A proposed amendment to the City’s draft Comprehensive Plan, a ten-year guide for urban planning and development, could make Providence the first East Coast city to effectively ban the development of new gas stations.
The amendment, which was originally proposed by Providence City Council Member John Goncalves ’13 MA’15, was approved by the City’s Committee on Ordinances on Monday, The Herald previously reported.
The full Council will vote on the plan on Nov. 7. Then, Mayor Brett Smiley has the option to veto or approve the plan, which also requires state approval. If the plan is approved, a zoning ordinance would prohibit the construction of new gas stations.
The amendment aims to support a transition to green energy and electric vehicles, according to Goncalves. The original Comprehensive Plan proposal, approved in June, “discouraged” but did not ban the development of new stations. Goncalves’s original version of the amendment offered no exceptions to the prohibition of new gas stations and was approved by the City’s Committee on Ordinances on Oct. 9.
Since then, the City Council and the mayor collaborated to produce the current version of the plan, which allows for new gas stations only through special-use permits. Those permits are granted when the land is deemed “unsuitable for residential development.”
With this week’s adjustments, Smiley is now “supportive of the changes made to the Comprehensive Plan,” Josh Estrella, the mayor’s communications director, wrote in an Oct. 22 email to The Herald.
Controversy over the amendment
But that wasn’t always the case. Last week, Smiley indicated that he might veto Goncalves’s original proposal to issue a complete ban on new gas stations. “An 11th hour decision to simply ban something most Providence families rely on, with no research on its economic impact, is not the path forward for a 10-year plan,” Estrella wrote in an Oct. 17 email to The Herald.
Goncalves emphasized that the amendment will not impact existing gas stations. Prohibiting new gas station development “will help us to shift away from fossil fuels and support the transition to more clean green energy” and electric vehicles, Goncalves added.
Goncalves said the mayor’s critiques were “inconsistent with the tenets of the (Providence’s) Climate Justice Plan,” which set a goal for the city to become carbon-neutral by 2050. “If the administration decides to block this, they would be contradicting their own goals in terms of the climate justice plan,” he said.
In an Oct. 17 statement released after Smiley threatened the veto, City Council President Rachel Miller wrote that hundreds of residents have engaged in conversations about the plan and that the amended draft reflects their priorities and feedback.
“To threaten a two year process … over this issue is irresponsible,” she wrote in the statement. “There are over 40 gas stations in the city, (on) land which can be used as gas stations in perpetuity. There is no known demand for more.”
Estrella did not comment on Miller’s remarks.
Providence as a hopeful leader in green energy
The plan also calls for the City to prioritize “the development and installation of (electric vehicle) charging stations across Providence.”
To Goncalves, the plan could make Providence a leader in the transition to green energy. “Being the first city on the East Coast to get this done will hopefully prompt other cities” to follow, he said.
Kim Cobb, the director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, wrote in an email to The Herald that “we must recognize that the future of transportation is electric if RI is to achieve its ambitious emissions reductions goals.”
Electric vehicles are “cheaper to drive, reduce harmful air pollution, and reduce greenhouse gasses by 70% compared to even the most fuel-efficient gas car,” she said.
Goncalves said he is working on additional legislation to support electric vehicle infrastructure, complementing previous laws that exempt charging stations from taxation and incentivize EV use. The amended plan also proposes that the city encourages existing gas stations to install charging ports.
Community members have also expressed support for the amendment. During an Oct. 16 public hearing on the plan, Providence local Alex Diaz-Papkovich said “restricting new gas stations is a move that will save lives, heartache and money.”
“The Providence proposal to ban the construction of new gas stations is a strong, and much needed, signal that the era of burning fossil fuels for energy needs to come to a close as soon as possible,” wrote Stephen Porder, the associate provost for sustainability. “I’m proud that our home town is taking a leadership role in the transition to a cleaner, healthier and more efficient future.”
Additional reporting by Avani Ghosh
Ciara Meyer is a Senior Staff Writer covering the Beyond Brown beat. She is from Saratoga Springs, New York and plans on concentrating in Statistics and English nonfiction. In her free time, she loves scrapbooking and building lego flowers.
