CRMC receives Transportation Excellence award from RIDOT

May 20, 2014, WAKEFIELD – The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council recently received a Transportation Excellence award from the RI Department of Transportation for the Council’s work on the Stormwater Master Permit for the I-195 Redevelopment District project. DEM and the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission were co-recipients of the award from DOT.

“Your contribution to the transportation community has impacted the citizens of Rhode Island in such a positive manner that you have been chosen,” the award letter from RIDOT Director Michael Lewis states. The CRMC received the Tenth Annual Innovators Award for Master Permitting for the I-195 Redevelopment District, known as The Link, at the DOT May 13 annual Transportation Week event.

Late last year the CRMC issued a stormwater master permit for the 21 parcel Redevelopment District that provides flexibility in the permit process and is an example of collaboration and coordination with other state agencies. The I-195 Redevelopment District Stormwater Master Plan was developed to establish an overall stormwater permitting approval process framework for the redevelopment of the parcels located within the old Route I-195 right-of-way and under the jurisdiction of the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission.

A project team including CRMC, Department of Environmental Management, the Narragansett Bay Commission, and the City of Providence met with the I-195 Redevelopment District Commission and laid out a framework for a streamlined permitting process for the parcels, which collectively also represent a Brownfield site. The CRMC and DEM suggested using a master plan approach to manage stormwater runoff for the redevelopment parcels, designed to provide a coordinated, predictable permitting process to assist the commission in the marketing and selling of the parcels. The Stormwater Master Plan establishes an orderly process for CRMC and DEM in their review and permitting of District projects as they come forward over a period of time.

As part of the CRMC master permit, the Council approved the Stormwater Master Plan for the 41.4 acres (21 parcels), with three parcels designated as parks. It also approved the master plan elements pertaining to the CRMC’s Urban Coastal Greenways policy within the Metro Bay Special Area Management Plan, which requires low-impact development (LID) for stormwater and a 15 percent vegetative cover. The CRMC has determined that the 15 percent requirement can be satisfied by including the three park parcels.

The CRMC Assent for the Redevelopment District establishes the stormwater management requirements for the entire District and sets a predictable permitting process with timelines for the development of parcels within the District.