“This is a plan, called a master plan. But it could change daily after it’s approved.”
That was part of Gov. Lincoln Almond’s pitch as he urged members of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors to approve a proposed master plan for the development of the Quonset Point/Davisville Park during a joint meeting last Monday (Oct. 29) with the Quonset Davisville Management Corporation, an EDC advisory board.
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Almond didn’t get approval for the plan, which has been in the works for almost a year. Instead, action was postponed until next Wednesday (Nov. 14), giving members of both boards a chance to review recent changes to the plan, including the introduction of public comment from meetings held as late as last month.
“We have spent years on this process, what is a couple of more weeks,” asked Sen. J. Michael Lenihan, an East Greenwich Democrat, who serves on the QDMC board. “As a matter of logic we need to review the new information.”
Not everyone agreed.
“I think that we are at a point where we need to fish or cut bait,” said Frank J. Montanaro, an EDC board member, who also serves as president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO. “We have come to a point where we have to be realistic, as long as the port issue stays in there, we are always going to have confrontation on this issue.”
Other members of the EDC board, including Rep. Melvoid J. Benson, a Democrat from North Kingstown, supported the delay.
“This is not just any plan,” she said. “We are planning the future of our state. This is the jewel of the state. It’s not just a North Kingstown park. It belongs to the State of Rhode Island and future generations of the state.”
During the meeting, North Kingstown officials continued to voice concerns that the proposed plan doesn’t fit with the town’s overall comprehensive plan.
“The plan before us is a port plan,” said David R. Burnham, president of the North Kingstown Town Council, and a member of the QDMC board. “Yes, words have been added to modify the plan, but it still focuses on a container facility at Quonset Point. Is it right to focus on just one industry?”
Lenihan echoed that concern after the meeting.
“There are no other specific uses in the plan,” he said. “All other talk is in general terms, yet there are repeated mentions of this one industry.”
But according to Almond, repeated mentions don’t mean that a port is the primary focus.
“This is a plan that sets forth an infrastructure in the process of combining two Navy bases,” he said. “It’s a vision of what something could look like depending on a number of influences.”
A number of QDMC board members noted that unanswered questions included the construction of roads, and the inclusion of maps and photos that related to the proposed changes.
Almond responded to the concern by saying he could name “lots of places” that didn’t have an exact plan for transportation, and instead again said that the plan was a “work in progress.”
Sen. James C. Sheehan, also a North Kingstown Democrat and a member of QDMC board, was reluctant to support Almond’s “work in progress theory.”
“Yes, I think that if we approve this plan we will be locked into a port, just by virtue of our determination and fixation on it,” he said. “What we are doing is turning an idea, whose time has come into the wrong vision for our state.”
Burnham said it’s the town’s opinion that some issues, including transportation, need to be worked out before a final master plan can be approved.
“Is this the right guide for the future? Not yet. Do we know what we are voting on? Not yet. Is this plan consistent with the town of North Kingstown? Not yet,” he said. “I use the term ‘not yet’ because I think that there is a way for us to get there. I think once we look at the (outstanding) issues, the board can vote on a complete master plan, an implementation plan.”
The EDC board is expected to vote on the plan at its Nov. 14 meeting.
