.
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Greg Garrett. Come on up, please.
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Council people, thank you for holding this hearing.
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Good evening.
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My name is Greg Garrett. I live on 6th Street. I don't really care if you pass this or not. I don't you know, I think you're gonna do it because it's, you know, fits what you've got to do in the process. But if you go I I spend much more time on the comprehensive plan, and I know that's been passed.
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But the weaknesses in the comprehensive plan, mean that we are going to be much less prepared for the next ten years than we could have been. The changes in the world are, going to overwhelm this. You know, we we you know, you've you've proceeded to densify the city, and we need to densify the city. But, if we're gonna try to get the economy that we need, we need to add, like, housing for 30,000 people in the next few years. I don't think that there's anything that we have in front of us is gonna do that.
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There may be some things that would be politically unpopular that would that would take to do that, and I understand why that that doesn't happen. But to meet the real needs of this community in the next ten years, you need something much more radical and powerful than what you've got in front of you. I'm gonna say the same thing about what we do on the waterfront. The things that are going on on the waterfront are not going to meet our needs. They are gonna continue the pollution.
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They are not going to transform the economy. And the zoning code following the comprehensive plan, you know, basically acquiesces to the inadequacy of that. And, you know, we all want a city that moves forward. And, this will probably help a little, but it doesn't help enough. Thank you.
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Thank you, mister Gary. Catherine Taylor.
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Good evening, Chairman Espinal, members of the ordinance committee.
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Good evening.
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My name is Catherine Taylor. I live on Lloyd Avenue, and I also am the state director for AARP Rhode Island. And so I'm here actually in that capacity, and you all have a letter from me in strong support of this this ordinance, which we feel will really add to the quality of life in our city. It will provide many more types of housing options for people of all ages, especially for older adults who might be house rich and cash poor and stuck in big houses that they can't manage anymore, but their choice is either to stay there or to move away out of a community where they have strong support, family, walkable, you know, just the places that they love. And so, we believe that these zoning changes will make our city more accessible to everyone.