Newport Comprehensive Land Use Plan - Existing Conditions | Page 21

1 Introduction
interests and technical resources. The challenge is to navigate through these changes in a way that allows Newport to
reach the destination safe, solvent, and authentically Newport.
Table 1-3.

City of Newport 2036 Issues

Issues

Descriptions

Managing Sea Level Rise

Empirical physical evidence shows that the oceans levels are rising and that coastal environments are
already experiencing the impacts of sea level rise. Newport’s geology, topography, cardinal orientation
and location at the end of a peninsula all have relevance to how this issue should be evaluated and
managed.

Diversifying the Economy

Newport's seasonal tourism based economy creates unique challenges including tremendous
variability in the demand for public safety and sanitation, potable water, sanitary sewer use, and
implications on the housing market.

Population Decline

Declines in population have been common in Newport since back in 1980. Impacts from a shrinking
population include lower revenues from public goods and services, less support for local businesses,
and increased demand on public services, like police.

Changing Demographics

Newport's median age is rising in almost all respects. Aging populations require different services and
facilities than young populations do.

Community Preservation

The city's unique character, landscape, and community shape help make Newport a desirable place to
live. A balance will need to be struck on shaping the future and preserving the past.

Aging Infrastructure

A great deal of Newport's street network, building footprints, land subdivision, and other physical
features trace their origins to the colonial periods. As such, the costs of updating the city's public
services and resources are substantial.

Public Education and
Human Capital

A tourism based economy typically does not require high skilled or highly c ompensated labor. As a
consequence, wages and salaries are lower compared to those in economic sectors which require
specific technical skills or training.

Plan Structure

Newport’s Comprehensive Plan is organized into six main sections and 16 subordinate chapters. In addition to this
introduction section and its two chapters, the Plan’s other five main sections are listed below, including the subject
area content found in each. Each of these main sections is based upon one of the major themes described above. An
attempt has been made to organize content within each theme as a way to highlight the inter-relationships between
issues. Hopefully this will help readers understand and appreciate how decisions in one subject area can impact other
collateral areas. Carried forward, this insight helps to inform and drive the development of an implementation plan
which maximizes the benefits of coordinated strategies. In this way, Newport can hopefully avoid the costs, conflicts
and inefficiencies which typically result from a selective “silo” approach to designing, funding and managing public
projects and programs.
Guidance from the Statewide Planning Program (SPP) provides an excellent example of this foundational principle:
Comprehensive planning is all about making connections. Through analysis and discourse, the public,
municipal officials and employees and other stakeholders discover how each land use, transportation,
economic development and infrastructure decision is connected. The comprehensive planning process
provides a venue for discovering how the way we use land relates to what transportation options are
appropriate, how the transportation options provided relate to a family’s cost of living, how a high cost of
living relates to the need for economic development, how encouraging economic development relates to
the form of buildings and spaces, how specific building forms relate to compact development patterns,
how compact development relates to land conservation and so on.

Draft Existing Conditions (March 2016)

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