This year marks Chris Beauchamp’s 32nd anniversary working for Narragansett Improvement Co. on Allens Avenue in Providence. During his three-decade career, Beauchamp married, bought a house, raised two children and rose to superintendent with an annual pay close to $100,000. But Beauchamp worries that his job could be gone and his bills will remain if the city proceeds on a path to rezone the area and allow new uses.

Last week, the Providence City Plan Commission recommended that the City Council allow mixed-use development such as commercial and retail space along the eastern side of Allens Avenue, north of Thurbers Avenue and south of Interstate 195. Narragansett Improvement is across the street from this area. The commission also suggested that the council forbid hotels in the area.

  • MAP: Waterfront businesses and how many people they employ (PDF)

The same zoning amendment would also create a “Working Waterfront Protection District” on the eastern side of Allens Avenue and along the Providence River, south of Thurbers Avenue and north of Johnson & Wales University. There, the city would allow only water-dependent businesses.

The City Council ordinance committee will pick up the issue June 1 and along with it a fiery debate about jobs and economic growth.

City planners, supported by Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, say that allowing the current mix of marine businesses, heavy industry and strip clubs to continue would create 200 to 300 jobs during the next 20 years with an average wage of $40,000. Property taxes paid to the city would grow by $40,000 annually, assuming an increase of 3 percent in property values.

Providence Director of Long-Range Planning Bonnie Nickerson estimates that the zoning amendment, if adopted, would spur the growth of between 1,000 and 2,000 mostly higher-paying jobs during the next 20 years or so.

And the city’s plan assumes none of the existing jobs would be lost, an assumption strongly disputed by many of the businesses now there.

After a series of bitter debates before the City Plan Commission, the body ultimately recommended a plan that forbids residential development but leaves the door open for development of commercial space. Nickerson said the city envisions an area where tourists can arrive from water taxis and shop at newly established shops and restaurants that could help give the city an economic boost.

Local businesses say the area already is an important economic driver for the state. Based on information provided by the business group the Providence Working Waterfront Alliance and Providence Business News research, the approximately 37 businesses along the one-mile strip of road employ more than 2,150 people, including 953 workers at the associated companies that comprise the city-owned Port of Providence.

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