POLITICS

Lawmakers speak out against proposal to ease public-hearing requirements

Patrick Anderson
panderson@providencejournal.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A hearing on whether the state's transportation planning process should have fewer hearings has brought out complaints from some state lawmakers.

Reps. Sherry Roberts, R-West Greenwich, and Jared Nunes, D-Coventry, on Tuesday wrote separately of their concerns that a proposal to streamline the planning process would badly curtail public involvement.

"It is outrageous for the State Planning Council to attempt to cut out public input,” Roberts wrote in a news release that also objected to the state holding a hearing on the proposal less than a week before Christmas.

Nunes wrote that eliminating a requirement for municipalities to hold public hearings before submitting project requests to the state and shortening public comment periods could have negative consequences. 

"There is a great benefit to encouraging public participation early in the proposal process," Nunes wrote in a letter to the state Division of Planning. "Reduction in public hearings greatly reduces the input from stakeholders. And when the reduction in public input occurs early in the process, issues that may have been avoided delay the project in later stages of approval."

The changes concern the state's Transportation Improvement Program, the running list of state transportation projects officials are required to submit to the federal government every four years.  

Governor Gina Raimondo's administration wants to update the program annually instead of every four years, and proposed cutting back some of the public hearing requirements to make that easier.

In addition to getting rid of the municipal hearing requirement, the changes would cut the Transportation Improvement Program's public comment period in half to 30 days and make Transportation Advisory Committee public workshops voluntary.

"Streamlining the TIP process through these amendments will reduce the administrative burdens placed upon municipalities and reduce the time needed to complete annual updates to a six-month timeframe," a Department of Administration notice on the proposed change said.

The hearing on the proposed changes is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the Department of Administration building at One Capitol Hill in Providence.