Land Use 2025 - RhodeMap RI

municipal plans as future commercial and industrial sites, the implications of suchdevelopment need to be carefully evaluated at both the State and local level.The same holds true for large stretches of road frontage along major State and localhighways and at their interchanges that are designated on Future Land Use maps forhighway commercial/industrial ormixed-use development. Inasmuchas the value of this land is a productof public investment in thetransportation infrastructure and itsdevelopment will shape theperceptions, function and identity ofthe area, the State has a vestedinterest in these areas.In the past 50 years, this substantialundeveloped acreage has encouragedmuch of Rhode Island’s commercialand industrial activity to move from the urban centers to the inner-ring suburbs, to benear, or nearer, the Interstate highways and airports. Large commercial and industrialenterprises are certainly drawn to them because so many goods move nowadays by truck.The availability and apparent attractiveness of these sites portends future developmentfurther from the State’s existing centers, infrastructure, and concentrations of employablepopulation. This may suggest a conflict with the development model mentionedelsewhere in this Plan; on the other hand, it is likely that some accommodation will benecessary to be able to provide newindustrial sites for large operationsthat would be forced to move out ofState otherwise, simply because thereis not adequate space for them inexisting urban or suburban centers.The central tenet of the IndustrialLand Use Plan, “match the plant tothe land,” should be applied in thesesituations. Matching the plant to theland means considering the needs ofthe operation and the sites that areavailable. This takes into account theproduction and distribution process (whether for goods or services), the buildingfootprint, and the number of employees anticipated. The rule becomes, where possible,use what already exists. Where necessary, build new and extend the infrastructure, butdo not do so haphazardly. Always work at the appropriate scale, and at the appropriatesite. The appropriate site may well be undeveloped acreage along a transportationcorridor.Land Use 2025: Rhode Island State Land Use Policies and Plan (April 2006)3-17