sealSPP   One Capitol Hill, Providence, RI  02908

Land Use

Statewide Planning’s Land Use Section is responsible for a wide range of land use and natural resource planning activities, including oversight of 16 State Guide Plan elements.  The major ongoing project for the Land Use Section is the implementation of the Land Use 2025, State Land Use Policies and Plan.  Other focal areas for the section are water supply planning, outdoor recreation and open space planning, and rivers and forest resources conservation planning, often in partnership with other State departments and non-profit entities.

Nancy Hess, Supervising Planner

Paul Gonsalves, Senior Planner

Publications

 

 

 

 

 

Ocean State Outdoors: SCORP: This element of the State Guide Plan was developed by the Rhode Island Statewide Planning Program, in cooperation with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, and was adopted by the State Planning Council in June 2009. The purpose of this document is to provide the planning needed to guide and direct the efforts of state, municipal, and private agencies as they strive to protect the resource base and provide recreational opportunities for present and future generations of Rhode Islanders and visitors to the state. It represents the eighth edition of Rhode Island’s plan for outdoor recreation, conservation and open space. The plan establishes state goals and policies and includes a five-year action agenda.

Presentations

Natural Resources and Open Space

The “Greenways” Plan documents key natural and cultural values that Rhode Island’s landscape provides to society and asserts that they are worth defending. Using six important resource factors – water, forests, agriculture, rare species, natural hazards, and recreation and culture – the Plan maps where lands that provide these multiple values occur. The Plan presents a proposed State Greenspace and Greenway System of protected land that would encompass up to one-third of the state’s land areas and provide 500 miles of natural greenways, 200 miles of bikeways, and 65 miles of trail corridors.

Other State Guide Plan elements relating to Natural Resources and Open Space include:

Water Resources

The key objective of this Plan is to present long-range policies that protect water quantity and quality in the most cost-effective and environmentally sound manner possible. It covers issues of supply management, demand management, and planning and administration management.

Other State Guide Plan elements relating to water resources include: