Charlestown Is One Of The Fastest Growing Towns In Rhode Island
In September, the Providence Journal published the number of new homes built in every Rhode Island municipality for the years 2018 through 2020. Charlestown approved 110 new units for those years.
Out of the 39 cities and towns, Charlestown had the 14th highest number of new homes. In terms of rate of growth it was even higher as most of the towns with lower numbers have much higher populations than Charlestown’s.
The towns with fewer units approved than Charlestown’s 110 were Barrington (106), Bristol (50), Central Falls (16), East Greenwich (78), East Providence (7), Exeter (94), Foster (24), Hopkinton (86), Jamestown (47), Johnston (80), Little Compton (47), Middletown (86), Narragansett (71), New Shoreham (31), Newport (47), North Providence (21), North Smithfield (62), Pawtucket (50), Portsmouth (84), Scituate (58), Smithfield (70), Tiverton (101), West Greenwich (77), West Warwick (97), and Woonsocket (60).
The towns with more units approved than Charlestown were Burrillville (162), Coventry (167), Cranston (172), Cumberland (284), Glocester (120), Lincoln (166), North Kingstown (199), Providence (1352), Richmond (178), South Kingstown (309), Warren (126), Warwick (219), and Westerly (137).
Of the 13 towns with higher housing production than Charlestown’s, only Richmond has a small population comparable to Charlestown’s. Providence had 12 times as many new units as Charlestown, but its population is nearly 25 times greater, meaning Charlestown is adding new units at twice the rate that Providence is.
Rhode Island’s long-range land use plan “Land Use 2025“ directs the State to concentrate growth inside the Urban Services Boundary, in areas with sewer, public water and other urban infrastructure, and pursue a strategy of land preservation in the rural areas. The current growth trends are turning these plans upside down.
Our political opposition claims that Charlestown is growing too slowly, that our regulations are burdensome, and that we do too much to conserve Charlestown’s natural resources. Calls to encourage faster residential growth by relaxing regulations and rejecting land conservation will further accelerate the development of our remaining farms and forest. This will benefit a handful of developers, will not benefit taxpayers or the environment, and will put us even further at odds with Rhode Island’s long-range planning goals.
You can learn more about the author, Ruth Platner, at her profile page.
November 4, 2021 @ 1:08 am
Are you saying 374 students were added from Charlestown from 2018-2220?
Thank you for clarifying!
November 5, 2021 @ 12:22 pm
I doubt it. That would be a total number for one of the schools – not likely an increase. Measuring short term population changes doesn’t measure growth in Charlestown because the census only counts people living here in late winter and spring. New people might be seasonal or seasonal homes get converted to year-round – those are population changes that are independent of new construction. New homes are a better measure of forest lost, increased septage to ground and surface waters, increased traffic, and also more patrons for restaurants and competition for beach parking. New construction means more people, but it may not show up in the census for years, as that only counts winter residents.
November 3, 2021 @ 4:18 pm
374 in Chariho
November 1, 2021 @ 11:41 am
Thank you, Ruth, for the information. It got me to wondering how many of these homes were built within the different zoning areas of the town; how many children were added or subtracted from the school district over this period; the effect on town population and voter registration over this period; dollars added to the tax rolls. It might give us greater insight into the impact of recent development.
Best,
Steve