<html><head></head><body><div class="yahoo-style-wrap" style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:16px;"><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><div dir="" data-setdir="true" align="right"><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"><span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">January 14, 2021</span></span><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Bob Azar, AICP, <br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Deputy </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Director </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Department of Planning & Development</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">444 Westminster Street, Suite 3A</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Providence, RI 02903 <br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Dear </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Bob</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">,</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">We are writing to respond to</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> the draft Anti</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">-</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Displacement and Comprehensive Housing </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Strategy report</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">. We attended your meeting </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">with the College Hill Neighborhood </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Association</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> (CHNA)</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">and thank you for the briefing. We have also had the opportunity to </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">review the CHNA letter to you and would like to associate ourselves with their comments, </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">which apply to th</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">e Wayland neighborhood as well as to College Hill. In addition, we would </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">like to emphasize the following points:</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"><br></span></div><ul><li><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">We recognize the need for more affordable housing in Providence and strongly support </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">efforts to meet that need</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">. Toward that end,</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">we welcome gr</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">eater economic, racial, and </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">ethnic diversity </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">in the Wayland neighborhood. However, there is no evidence that </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">upzoning Wayland neighborhoods to R4 </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">would achieve that goal. Where large houses </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">have been broken up into smaller units, they have either become up</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">scale apartments </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">aimed at single professionals or student housing. The likely outcome of a zoning change </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">would be to </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">benefit real estate investors and speculators at the expense of individual </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">homeowners, while making housing less, not more, affordable.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">In</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">deed, as Bob Azar explicitly stated in reference to College Hill, the proposed </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">upzoning</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> will not likely create more affordable housing</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> on College Hill</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">—</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">and by extension in </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Wayland </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">either</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">—</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">the</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> stated purpose of the report's recommendations. </span></li><li><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Instead, we </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">encourage focusing on policies that are more likely to produce the desired </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">result, such as building actual affordable housing. The</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> report notes that “there is a </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">reported market preference for single family homes, townhouses, and condominiums.” </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">This </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">points t</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">oward emphasizing</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> creating incentives for developers to build affordable </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">housing including especially single</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">-</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">family homes or town homes, and “larger units</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">” for </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">“extremely low</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">-</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">income households.”</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">We note, for example, that the North Main Street </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">area in Prov</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">idence is an area ripe for revitalization, and would be an ideal location for </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">mixed use development, including affordable housing (in the Wayland neighborhood, </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">there is </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">little</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> buildable land. When developers do tear</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">-</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">downs, they replace them with </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">upscale</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> apartments</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">, e.g. 219 Waterman St, 225 Waterman St., 68</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">-</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">74 Pittman St</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">. City </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">regulations do not require these properties to provide parking, which might be fine for </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">urban professionals and students without cars but does not work for most families. Of </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">course</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">, increased density without required parking exacerbates the already limited on</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">-</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">street parking problem in the Wayland neighborhood).</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> </span></li><li><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Finally, we share the view of the CHNA </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">that many City officials and policies, including </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">some of the recommendations in this report, seem distinctly to favor absentee landlords/ </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">developers/ investors over individual homeowners and other long</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">-</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">term residents. We see </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">this again and again in Provid</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">ence: </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">the Zoning Board and the City Plans Commission </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">give waivers to developers without requiring them to provide a single affordable unit; </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">the </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">City Council approved the Fane project over the objections of residents, provided tax </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">breaks, and failed to requ</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">ire the developer to provide </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">any</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> affordable unit</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">s</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">; and some City </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Councilors proposed changing the property tax structure to place a greater burden on </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">individual homeowners on the East Side, while easing the burden on absentee </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">landlords/investors. The repor</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">t seems to have extensively consulted landlords, but not </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">residents who will be affected by the changes. Community members are critically </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">important stakeholders and should not be an afterthought.</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Thank you very much for your</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">attention to our conc<span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">erns</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">. We</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> l</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">ook forward to working with </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">you collaboratively to determine how best to serve the housing needs of all residents in </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">the City of Providence.</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"><br></span></span></span></li></ul><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"><span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"><br></span></span></span></div><div dir="ltr" data-setdir="false"><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"><span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">The </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Wayland Square </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Neighborhood Association </span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;">Board</span><span style="font-size: 20px; font-family: sans-serif;"> of Directors</span></span></span></div><div><br></div></div></div></body></html>