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Compromise holds key to HDC rewrite By Tom Shevlin
How did you spend the weekend? Check out photos from around town in this week’s Mainsheet on pg. 9
Newport’s Secret Garden Tour
TABLE OF CONTENTS
When: July 9-11, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. each day, rain or shine. If you can’t make it this weekend, another Secret Garden Tour takes place Sept. 10-12 in gardens along Bellevue Avenue
ARTS 12 CALENDAR 14 CLASSIFIEDS 18 COMMUNITY BRIEFS 4 CROSSWORD 17 DINING OUT 10 EDITORIAL 6 LETTERS 6 MAINSHEET 9 REALTY TRANSACTIONS 7 RECENT DEATHS 16
Where: The Historic Point District of Newport. Gate and tickets at 33 Washington St. Tickets are also available at the Visitor’s Center, 23 America’s Cup Ave. during the days of the tour. Price: $20 in advance, $25 at the gate. Tickets may be used on any or all of the three days of the tour. (G 0DGGHQ LV SLFWXUHG LQ KLV OXVK 3RLQW JDUGHQ UHFHQWO\ +LV LV RQH RI VHYHUDO RI KLGGHQ JDUGHQV WR EH IHDWXUHG LQ WKLV \HDUҋV DQQXDO 6HFUHW *DUGHQ 7RXU 3KRWR E\ 0HJ 2ҋ1HLO
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By Meg O’Neil NEWPORT – Located on the trunk of a magnificent cucumber tree at the Stella Marris B&B on Washington Street, is a small plaque that reads, “There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, But our hearts must be very quiet to hear it.”
Visitors to the Secret Garden Tours of Newport should reflect on that quote during this weekend’s explorations of beautifully manicured hidden home gardens in the quaint Point neighborhood. The self-guided walking tour brings you inside the walls and fences of some very green-thumbed garden-
Perrotti Park expansion nearing completion By Tom Shevlin NEWPORT – Construction is expected to wrap up by the end of the week at Perrotti Park, where crews are putting the finishing touches on long awaited improvements aimed at enticing the expanded use of waterborne transit, city officials said on Tuesday. Late last week, a barge loaded with a large crane slowly made its way into the downtown corner of Newport Harbor. For the next several days, a series of large pilings were fitted into place, one of the last pieces to a months-long project which will effectively double the city's downtown water transit facilities. Once complete, the project will include new floating docks similar to those already in use outside of the Harbormaster’s Office, as well as a new gazebo structure at the Long Wharf side of the park. City officials hope that by expanding the park’s facilities, it will be better able to facilitate the disembarkation of passengers from the city’s burgeoning cruise ship traffic, encourage the expanded use of waterborne transit, and generate additional revenue through tie-up fees. Originally slated to be finished in time for the start of the summer season, a series of construction hiccups pushed the project back several weeks before work resumed late last month. According to Paige Bronk, director of planning, zoning, and develop-
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ment for the city, the $580,000 federally funded project could be complete and ready for use as soon as Sunday – ready to receive passengers well in time for the height of the cruise ship and festival seasons. It’s the first major expansion of the public facility since it opened in 2001 to great fanfare, as part of federal grant aimed at encouraging alternate modes of transportation – specifically harbor shuttle service. Until last year, the park had been most actively served as an arrival and deprture point by the now defunct RIPTA Providence-Newport Ferry dur-
ing the summer, and cruise ship tenders during the fall. But with operators like Oldport and Conanicut Marine both now offering regular shuttle service around the bay, the docks are poised to play a more active role in the city’s transportation options. The docks aren’t expected to be made available to transient, or recreational boaters, but planning is also underway to install an additional seet of floating docks along Long Wharf designed specifically with private vessels in mind.
More: Call 847-0514, or visit www. secretgardentours.org ers who take pride in their picturesque seaside gardens. Tickets purchased are good for all three days of the event so wanderers may take their time strolling through the usually unseen side of the oldest neighborhood in Newport. There are several new additions to See ‘SeCret’ on Page 2
NEWPORT – City councilors who last month failed to breach a stalemate over proposed revisions to Newport's historic district ordinance are working towards a comprise which could have many historic homeowners breathing a much needed sigh of relief. Details of the potential compromise are still being circulated around City Hall, but one possibility that could be addressed at the council's next meeting on July 14, would create a public process by which homeowners in the city's historic districts could petition the city to have their neighborhood's landscape features included under the governance of the Historic District Commission (HDC). The effort is being led by councilors Justin S. McLaughlin, Stephen R. Coyne, and Charles Y. Duncan. If it secures the majority sentiment of the council, the measure could finally signal the end to a 27-month long process aimed at making the Historic District Commission process more user-friendly while ensuring the ordinance's authority over the protection and preservation of the historic fabric of the city – a goal which only two weeks ago seemed in flux after councilors were unable to reach an agreement over the wording of a provision regulating the treatment of historic walls, fences, and gateposts along Bellevue Avenue. Since the ordinance's abrupt defeat on June 23, councilors have on the whole, been vocal in their desire to see the issue revisited. See ‘CounCil’ on Page 3
After Cup visit, renewed reasons to hope NEWPORT – For months, members of the group organizing the state's bid to bring the America's Cup back to Newport have been working under the assumption that a detailed request for proposals (RFP) would be used to guide their efforts in wooing Team BMW Oracle away from its home base in San Francisco. Plans, however, have changed. Speaking at a luncheon at Fort Adams on Thursday as part of an elaborate America's Cup victory tour, Tom Ehman, director of external affairs for BMW Oracle Racing, said that there's no real need for a formal RFP. "We know who the players are," he said. And Newport is on their short list. According to Keith Stokes, executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIDEC) and chairman of the state's America's Cup Planning Committee, that's good news for Newport. "It's an advantage to us," Stoke said in an interview on Tuesday. Comparing the process to a good round of golf, Stokes said it's no longer us versus everyone else, he said. "Russell Coutts (President of BMW Oracle Racing) has reached out to us and asked that we put together our formal proposal," Stokes said. Coutts, who was in town on Wednesday and rearranged his schedule to stay through the public viewing the following day, was one of several key BMW Oracle team members to tour Fort Adams following the luncheon on Thursday. Stokes was with the group, and reported that Thursday's visit could play a big role in determining where Newport falls in the Cup sweepstakes. In addition to showcasing the state's enthusiasm for the Cup's return (Ehman said that it was the biggest public reception the team has had since arriving back in the states), Stokes said that the team was extremely impressed by Sail Newport's youth programs, and taken by the possibilities of developing Fort Adams into a Cup venue. "Now it's not speculative any more," Stokes said. "Before we were talking about our soft assets – the wind, the history. Now we're talking in real specific terms about the hard assets." And following Thursday's event, he said, it's not a question of if the state has the political will to be a part of the next Cup, it's whether Rhode Island can build out the necessary infrastructure to support a race that size.
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