The Providence City Plan Commission has approved the University's Institutional Master Plan, allowing Brown to proceed with construction of buildings along The Walk, which will connect Lincoln Field to Pembroke Campus.
The planned development, approved in July, includes the Cognitive Sciences and Linguistics Building - formerly Sidney Frank Hall - and the Creative Arts Center along The Walk, according to Richard Spies, executive vice president for planning and senior adviser to the president. The IMP also includes construction of traffic lights where The Walk will intersect Angell and Waterman streets.
The University's proposal to absorb Olive Street and restrict its access to service vehicles was rejected.
Closing the street would not only make it more "pedestrian friendly," Spies said, but it would make room for service vehicles for the University and businesses on Thayer Street. Olive Street has been closed off during construction of the Life Sciences Building.
"We got on pretty well (with the street closed), but people were not persuaded," Spies said. "Now (Olive Street) will represent one more street crossing for The Walk," he added, in addition to crossings on Angell and Waterman streets.
William Touret, vice president of the College Hill Neighborhood Association, applauded the CPC's rejection of the University's "completely inappropriate" request to absorb the street.
"Olive Street is a relief valve" for traffic congestion that will only worsen with the planned construction, Touret said, adding that the University should not "design their buildings so that they encroach on the street."
Barbara Harris, president of the College Hill Neighborhood Association, raised concerns about the IMP to Stephen Durkee, chair of the CPC, in an April 14 letter. In that letter, Harris criticized Brown for continuing "to seek to intensify the density of its physical infrastructure on College Hill in a major way."
Harris encouraged the University to "take far more serious measures" to prevent increased pressure on residents with coming developments, such as revising plans for The Walk to make it underground.
University Director of Planning Michael McCormick addressed the CHNA's concerns in a June 15 letter to Durkee, noting the University had hired a traffic consultant to analyze congestion and make recommendations about alleviating it.
The consultant recommended that the University work with the city to synchronize traffic light timing to combat congestion on Angell and Waterman streets, McCormick wrote and Spies confirmed.
Touret criticized the University for "cut(ting) as many corners as it possibly can" in planning development on College Hill. "It doesn't consider the significance of the potential impacts on the front end of the plan," he said.
Spies acknowledged that there is an "overarching concern" among College Hill residents about the University's expansion, but he said Brown has taken additional steps in recent years to involve the community in its planning process.
"The fact that there wasn't more criticism of (the plan) was a tribute to a process, which was very inclusive and very iterative," Spies said.
The plan's creation has been so public that there were few surprises for College Hill residents, he added.
"We talked to a lot of people and tested ideas and evaluated inputs and changed the proposals based on what we perceived," Spies said, adding that the University chose not to build an undergraduate parking garage behind the Olney-Margolies Athletic Center after residents voiced their opposition last year.
Instead, off-campus parking facilities will support undergraduates in the future, while their spots will be used by faculty. As early as next fall, faculty spots will be absorbed by construction of The Walk and the Nelson Fitness Center in front of the OMAC.
"There was a time when Brown didn't even have meetings with neighbors," said Ward 2 City Councilwoman Rita Williams. The University's expansion beyond College Hill "shows concern for residents" by limiting crowding on campus, Williams said.
Williams is a member of the council's Public Works committee, which would consider future University proposals to absorb Olive Street. She said she would not know how to vote if Brown attempted to absorb the street in the next few months.
"There has been better communication, but it hasn't made it any easier for most of the residents," Williams said, adding that the University's expansion is "very controversial." "But sometimes we can get compromises in order to move things forward," she said.
