Parks can spur city growth

Does Providence need a minor league baseball stadium on the riverfront downtown? An at least equally debatable question not getting nearly as much attention: Does it need a public park there even more?

Since the Pawtucket Red Sox owners announced their plans to develop a site fronting the Providence River, which includes a 5-acre parcel that had been designated for a park, much of the discussion has centered on whether a ballpark will deliver an economic benefit worth the proposed public subsidy initially sought by team owners.

The economic value of the site as a park was broached by the Providence Preservation Society, which made a public statement in August opposing the location for a ballpark.

The society argued the proposed ballpark use was too narrow for a site that has been earmarked for a public park since 2006. Its statement referenced economic studies, which have found well-planned parks typically increase the value of surrounding properties by up to 15 percent.

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“Additional direct benefits include increased physical activity among residents, improved air quality and stronger community cohesion,” wrote Executive Director Brent Runyon.

Altogether, the city’s 105 parks cover 1,131 acres, according to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. Downtown has almost 10 acres in parkland, ranging from several hundred linear feet of riverwalk to the 2.5-acre Waterplace Park.

Across the country, development of downtown parks has picked up, in part because the urban centers are growing again and residents want access to parks. It is much harder to retrofit the space after the city has been built-out, but many cities have become creative. Boston is now home to one of the largest new parks, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, built over the massive Big Dig system of tunnels.

“Cities for the first time in 50 years are growing again,” said Edward McMahon, a senior resident fellow for the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C.

“In many cases, the city center is growing faster than the surrounding suburbs. As we grow, we need to grow our parks at the same time. Density has to have some compensating amenities.”

In New York, city guidelines call for 2.5 acres of park located within a half-mile walk for every 1,000 people, according to Adrian Benepe, senior vice president for The Trust for Public Land, a national organization that works with communities to plan and develop public parks.

Benepe says that as Providence develops, and attracts more residential conversion through new apartments, it will likely come under additional pressure to create more open spaces downtown.

“People will be looking for parks,” he said. “Just having corporate plazas and waterfront promenades are not enough.” •

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