In the last 20 years, $24 million of public investment have yielded nearly $500 million in private ventures in the Blackstone Valley. Now, the area awaits word of whether or not it will have the opportunity to continue to seek that public funding for the next five years.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted this month to reauthorize for an additional five years the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, a federally recognized stretch of land spanning more than 400,000 acres in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The designation allows a commission that oversees the corridor to seek federal funding.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
For manufacturers, energy is more than just another operating expense. It plays a critical role…
Learn More
The reauthorization still awaits approval from the U.S. Senate, which is in recess until Sept. 5. The deadline to pass the bill is in November.
Larry Gall, interim executive director for the corridor, said no controversy is expected. But because of proposed changes to federal law, these may be the last five years the land has that designation, so the corridor commission needs to prepare to become self-sufficient.
Until recently, heritage corridors were reauthorized every 10 years. The Blackstone Valley corridor was first authorized in 1986, then reauthorized in 1996. But since then, proposed standards have been negotiated between Congress and the National Parks Service that would allow for a total of only 15 years’ authorization for any heritage corridor.
If the corridor loses the federal designation, Gall said, its governance could be transferred to a nonprofit group or a two-state commission. Already, the corridor commission is taking small steps toward self-governance, he noted, such as having its paddle club run by the members.
Although Gall said he isn’t worried about the future, he does believe the commission will have to find another way to support its operations. The corridor has a “great record of achievement,” he said, and “there is a challenge ahead” to continue to build on it.
Environmental and recreational projects such as the cleanup of the Blackstone River and the creation of the Blackstone Bikeway have not only made the area more attractive to visitors – they’ve also spurred private investment in the region.
Michael Cassidy, Pawtucket’s director of planning and development, said the cleanup of the river and the creation of a visitor’s center in Pawtucket – “all the tourist stuff” – “has certainly added to the interest in the city.”
Developer Ranne Warner, owner of the Riverfront Lofts in Pawtucket, said the Blackstone River cleanup was a big part of what led her to do the project. “Without it, I never would’ve dreamed of this substantial investment.”
Much of the available property in the corridor has been purchased with development in mind, Warner said.
Robert Billington, executive director of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council and a member of the corridor commission, said that aside from the right to seek federal funding – which could amount to as much as $15 million under the pending reauthorization – the designation is also important for giving the area a brand name.
With recognition under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, the status as a heritage corridor gives the Blackstone Valley something to attract visitors and investors. Without that recognition, Billington said, the area probably would look like “Anywhere, USA.”
He likened the creation of the corridor, and the development boom it has spurred, to the construction of Interstate 95 in the middle part of the last century.
“What you see all around the interstate now wasn’t there in the late 1960s,” Billington said. “That public investment drew the private investment that you see today. And that’s what’s happening with the Blackstone.”
