I-195 panel’s debate over Link proposal confidentiality ongoing

AT A MEETING OF the I-195 Commission Monday night, commissioners continued the ongoing debate about how much information to release to the public about development proposals. Above, a rendering of a proposed pedestrian walkway between two office buildings on Clifford Street in The Link
AT A MEETING OF the I-195 Commission Monday night, commissioners continued the ongoing debate about how much information to release to the public about development proposals. Above, a rendering of a proposed pedestrian walkway between two office buildings on Clifford Street in The Link "developer's toolkit," released by the commission in February. / COURTESY I-195 REDEVELOPMENT DISTRICT COMMISSION

(Updated, 6:56 p.m.)

PROVIDENCE – The I-195 Redevelopment District Commission has received “several” development proposals, including potential commercial, residential, hospitality and recreational projects, for the former highway land known as The Link, the agency said Tuesday.
The proposals “range from a sliver of land to a combination of parcels,” the commission said in a news release, and “reflect an equal level of interest in the parcels in the parcels on the east and west side of the Providence River.”
The statement did not include the number of proposals the commission received by its initial May 1 deadline, nor the aggregate square footage of the proposals, as had been expected last month when commissioners first voted on how much information to release about interest in the land.
The commission’s current policy is to reveal details of individual bids only after they have either signed a letter of intent to proceed or have been rejected.

So far, Providence Business News has confirmed three proposals have been submitted for the land, one by Carpionato Group of Johnston, one by Royal Oaks Realty LLC of Providence and one by Hecht Development of Gloucester, Mass.
Hecht principal Kenneth Hecht said Tuesday he placed a bid on Parcel 30, a narrow lot that abuts 95 Chestnut Street, the historic red brick factory he converted to rental office space.
Hecht said his bid did not include any specific plans, but expresses a desire to combine the two properties, which makes sense from a practical standpoint.
“When you look at the geometry it just makes sense to combine,” Hecht said. “Parcel 30 is a quite narrow, strange-shaped lot. You could do something on it by itself but combining makes more sense.”
The Hecht bid could likely be the “sliver of land” proposal referenced in Tuesday’s Link statement.

On Monday night the commission took multiple closed-door votes regarding proposals for The Link, but did not make any information about them public.
Before taking the discussion private, commissioners expressed concern with a recent decision between public meetings to walk back portions of the Commission confidentiality policy approved last month.
Under criticism for being overly secretive, Brodie announced May 5 that the commission would reverse its policy not to release any details of proposals not chosen.
When Chairman Colin Kane suggested that agency staff had not had time to research the policies of other public agencies, Commissioner John Kelly challenge the point.
“That’s not a fair statement that we didn’t have time,” Kelly said. “We had time to change our position.”
“We clarified our position,” Kane replied.
Last month the commission voted to release letters of intent once they signed with developers, but Commissioner Barrett Bready said Monday he was concerned under the current policy more details from unsuccessful proposals would be released than successful ones.
The commission appeared near a vote Monday night to keep the letters secret and only release the name of the developer, parcel, program and classification, but instead tabled the issue until a study of of how other public agencies handle the issue could be completed.

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  1. The Link Commission should be stimulating a “buzz” about the development potential and sifting through several exciting proposals for different parcels, maybe even a very large one. Instead the Commission is bogged down with a confidentiality issue. Not a good start?