The Rhode Island Chapter of the American Planning Association has conferred the East Providence Waterfront District Commission with the 2013 Award for Best Plan Implementation.
The award was presented to East Providence Waterfront Commission Chairman Bill Fazioli along with Jeanne Boyle, Executive Director and Roberta Groch, Waterfront Senior Planner on December 12th at the Chapter’s Annual Dinner.
“2013 has been a remarkable year for the District,” noted Bill Fazioli. “Not only did we start the year with the grand opening of the Tockwotton Home we were also able to end the year by officially welcoming over 200 employees from Eaton Aerospace to its new state of the art manufacturing facility at 10 New Road this past November.”
“It has been a gratifying 10 years for the Commission,” noted Jeanne Boyle. “When the plan was first adopted in 2003 I had faith that good things would happen if we set the stage for private investment in the District,” Boyle added. “This recognition is a wonderful culmination of hard work and steadfast dedication of Commission members, the City Council and private developers who share our vision for the District.”
Mr. Fazioli noted that the success of the Commission to date is a testimony to the quality and the comprehensiveness of the planning effort that preceded it and he thanked the RIAPA for this recognition. He went on to state that the Commission looks forward to working with the development community, local, state and federal elected officials, State agencies and the East Providence residents in developing priorities for the next ten years of continued progress in the Waterfront District.
About the East Providence Waterfront Commission
The East Providence Waterfront District Commission was established in 2003 by special state enabling legislation and is charged with the revitalization of 300 acres of vacant or underutilized land along the City’s shoreline. The Commission is made up volunteers appointed by the City Council and the Governor and who come from a variety of business and development backgrounds. Through the special enabling legislation the Commission has been given a number of tools to carry out their charge including flexible and streamlined zoning processes that combine all local approvals under their authority. This development review process has been warmly received by the development community and has been instrumental to the success of the District. The Commission also has employed other economic development strategies such as tax increment financing to assist in public-private development of key infrastructure improvements, successful access to federal grants to assist manufacturing expansion and the development of a revolving loan program to assist green business development.
For more information on the Commission please visit; http://eastprovidencewaterfront.com/index.php
