Trying to save Aquidneck Island's open space

Windmill (built around 1810) at Prescott Farm, in Middletown, R.I.., on Aquidneck Island, which still has some countryside, or at least rural-looking exurbia.

From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

‘EcoRI News’s Frank Carini had a good story on Aug. 18 about how Aquidneck Island could run out of its currently unprotected open space by 2050, and not because of a big increase in population but because of sprawl development, whose ugliness is all too apparent on the roads leading to Newport. This still unbuilt-on space includes farmland (vineyards, sweet corn, etc.), woods and other open space. There’s still considerable inland natural beauty left on the island that many tourists who head for, say, Newport’s spectacular Ocean Drive don’t notice.

How to protect the island’s remaining natural beauty? Encourage zoning changes that favor housing density and compact commercial development instead of housing subdivisions and malls, strip or otherwise. (Presumably the continuing rise of Internet shopping will continue to undermine the business model of malls, with their asphalt parking lot acreage mostly empty and wasted when the stores are closed and whose hard surfaces add to local flooding and water pollution.)

Also needed is a much, much denser public transportation network that would reduce car dependence and the sprawl it fosters.

Remembering that Aquideck is an island, albeit a big one by Northeast standards, should remind people of its fragility. To read Mr. Carini’s piece, which includes graphics, please hit this link.