Election Day was a good day for the Head of the Bay Gateway organization. For more than a year, the organization has urged the state to retain control of the former Shooters nightclub property at Fox Point in Providence. But the R.I. Department of Transportation, which purchased the land as a staging area for the IWay project, said it needed to sell the property to recoup the cost of buying it.
But on Nov. 2, voters ensured the property would remain under state control. They approved a $3.2 million bond that will reimburse the DOT for the cost of acquiring the property. The R.I. Department of Environmental Management will manage the land and expectations are that it will become a public park.
Head of the Bay Gateway steering committee member Frank Sparicio recently took some time to talk about the vote and the group’s vision for the property.
PBN: Were you surprised the bond question passed? Why or why not?
SPARICIO: We were hoping the bond would pass, but took nothing for granted. Our statewide coalition, Save Our Shore, reached out to voters across the state through the media, speaking engagements, yard signs, etc.
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PBN: Any surprises about who or what communities supported the bond?
SPARICIO: We are very pleased that all sections of the state recognize the critical importance of public space on the bay for generations to come. All of Rhode Island’s 39 towns passed it, except Woonsocket, which came only 38 votes short of doing so. Providence led the state with 77.7 percent voter approval.
PBN: So was this a victory for Head of the Bay Gateway or is there more to be done?
SPARICIO: Both. It is a huge victory that the R.I. Department of Transportation now doesn’t have to sell the Shooters parcel, and will be able to put the current fair market value of Shooters (the bond’s $3.2 million) into Rhode Island highway programs, as required by the Federal Highway Administration.
But there is lots more to do. After DOT transfers custody of Shooters to the R.I. Department of Environmental Management, the process of soliciting developers for a public destination at Shooters – a public marina, restaurant, and event space for festivals, food markets, weddings, and other complementary uses – will begin. Head of the Bay Gateway has been gathering input from consultants in the marina and restaurant businesses that will inform the process, and will continue to be involved in the planning, along with other public interest groups like Save The Bay.
PBN: Can you talk a little about the long-term vision for the property as HOBG envisions it?
SPARICIO: We envision private businesses running various enterprises such as the marina, restaurant, and event space – self-supporting businesses that generate economic activity and revenue for the city and state in the form of leases and payroll, income and sales taxes.
It’s important to give people many reasons to visit a waterfront public destination: for a walk along the shore, catching fish, a boat ride on the Bay, dining out, traveling by ferry or water taxi to other waterfront locations, enjoying festivals and concerts, shopping at farmers’ and seafood markets, attending public and private gatherings like weddings, corporate and charitable events and political rallies.
We believe that creating attractive waterfront public space will reap major economic and civic benefits, as it has in many other cities like Chicago, Boston, Baltimore, Milwaukee, San Antonio, Louisville, Chattanooga, Pittsburgh, Hartford and Providence itself, where creating the public space of the Riverwalks made the destination of WaterFire events possible, which bring 1 million visitors spending $33 million a year into our economy.
PBN: Are there more properties HOBG would like to see the state retain or purchase in the Fox Point area?
SPARICIO: The Shooters site is only 1.37 acres, but other state-owned I-195 lands in the immediate area can and should be used to enhance and complement the waterfront destination – for example, increasing parking. We would like to see as expansive and vibrant a waterfront at India Point as possible.
