New group aims to defend industrial waterfront

PBN PHOTO / BRIAN McCDONALD

FROM THE BAY, the two faces of the waterfront – exemplified by the pale blue boat lift at the industrial Promet Marine, at left, and the pier at the tourism-oriented Conley’s Wharf – both are prominent.

PBN FILE PHOTO / BRIAN McDONALD

LARGELY VACANT structures such as the old Sheppard’s warehouse could gain new life under the city’s proposed rezoning. But alliance members say the area is too busy and too loud for residential use.

PBN FILE PHOTO / BRIAN McDONALD

A WORKER is dwarfed by vessels in drydock at Promet, one of several marine industry businesses that operate at all hours – and loudly, notes Ash Kinzel, terminal manager at the nearby Sprague Energy.

By Kevin Shalvey,
PBN Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE – Eight water-dependent businesses along the Allens Avenue industrial corridor today announced the formation of an alliance against what they say is an effort to gentrify the industrial-zoned area.

Under the city Department of Planning and Development’s Providence Tomorrow plan, the half of the corridor north of Thurbers Avenue could be designated as mixed-use.

The Providence Working Water Alliance opposes the plan. The charter members of the group, which is actively recruiting in the neighborhood, are Promet Marine Services, Sprague Energy, Providence Steamboat, J. Goodison Co. Inc., Narragansett Improvement, Northeast Marine Pilots, the Oil Heat Institute and Phillips Services Corp.

The business owners say there is no room for mixed-use or residential space. Ash Kinzel, terminal manager at Sprague Energy, noted that his business is loud and operates at all hours.

“I’ve had bulldozers going for three days straight on top of that [salt] pile,” he said. “There would be issues – to say the least – if there was a condo next door to me.”

But Thomas Deller, the city’s director of planning, said that Providence Tomorrow – a master plan to be completed through neighborhood charrettes during the next 18 months – seeks to identify what residents want. It does not seek explicitly to rezone, he said.

The alliance and the city probably have compatible goals, he said.

“I think what we say in Providence Tomorrow, particularly in the Waterfront section, is that we recognize the importance of the waterfront, we recognize the importance of jobs on the waterfront,” Deller said. “But we also recognize the fact that there’s a need to have greater flexibility and ability to change.”