Events this Month:
Fox Point Neighborhood Association (FPNA) Monthly Board Meeting, 7-8 pm, January 9 at the Vartan Gregorian Bath House Library.
FPNA will also hold one of its bi-annual membership meetings in January to address street grid and development issues associated with the Interstate 195 parcels in Fox Point. Other topics will be the proposed on-street overnight parking plan and the many ongoing developments along the Seekonk River shoreline that are listed below. Time and location of the meeting to be announced by FPNA at a later time.
Gano Park to Get Boat Launch
Now that the Coastal Resource Management Council (CRMC) has approved construction of the East Transit Street Boat Launch, Gano Park takes a step closer to becoming an important link to India Point Park and the East Coast Greenway, according to the Fox Point Neighborhood Association (FPNA).
Representatives for FPNA and Friends of India Point Park attended the CRMC meeting in November to support the approval request presented by Robert McMahon, director of the Providence Department of Parks. “We expect the project to begin the construction process in February of 2012,” McMahon said after the meeting.
The proposed boat launch will have a concrete ramp that extends into the Seekonk River accompanied by a floating dock from which boating enthusiasts will be able to board their boats, McMahon explained. The parking lot with an entrance at the bottom of Transit Street will contain 17 parking spaces for vehicles with trailers and five vehicular spaces.
Current design drawings for the facility indicate that an extension of the Blackstone Bikeway that is planned to follow the shoreline along Gano Park will cross the parking lot of the boat launch. Eventually, the area will connect a nexus of bike paths, including the Washington Bridge and East Bay Bike System and India Point Park’s bike path that leads into Providence.
Last year, FPNA received $2,500 from the Providence/Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Community Relations Fund to construct a historical marker on the Seekonk Shoreline in Gano Park. The sign will follow the theme and appearance of the markers in India Point Park and will reference them on a map, along with the Monument at Roger Williams Landing Park across Gano Street. It is under production with installation planned for the spring of 2012.
Also in 2012, the Gano-India Intersection will be straightened by having the roadway go under the bridge archway to the east of its current location. The construction project will add a much needed parking lot for India Point Park.
FPNA has asked the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) to remove a chain link fence from an area it calls wetlands at the Gano Street exit ramp of Interstate 195 so that it may be properly maintained.
Soon, the Narragansett Bay Commission will begin underground construction on Phase II of its Combined Sewage Overflow tunnel along the Seekonk shoreline at Gano Park.
“At this particular time of change for the park, FPNA hopes to be a conduit of communication, offering periodic updates,” according to John Rousseau, chair of the Seekonk Shoreline Initiative at Gano Park. “By improving this amenity on the eastern border of Fox Point, FPNA believes it will drastically raise the neighborhood’s quality of life and encourage real estate recovery.”
The committee includes representatives from DEM, the Narragansett Bay Commission, Save the Bay, Department of Parks, Brown University, Fox Point’s three elected officials and leaders of the various groups using the park. The committee mainly communicates through e-mails and seeks input from the public and advisory committee members. For more information, contact fpna@cox.net.
RIDOT Meets with FPNA’s Noise Committee
RIDOT Director Michael Lewis and his staff met with FPNA’s Noise Committee to explain recent monitoring results along Interstate 195, according to committee member Debra Booth.
“We’re grateful for your hiring David Coate and his work in pinpointing the noise problems and identifying the benefits of diamond grinding to eliminate the transverse tining on the two bridges,’ Booth said in a letter to Lewis. “We fervently hope this technique and procedure will result in a lot more uninterrupted sleep in Fox Point.”
Apparently, southwest winds amplify traffic noise that has gotten worse since the new highway was finished, Booth reported.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here