We at Grow Smart Rhode
Island are convinced that one of Rhode Island’s greatest assets is our large
and varied collection of historic homes and buildings, including our historic
schools. A big part of growing smart is
using wisely and fully what we’ve already created, taking advantage of the
buildings and other infrastructure in our cities and our town centers. By doing this we not only enhance the
quality of life in our cities and towns but also reduce the pressure to develop
the forest and farm land that provides so much appeal and benefit both for
tourists and residents.
When it comes to the issue of what
to do about our historic schools, the paramount consideration has to be what’s
in the best interest of our children.
In most cases, preserving these structures as schools is in the best
interest of our kids. Since these
historic schools tend to be close to densely populated neighborhoods, kids are
more likely to be able to walk to them than to new schools built out on the
edge of town. Historic schools are also more likely to give kids significant
exposure to the different institutions and groups that make up their community,
and in so doing integrating kids into their community rather than isolating
them from it.
One of the other reasons why we are
concerned about preserving historic schools is that they can be an important
part of a community’s revitalization efforts.
For town centers to work, they need people, people of all ages using
community facilities and services, working, playing and learning. The more we can preserve vital services
such as schools in our town centers, the more we ensure the energy that can maintain
these neighborhoods as vibrant places economically, socially and culturally.
That’s why Grow Smart thinks it’s
very important that state guidelines for school construction get updated to
recognize more fully the cost effectiveness as well as other advantages of
rehabilitation versus demolition and new construction. For many years in Rhode Island and in other
parts of the country there has been a bias against rehabilitating schools built
into the state school construction guidelines and formulas. That’s starting to change both nationally
and in Rhode Island, although not quickly enough in either case. Rhode Island still recommends large sites
for school buildings—15 acres for a 500 child elementary school, 25 acres for a
junior high school with the same enrollment, and 35 acres for a 500 pupil high
school. According to Constance Beaumont, a school siting expert formerly with
the National Trust for Historic Preservation, these siting guidelines mean that
many of today’s newly constructed schools “ have the intimacy and architectural
distinction of a Wal-Mart.”
To give Celeste and the RI Department of Education
their due, the Department’s latest
school facility guidelines have some enlightened smart growth provisions. The
Department, for example, says the following about proposals for new school
facilities:
“If the project involves a new facility, the cost
analysis must show clearly and fully that the proposed new construction is the
best available alternative to meet the projected need based upon the
educational program to be housed, total cost effectiveness (e.g., a
consideration of new construction cost versus renovation costs of an existing
building should such a building exist), and the public interest.” The
Department also asks communities proposing a new school to “include a
consideration of indirect costs associated with the project such as new sewers,
roads, transportation or utilities.” And if existing buildings are to be
surplused, the Department asks the applying community to
“
include benefits or costs to the public, such as re-sale value or demolition
costs.”
Another good step the Department of Education has taken is to add to its instructions for communities proposing major school construction an addendum entitled “Smart Growth-Smart Schools”. This two page document includes recommendations from the National Trust for Historic Preservation about how to move “smart school” goals forward. From Grow Smart Rhode Island’s perspective, the next logical and desirable step would be for the Department to move these recommendations into the body of their instructions to communities contemplating new school facilities—and to ensure that nothing in the existing instructions contradicts the Trust’s recommendations.
There is one more important facet to the issue of
preserving historic schools that I want to review very briefly. If we in the smart growth and historic
preservation movements are going to be consistently responsible and credible on
the issue of historic schools, we can’t assert that all historic schools can be
maintained or revitalized as safe and functional places for our kids to learn.
The majority usually can be, but we’ve got to always make sure that our top
priority is our kids rather than the bricks and mortar that provide their
school setting, no matter how charming those
may be.
Before closing I want to applaud
another great tool for capitalizing on Rhode Island’s historic assets and
promoting ourselves effectively to the outside world: that’s what I call the Commercial Historic Tax Credit, also known
as the Historic Preservation Investment Tax Credit. That tax credit has been remarkably successful in stimulating the
development of historic commercial buildings that in many cases and in many
communities have remained vacant or severely under utilized for decades. Here in Bristol, the Namquit Mill and the
DeWolfe Diman Counting House and Warehouse are coming back to life through the
assistance of the tax credit. In
Cumberland, the historic Ashton Mills is being transformed into a charming
apartment complex with more than 200 units because of the tax credit. In Pawtucket, the Lebanon Mill, long vacant,
is soon going to be the site for 60 loft apartments thanks to the tax
credit. The Pawtucket Armory may be
about to get a new life as an arts and cultural center in part because of the
tax credit. Many of the buildings in
the core of downtown Providence such as the Peerless, that for years have been
floundering are coming back to life because of the credit. Overall there’s more than $ 400,000,000 in
proposed investment in our city and town centers due to the availability of the
tax credit that is ably administered by
Ted Sanderson and his staff at the Historic Preservation Commission.
The very success of this credit may threaten its
future. Some legislators are looking at
what they perceive to be the short term costs of the credit, not focusing as
much on its tremendous benefits both short and long term. So I think it’s important that we spread the
word about the success of this credit to ensure its continued contribution to
retaining our quality of life, our quality of place, our distinctiveness, and
our well deserved reputation as a national leader in historic preservation.
Thanks for all that each of you do, whether in the
field of historic schools, homes
commercial buildings or landscapes to protect Rhode Island’s outstanding historical assets and retain the
distinctive charm that sets us apart from so many other parts of the country.