AIPC

Navy and local officials are going to Harvard

By Matt Sheley/Daily News staff
03/2/08

Who better to offer advice about the Navy master plan for part of the west side of Aquidneck Island than some of the brightest minds in the country?

Officials from the three island communities will begin attending workshops Monday at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., along with Navy and state leaders, among others, to talk about the upcoming study.

The goal of the four-day workshop, which was coordinated by the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission, is to get those involved better familiarized with each other.

Commission Executive Director Tina Dolen said the $19,800 cost for the workshop was covered by NewportFed, the Prince Charitable Trusts and the Kennedy School.

“One of the greatest things about the Harvard Kennedy School experience is the quality of the professors and the interrelationships that are built among the students,” Dolen said. “The intensity of the program provides a very rich experience that is not achievable in other settings.”

But just because local leaders are heading to Harvard next week doesn’t mean they haven’t been sharing ideas about the upcoming master plan. A group of officials recently met at the Newport County Chamber of Commerce in Middletown to go over their goals and ideas for the west side of the island.

Dolen said the workshops will take attendees through a variety of simulations should different pieces of west-side property be excessed by the Navy.

“The timing of the Harvard workshop, the West Side Master Plan and the impending Navy master plan is synchronicity in action,” Dolen said. “It’s hard to imagine a better opportunity for the Navy, the state, the municipalities and the Aquidneck Island Planning Commission.”

Capt. Michel T. Poirier, commander of Naval Station Newport, is scheduled to attend the workshops with Department of the Navy Northeast Area Counsel David R. Gale.

On the municipal side, Newport Director of Planning, Zoning, Development and Inspections Paige Bronk, Middletown Interim Town Administrator Shawn J. Brown and Portsmouth Finance Director David P. Faucher are scheduled to attend.

Besides Dolen, commission Chairman Arthur S. Weber Jr. will be representing the nonprofit planning organization formed in 1985 with the goal of fostering communication and cooperation among the island’s three communities, the Navy and the state. Jared Rhodes, chief of the Rhode Island Statewide Planning Program, will represent the state during the workshop.

“It’s an interesting concept,” Brown said. “There are some things that happen that are unique to each community and other happenings that bring us all together. This is one of those examples of an experience that truly impacts us all on Aquidneck Island.”

“I’m really looking forward to the experience,” Faucher said. “It should be interesting to see what comes out of it, but I know the town and the island as a whole will benefit because this is a really important process.”

Send reporter Matt Sheley e-mail at Sheley@NewportRI.com.