Downtown Harrisville, one of Burrillville’s five main villages, isn’t a shopping destination. Main Street boasts mom-and-pop restaurants, a garage and a post office. But there aren’t chain retailers or restaurants. There isn’t a mall.
Still, town leaders want to bring more people through the quiet downtown. And they are looking to one of Burrillville’s growth areas – affordable housing – to help perform the transformation.
The more people who live nearby, the more interest there will be in stores on Main Street, Town Planner Tom Kravitz said. And increasing the numbers of shoppers might draw new businesses into town.
Town officials hope the 36 affordable housing units at the redevelopment of an historic mill adjacent to Main Street will, along with a new library, begin to spur that needed economic growth.
The Stillwater Mill complex is one of 20 projects in 17 towns that were subsidized by the first year of a $50 million housing bond that passed in last year’s election. State and town leaders on Nov. 29 held a press conference there to highlight the positive impact of the bond money.
Stillwater is a 47-unit, mixed-income development located steps away from downtown Harrisville. The state bond provided $1.2 million for the project.
As of this year, more than 8 percent of Burrillville homes qualify as affordable housing. In the ranking of Rhode Island municipalities, that percentage places the rural town behind only Providence and Newport.
That’s a ranking Town Council President Nancy F. Binns is quick to point out. Affordable housing is one of the town’s strengths, one that will hopefully draw new businesses to a faded Main Street, she said.
“We’re looking at not only reinvigorating with people, but, as is commonly said, ‘If you build it, they will come,’” she said. “They will come, and they will demand services.”
That means that, beyond an increased tax base, town officials hope that an increased population will demand and attract more high-quality businesses and services downtown.
“In order for a community to remain vibrant and living, you have to be able to provide new blood into the community at all times, and when prices make that difficult, it becomes a much more difficult project,” she said.
The development is adjacent to the $9 million Jesse M. Smith Memorial Library project, expected to be finished this spring.
“This whole project – the library, this whole project and the town’s whole plan for it – is a living, breathing model of good planning, great place-making,” said Joseph Garlick, executive director of NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, the mill-project developer.
Aside from giving Rhode Islanders a place to live, affordable housing and well-defined places – like Stillwater – will bring people into the state both to visit and to live, said Richard Godfrey, executive director of Rhode Island Housing.
Blackstone Valley Tourism Council Executive Director Robert Billington concurs. When affordable housing is mixed with deeply-rooted senses of place, he said, its community value doubles.
And that combination will draw in tourism dollars. The Stillwater project is the “most modern thinking” for tourism development, he said.
The Blackstone Valley, which is a large portion of the state’s landmass, generates about $240 million in tourism each year, Billington said. Community-based developments like Stillwater can “create an appealing, dynamic, economically-prosperous and healthy Blackstone Valley,” he said.
With the 1,500 affordable housing units that the bond money will subsidize through 2010, the state should focus on inclusive developments that are highly dependent on place for their character and attraction, Godfrey said, ones like the Stillwater Mill. That will draw new residents and businesses.
“We all hear about how Rhode Island is not as competitive as it could be in terms of attracting businesses,” he said. “But one of our huge assets are beautiful places like this, communities on rivers that create a real sense of place where people can play, work, live, worship, all of those things in one place.” •
