Final Reports

South County Commuter Rail Transit Oriented Development Study – An Opportunity to Shape Regional Growth

The Statewide Planning Program is participating with the Washington County Regional Planning Council (WCRPC) and the Town of North Kingstown in a study of potential growth and land use impacts of the planned extension of commuter rail service south of Providence to Wickford Junction in North Kingstown. 

To address growing travel demands of the West Bay and South County corridors, the State, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is planning to extend the current Boston to Providence commuter rail service southward along the AMTRAK Northeast Corridor to an initial terminus at a new station at Wickford Junction in North Kingstown.   Current plans by the state’s DOT call for service to begin in 2007.

While expanded rail service holds numerous benefits for the State’s future development, there is also the concern that the added amenity of convenient rail transit service would increase the accessibility and desirability of the already fast-growing Washington or “South” County region.  This study attempts to assist the region and communities with proactive planning to assess and define the best means to manage any added growth in sound ways.  The study will assess potential growth impacts, review the potential for transit oriented development in the Wickford Junction Station area, and help the region identify options and opportunities to direct growth to locations that can best accommodate it.

Pare Engineering, Inc. was selected to provide consultant support for this project.  As a first task, a workshop was held in March, 2005 with planning officials from the region and the public to explore likely growth impacts that may be expected following the re-introduction of commuter rail service.  A quantitative assessment of growth forecasts and of build out capacity to absorb growth within a ten-minute drive radius was developed by the consultant. This report was presented as part of a panel discussion that included representatives of Statewide Planning, Grow Smart Rhode Island,  local realtors, town officials, and a representative from  the [Boston] Metropolitan Area Planning Council from Grafton, MA – a town that was the host for a new commuter rail station in 1997.   Workshop discussion and comments from those in attendance are presented in the Task 1 Report. 
{ Task 1 workshop presentation}

The second phase (task) of the study includes an assessment by the consultant team of areas within the region that may be good candidates to accommodate growth that could accompany commuter rail service, and of techniques that the region’s communities may wish to employ to foster growth in these places, while discouraging growth in locations that are not well suited.  Growth management and transit-supportive development techniques such as transit-oriented development, bicycle, pedestrian, and bus connections,  growth centers, and transfer of development rights are explored.

A second public meeting with planning officials from the region was held on June 1, 2005.   At this workshop, the draft Task 2 report was presented and discussed.  {Task 2 workshop presentation}

Tentative findings were presented  from the Task 2 work relative to the capacity for Transit-oriented Development  at the Wickford Junction station area.  Potential TOD opportunities of several other existing or possible future station areas in Washington County --Westerly, Kingston, Wood River Junction, Carolina, and Shannock -- are also assessed as part of Task 2.

Following revisions to reflect comments received, the final report was presented to the Board of the Washington County Regional Planning Council in September 2005. The Council intends to conduct a regional "Council of Councils" meeting to discuss the report's findings with Town Council members of its comittment communities.

The final report includes the following major findings:

Wickford Junction: The study finds that while Wickford Junction  is suited for TOD in some respects (mixed use, highway access), opportunities for higher densities required for TOD development are constrained by several factors, principally the concern for groundwater protection of the Town’s major aquifer zone, as no public sewer service is available to the area.  Transit-supportive ideas presented for Wickford Junction include recommendations for investigating  transferring  development densities within the groundwater aquifer zone to (slightly) increase  residential densities close to the planned station area, while reducing residential development in areas closer to the Town’s well head.  In addition,  recommendations are made for  providing  sidewalks and path connections to the planned station from surrounding residential areas; reducing parking ratios and investigating shared parking arrangements to reduce required parking area; including bicycle facilities with the station, and providing first-floor retail and services within the planned station parking structure to “enliven” the garage, and coordinating transit (bus service) scheduling and routing to accommodate the introduction of rail service. 

Eastern Exeter was found to be within a 10 minute drive time of the planned Wickford Station, and therefore a potential focus area for residential growth associated with rail service expansion.   The report endorses further investigation of a possible Growth Center in eastern Exeter as a means for concentrating growth that could follow station development.  

Westerly:  Westerly station has current AMTRAK service and could eventually see future commuter service, as a terminus of the  Boston-Providence (MBTA) service, as a terminus or stop on an extended Shoreline East Commuter line from Connecticut., or both.  With vacant land and underutilized structures and full public infrastructure in the surrounding downtown Westerly/Pawcatuck (CT) area, Westerly  is found to have high potential for transit-oriented development.  Enhanced rail services  would support the on-going revitalization efforts in the downtown Westerly/Pawcatuck area. Several specific development/redevelopment opportunities are identified.

West Davisville:  West Davisville is found to have somewhat limited potential for rail service, and, given plans for suburban-scale commerce park development, the  surrounding future land use matrix does not appear to be conducive to TOD.  

Kingston: Kingston Station, which currently has AMTRAK service only, will be studied as a future commuter rail station, and could have some potential for transit-oriented development, although groundwater protection,  historic preservation, and neighborhood compatibility concerns would need to be addressed.  

Carolina, Shannock, and Wood River Junction:   The remaining three sites studied are rural villages that were historically rail stops.  They lack good highway connections and infrastructure and are seen as having generally limited potential for transit-oriented development.

The Report also catalogues an array of growth management strategies that the communities in the region either are already employing or may wish to consider as tools for coping with future growth as rail service is expanded.  The following land management tools are reviewed in the draft report:

§         Growth Centers
§         Mandatory Residential Cluster Subdivisions
§         Residential Compounds
§         Agricultural Zoning
§         Development Impact Fees
§         Growth Caps/Phasing Programs
§         Adequate Public Facilities Standards
§         Conservation Subdivisions
§         Open Space Acquisition
§         Purchase of Development Rights Programs
§         Overlay Zoning
§         Farm, Forest and Open Space Current Use Valuation
§         Transfer of Development Rights
§         Greenspace and Greenway Planning
§         Land Trusts

 Also included as an Appendix, is an example of a Transit-oriented Village Zoning Ordinance from a Massachusetts community that seeks to produce transit –oriented development compatible with the scale and character of a New England landscape.