CITYWATCH United front beats dubious drive-thru BY IAN DONNIS

Talk of a proposal to place a drive-thru Dunkin’ Donuts on the site of the vacant Engle Tire Building, at the intersection of Broadway and the adjacent Service Road 7, had sparked concerns among neighborhood activists on Providence’s West Side since last fall. So when the Zoning Board of Review (ZBR) posted plans for a June 14 meeting to consider the project, more than 40 opponents turned out. To the delight of the critics, the Zoning Board, citing the very same concerns, unanimously rejected the proposed drive-thru.

Opponents feared that the project would worsen the heavy traffic volume of cars, bikes, and pedestrians at the intersection — "a chaotic mess," as described by Kent Millard, a Broadway resident who helped to rally opposition. Millard also turned up a finding, included in a 2001 report by the Providence Plan, that of the 160-plus Providence intersections with nine or more accidents from 1994-98, Broadway and Service Road 7 had the most — 52.

ZBR chairwoman Sandra Carlson says the panel rejected the proposed drive-thru for several reasons, including strong neighborhood opposition, the gateway location to Broadway, and how cars queuing for the drive-thru would at times back onto Broadway. It was not immediately known whether the applicant for the project, Prestige Realty and D&D Barkan, would appeal the ZBR decision or revise its proposal.

For opponents, the Zoning Board’s stance is an instance in which city government, residents, and activists worked together in the best interests of Providence’s future. "They were really there for this one," Kari Lang, executive director of the West Broadway Neighborhood Association, says of the ZBR and the Providence Department of Planning & Development, which opposed the drive-thru. She also praised the activism of residents and small businesses, which kept tabs on the proposal through the www.onepvd.com discussion board and notices in shops like White Electric Coffee.

Millard cites the decision as an example of how zoning should work in the service of neighborhoods. "To me, this case is important because it helps dispel the notion that one size fits all," he writes in an e-mail. "Drive-thru businesses may be appropriate in some parts of Providence, but they’re not appropriate in all parts of Providence."

While some ponder a creative reuse for the Engle Tire site, zoning remains a contentious subject at times. Some residents have faulted Providence planners for pursuing a comprehensive rewrite of the city’s zoning ordinance before articulating a detailed vision for planning and development (see "Providence residents cite concerns on zoning rewrite," News, This just in, December 3, 2004).

But Thomas E. Deller, the city’s director of Planning & Development, points to the surge of local construction as a good reason to rush through the city’s zoning rewrite, "so we can have control of the development while we finish the planning [vision for the city]." A final draft of the zoning rewrite is due to be completed by the end of this month, and after discussion over the summer, Deller hopes it will be adopted by the end of October.