PROVIDENCE – The Providence City Plan Commission Tuesday night approved the preliminary plan for a five-story, mixed-use apartment building at 116 Waterman St., despite lingering concerns from the public about the project’s height and location.
The vote, which was not unanimous, came after another lengthy session of public comment, garnering both support and opposition for the project.
Walter Bronhard and Brook Holding LLC, the project developer and owner, plan to demolish two residential dwellings at 116 Waterman St. and 382 Brook St. and merge the two lots to construct an apartment building, which will contain ground-floor commercial space and 25 residential units.
The commission originally met in Jan. 24 to hear the preliminary plans for the unit, but the meeting ended without a vote following lengthy discussion over some of the project’s characteristics – in particular, its height. The proposed project will be 58 feet and five floors, which is above the permitted 50-foot and four-floor maximum for the area, requiring the developers to seek a dimensional adjustment.
The developers also asked for a design waiver to allow residential space to be located within 20 feet of a main street. Both Waterman Street and Brook Street are main streets, but while the Waterman Street front is already 100% commercial space, developers need a waiver for the Brook Street front. To address some of the concerns related to this waiver, they modified their ground floor plans to add additional nonresidential space on the Brook Street front.
With the new plans, approximately 65% of Brook Street front will be nonresidential, compared to the 23% in its previous plans. The plan still includes one apartment unit on the ground floor, still requiring the design waiver.
For many, this is still not enough.
Councilman John Goncalves, representing Ward 1, and Councilwoman Helen Anthony, representing Ward 2, had both expressed their opposition to the applicant’s request for dimensional adjustment and design waivers at the January meeting.
“The college hill neighbors are trying to protect the residential neighborhoods that surround Brown University and Thayer Street,” said Anthony in a letter submitted to the commission. “116 Waterman is on the edge of the C-2 District. If the dimensional adjustment is granted, the building will tower over the existing buildings across Brook Street which are in the RP zone and will tower over the rest of the buildings in the C-2 blocks north of 114 Waterman Street. If allowed this action by CPC will set a precedent for all buildings to be five stories, not four.”
The College Hill Neighborhood Association has previously spoken out against the project, opposing both granting the design waiver and the request for additional floors, which would “create a greater gap in height disparity with the surrounding buildings and transition to more residential areas,” according to a letter submitted to the commission.
On Tuesday, Rick Champagne, president of the association, reiterated the sentiment, saying the new plans minimally reflect the requirements for commercial space.
“Let’s not be blinded by the term housing prices and throw caution to the wind, let’s be wise and thoughtful about the resources we have,” he said.
Most of the public’s concerns revolve around the quality of life, with many fearing more trash, more noise pollution and issues with parking. To address concerns of noise and possible parties, the developers said it will install noise monitors to track excess noise and notify management of excess capacity or noise.
Some raised concerns about privacy issues related to the implementation of these monitors, but a representative from the device company spoke on Tuesday and ensured the devices are “100% privacy safe,” do not transfer data or record video. The monitors, placed on balconies and the rooftop, will simply detect noise levels and alert management – via a push notification – of high noise levels or high space occupancy. This would allow management to interfere.
But to many, these measures are not nearly enough. Anthony called this system “nothing but smokes and mirrors.”
“There may be devices all over the building to monitor the noise, but it doesn’t mean anything unless there’s going to be some sort of action taken as a result,” she said. “Unfortunately, this particular developer, Mr. Bronhard has a number of properties on College Hill and has been quite unresponsive to neighbors’ complaints of noise, garbage and a number of issues.”
She is not alone.
“I find it ludicrous to believe that this commission would base its approval or denial on whether the applicant is using noise monitoring device,” said Brent Runyon, executive director of the Providence Preservation Society. “As Councilwoman Anthony said, there’s no way the city is going to enforce it.”
But the project is not without its share of supporters.
Michael Kearney, a local resident, said that amid the current housing crisis projects like 116 Waterman St. can benefit neighborhoods.
“I support the dimensional adjustment because it will provide desperately needed housing in the city, because it fits well with the character of the existing buildings out there on Brook St. in terms of height and architecture, and also because it provides great transit access for car-free residents,” Kearney said. “Building this project with the extra floor is the environmentally and fiscally sustainable decision.”
Similarly, resident Matthew Schaelling said he supports the dimensional adjustment.
“This is exactly where we should be putting dense housing,” Schaelling said. “I don’t understand the noise concerns given the location of the of the development, considering that I am in this neighborhood every day and it’s already very noisy.”
The City Plan Commission Tuesday voted 3-1 to approve the dimensional adjustment and 3-1 to approve the design waiver, subject to the plan submitted in February. They then voted 3-1 to approve the preliminary plan for the proposal, listing three conditions: that the final plan is delegated to DPD staff, that the applicant installs and maintains the noise monitors, and that the applicant provides on site management and/or security 24/7.
Developers of a new educational facility in Silver Lake, scheduled to present their master plan on Tuesday, asked to continue the item to the April meeting. Applicant Excel Academy and owner Destiny Partners LLC are proposing to build a school for grades K-8 at 740 Plainfield St., on the site of a former market with vacant lots. The new lot will include a 41,000-square-foot building with a height of 43 feet and three stories tall, a playground, vehicle and bus parking and landscaping.
(Update: Story updated through out with results from meeting)
Claudia Chiappa is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Chiappa@PBN.com.
Seems like a worthwhile project – adds to the tax base, brings a more interesting streetscape to the area than what currently exists, adds to Providence’s housing stock, and is positive for population growth so important to getting federal grants.
The amount of investment dollars coming into Providence is a critical factor, since macroeconomics tells us that investment is key to wealth creation and the City really needs burnish its reputation as a place to invest. Not quibbling about the height variance request of 8 more feet is a starting point. Otherwise, you are telling risk capital what spells a worthwhile project financially, easy to say when the City is not shouldering the financial risk. It’s not like they’re asking for variance for a ten story building. Time is money for everyone and the City needs to move projects on a faster track to reap the benefits.