TL;DR: NIMBYism has prevented transit-oriented development, the idea is a good one but could never work in NK just due to the very uppity nature of the town and the opposition to any development that the town's citizens have. I and some others use the station and like it, it does its job well but there's just not a market due to this.
The thing nobody outside of NK ever hears about is that there have been many years of attempts to build transit-oriented development in the Wickford Junction development to no avail because of residents' pushback. The original agreement on which the property owner allowed the MBTA station to be built there was that the town would allow them to develop low to medium-income apartments in that big empty dirt lot between Walmart and the station. Well, many many years later, that has not come to fruition because every time the developer proposes it the whole town goes ballistic. NK is an extraordinarily NIMBY town, and people will blatantly say they don't want "those types" in their pristine coastal town (referring to lower-income people).
The other main concern is that that plot of land has been moved to a higher level of watershed protection since the development started, making it very complicated to build. But, even when the developers send in reasonable new plans with good accommodations to protect the watershed, it gets shut down for the aforementioned reasons. Thus, we're stuck in this in-between of having the train station for the people but not the people for the train station.
I live within a few minutes bike ride of the station. At my new job, I'll be taking the train to and from Providence to work. The concept is very sound- give people the opportunity to work in Providence or Boston and live in a nice suburb with good schools, without the headache of driving. Had the concept been implemented as it should have, I believe NK would be a much bigger and more prosperous town than it already is due to its obvious appeal.
Glittering_Cancel675 t1_itxlwrq wrote
Reply to Remember when RI spent millions on an MBTA station with no transit-oriented development or ridership base? by ToadScoper
TL;DR: NIMBYism has prevented transit-oriented development, the idea is a good one but could never work in NK just due to the very uppity nature of the town and the opposition to any development that the town's citizens have. I and some others use the station and like it, it does its job well but there's just not a market due to this.
The thing nobody outside of NK ever hears about is that there have been many years of attempts to build transit-oriented development in the Wickford Junction development to no avail because of residents' pushback. The original agreement on which the property owner allowed the MBTA station to be built there was that the town would allow them to develop low to medium-income apartments in that big empty dirt lot between Walmart and the station. Well, many many years later, that has not come to fruition because every time the developer proposes it the whole town goes ballistic. NK is an extraordinarily NIMBY town, and people will blatantly say they don't want "those types" in their pristine coastal town (referring to lower-income people).
The other main concern is that that plot of land has been moved to a higher level of watershed protection since the development started, making it very complicated to build. But, even when the developers send in reasonable new plans with good accommodations to protect the watershed, it gets shut down for the aforementioned reasons. Thus, we're stuck in this in-between of having the train station for the people but not the people for the train station.
I live within a few minutes bike ride of the station. At my new job, I'll be taking the train to and from Providence to work. The concept is very sound- give people the opportunity to work in Providence or Boston and live in a nice suburb with good schools, without the headache of driving. Had the concept been implemented as it should have, I believe NK would be a much bigger and more prosperous town than it already is due to its obvious appeal.
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(throwaway bc location)