Newport Comprehensive Land Use Plan - Existing Conditions | Page 30
Newport Comprehensive Land Use Plan
Newport’s current land uses and their patterns evolved from an early period where commerce was oriented to the
harbor and a system of principal roads followed the shoreline and radiated out from the harbor. Being the
southernmost community on a small island also greatly limited the extent of rail and later, highway infrastructure.
This in turn greatly limited the scale of industrial and manufacturing uses in Newport, the notable exception being
ship building and marine oriented crafts.
Improvements in road access and the U.S. Navy decision to locate in Newport’s north end, as well as the development
of gilded age “cottage” communities, all led to increased development, much of which ultimately took the form of
smaller detached homes on a conventional street grid. Major streets developed as corridors of mixed use, an
attribute which largely continues to this day.
In very general terms, land use in Newport is divided into three main areas. North to south, these include the
following.
Newport’s North End
This area is more or less north of Route 138/238, Admiral Kalbfus Road and Miantonomi Avenue, but includes
the Newport Grand Casino and adjacent development along Halsey Street. Although easterly portions of this
area are predominantly residential, the remaining portions of the north end are a mix of industrial, service,
residential, institutional, commercial and other uses. This area is and will continue to be, the focus of public
investment and economic diversification efforts.
The Central Corridor
This area extends from the north end southerly to Land’s End and includes the Fifth Ward neighborhood.
Broadway and Bellevue define a north-south “spine” for this developed area, which includes the harbor, the
historical city center, The Point, the mansion district/areas and a number of residential neighborhoods. The
land use and street patterns in this area are fairly well established and will not change in any substantive way
within the plan horizon.
Newport Neck
This largely undeveloped area extends to the south and west of the Fifth Ward and includes all of the
remaining land in Newport. This area includes Lily and Almy Ponds, the Newport Country Club, Brenton Point
State Park, Fort Adams and the Fort Adams State Park. Land use in this area has been limited and it is
anticipated that this pattern will remain for the term of the plan horizon.
Map 3-1 shows existing land use patterns for the entire city. The general distinctions in the land use character of the
areas described above are apparent in Map 3-1.
As reflected in Table 3-1, the existing land use pattern found in Newport can be predominately characterized as
residential, with 54% of the total land area dedicated to either low density residential (28%), Medium Density
Residential (25%) or High Density Residential (one percent).
It should of course be noted that as a tourism community, the seasonal resident population increases substantially
from the year round resident population. In this sense, the concept of “build out” from a planning perspective is
perhaps less relevant than it would be in a more conventional community. Unlike most other communities, Newport
has a much greater challenge in trying to effectively plan for, finance, staff and otherwise manage the needs of its
seasonal residents. Newport simply cannot use a “build out” analysis as a tool to program public services, capital
facility improvements, public safety staffing, transportation systems, land use regulations and other public actions in
the way a conventional community would.
Page 3-2
Draft Existing Conditions (March 2016)