Stop & Shop Plan Questionable

by Josh Wood Thursday August 13, 2009

At a special planning review meeting last week, area residents voiced concerns about a proposed Stop & Shop on Warwick Avenue, including lighting, noise, traffic and trash.

Besides the fact that this is a shallow use for this potentially great location, a bigger issue with this proposal is its impact on the city’s recurring flood problems.

Flooding is a touchy subject in Cranston. The Pawtuxet and Pocasset Rivers are repeat offenders – but not by choice. Their banks have been paved, and houses and businesses have been built into the natural floodplain. They really have nowhere else to go.

Rivers need permeable land to absorb floodwaters and runoff. The project site is currently 6.3 acres of permeable soil, much of which will either get paved for the parking lot, or will sit under the 49,747 square foot building. So instead of filtering through a natural sponge and seeping into the river over time, the storm water will be forced directly into the river.

A rainwater detention basin has been proposed by the developers to manage runoff. But while the system will reduce a some of the pollutants from the parking lot, the volume of the runoff from the proposed basin will always be greater than the runoff before the parcel was developed. Even if the developers were required to use porous materials on the parking lot, the developed land will never have the same capacity to absorb the water as it once did.

The City Council had good intentions – but not enough foresight to say ‘no’ to the zoning change request that enabled this project to move forward. If any change in land use was to be made, it should’ve been one to encourage a smaller building footprint, or better yet, a change to open space.

There’s a particular irony in all of this now that Cranston is set to benefit from federal aid to address the recurring flood problem. The city is fortunate that many of the most vulnerable homes and businesses are upstream from this project because true flood control needs to start with a fundamental change in policy.

Also

Cranston To Receive Funds To Rehab the Rivers
Call to Action
Floating Deer Head on the Stop & Shop Plan

The image is a still from the movie “The Adventures of Junior Raindrop (1948)”

[where: Cranston, RI 02910]

[where: 02910]

Comment

1. Let me know how I can help. I live on the Pawtuxet.

   Matt Jerzyk
   88 Woodbury Rd.
   Cranston

   — Matt Jerzyk · Aug 21, 07:34 AM · #

2. DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN!! THE LAST THING THAT WE NEED IS ANOTHER SUPERMARKET!!!! WE ARE INUNDATED WITH TRAFFIC, NOISE FROM TRAFFIC AND PLANES AND POLLUTION.. THE PAWTUXET VILLAGE WILL BE EFFECTED… NO MORE PLEASE!!

   — LAURIE · Nov 30, 07:18 PM · #

3. Any updates after march 2010 flooding?

   — mike · Apr 2, 11:35 AM · #

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