Providence Tomorrow: Comprehensive Plan

Comprehensive Planning

A comprehensive plan is the guiding document that outlines broad objectives and goals to guide development decisions and establish the basis for its zoning ordinance and other land use regulation tools. In addition, the plan is intended to be the framework for addressing other community concerns such as housing, parks, transportation, and community services, among others. In the State of Rhode Island, all cities and towns are required to adopt a comprehensive plan, and to update that plan every five years.

Comprehensive plans are important because they are tied directly to zoning – zoning ordinances are required to conform to the goals and objectives laid out in comprehensive plans. Over the next several months the Planning Department will be working with the City Council to address the few areas where the new comprehensive plan conflicts with zoning. Zoning amendment proposals aimed at bringing our Zoning Ordinance into compliance with the comprehensive plan will be made. However, the zoning ordinance as a whole is outdated and must be revised. After the neighborhood charrettes and plans are completed, the planning department will take a fresh look at the zoning ordinance and propose changes to best address those issues identified during the planning process. Additionally, if neighborhoods request minor amendments to zoning during the process, we will work with the City Council to implement those changes.

You can review the plan in three different ways:

Paper Copies - Paper copies are available for review at Providence Public Libraries, Providence Community Centers, and the Department of Planning and Development (400 Westminster Street)
Interactive Draft-Interim Comprehensive Plan - Interactive version where you can review the document, submit your comments and view comments made by others.
FINAL Comprehensive Plan - A low resolution PDF version of the plan

Supplementary Documents

Executive Summary - A low resolution PDF version of the Executive Summary (429 kb)
Instructions For Commenting Online - A PDF how-to guide for reviewing the interactive plan, submitting your comments online and viewing comments made by others. (144 kb)
Comment Form - A printable PDF form and instructions for submitting comments on paper. (134 kb)

NEW! New Draft of the Comprehensive Plan Available Online Now!

This draft is the result of several City Plan Commission workshops. Proposed new text is underlined, text to be deleted has been struck through.

Click here to view in PDF format. (3.6 MB)

NEW! Waterfront Section of Providence Tomorrow Available Online!

Click here to view in PDF format. (3.1MB)

Please note that the comment period for the Comprehensive Plan is now closed. We are currently in the process of reviewing public comments over the course of several public workshops. Please check the Meetings and Events page for more details.