PROVIDENCE – The Providence City Plan Commission on Tuesday recommended that the city not allow residences to be built on the site of the former Shooters nightclub at India Point.
The 4-0 vote, with one abstention, appears to end the commission’s role in a long battle between the city and neighborhood groups over what should be done with the prime waterfront property.
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The R.I. Department of Transportation bought the Shooters property in 2000 to use as a staging area for the Interstate 195 relocation project. The agency is now preparing to sell the property as the Iway project wraps up.
Providence’s current zoning ordinances allow the construction of a residential complex at the site, but neighborhood groups argue residential housing would not fit there because they would be near waterfront businesses such as a tugboat operator.
The groups, which include the Fox Point Neighborhood Association and a coalition called Head of the Bay Gateway, have pressed instead for the construction of a public facility at the site that would include space for events, nonprofit groups, a shoreline diner and a marina.
City officials, on the other hand, maintained that residences could work on the property. They also said reclassifying the land could hurt its market value and lead the Transportation Department to sue.
But commissioners were apparently unconvinced, to the community groups’ delight.
“It sends a message that residences don’t belong on that parcel, so we’re very pleased,” David Riley, co-chair of Head of the Bay Gateway, told Providence Business News on Wednesday.
The neighborhood plan passed by the commission on Tuesday is only a recommendation. The current zoning rules will remain on the books unless the City Council follows the panel’s suggestion and adopts new zoning ordinances.
City officials did not immediately return a phone call requesting comment.
Shooters was part of a Florida-based chain of nightclubs. The Providence location, which opened in June 1990, was built after the developer’s plans to build a 126-unit condominium complex on the site collapsed.
The venue included a restaurant, pool, bar and marina. After its original owners ran into financial problems, a new owner, Michael Kent, took over and operated the nightspot as Bootleggers until it closed in 2000.
An earlier version of this story said the R.I. Department of Transportation took the Shooters site by eminent domain; the agency says it acquired the property through a negotiated deal.
Some of us could never understand how the original Shooters’ owners qualified for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds 20 years ago — but it did. This project was a perfect example of how NOT to use CDBG funds for such “economic development” projects — a mere 10 years after receiving the funds, the place went belly-up.