Planning & Community Development

The Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) is excited to give updates and announce next steps in the ongoing work known as the Providence-Warwick Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG) initiative. As a reminder, the Providence-Warwick MSA encompasses 27-municipalities within Southeastern Massachusetts, as well as the entire state of Rhode Island. This cross-state collaboration aims to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions across the region.

The next big deliverable of this process, known as the Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP) builds off of the previously developed Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP) and is due in December 2025. To ensure aligned goals across the planning area, SRPEDD has created both a public and a municipal survey to gain feedback from key stakeholders within the region. These surveys are designed to inform our team on what are the most important issues for residents, biggest obstacles in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and identifying real, actionable measures, programs and policies that residents will support. Both surveys are entirely anonymous and will remain open through Mid-March 2025.

Click here for a link to the public survey.

Free Trees

The Town is the recipient of two major tree-planting grants targeted at areas subject to excessive heat and unfiltered stormwater runoff. The Valley Falls neighborhood has the lowest concentration of shade in the Town.

Street trees have numerous benefits:

1. Economic
   1. Increased property value between 5-18%
   2. Reduced energy costs to homeowners due to reduced local temperatures
2. Environmental
   1. Leaves absorb harmful pollutants leading to climate change mitigation
   2. Improved air quality due to tree shading combatting heat, smog, and respiratory problems
3. Social 
   1. Street trees act as an additional barrier protecting pedestrians from vehicles
   2. Fewer accidents occur on streets lined with trees as they lead many motorists to exercise greater caution
   3. Trees have a natural calming effect resulting in reduced road rage, crime, and vandalism
   4. Leafy vegetation can absorb noise pollution within neighborhoods
   5. Trees promote a softened aesthetic to an urban environment
   6. Tree lined streets and greenspaces have been proven to lower rates of stress, blood pressure, and mental illness

Tree planting is available to private homeowners with open canopy and small tree species available. If this opportunity is of interest to you, please reach out to the following contact:

Abby McVerry

Principal Planner

(401)728-2400 ext. 142

amcverry@cumberlandri.org

Tree Grants & Interactive Tree Equity Score Mapping

The Town is the recent recipient of two major tree-planting grants targeted at areas subject to excessive heat and unfiltered stormwater runoff. The RI Infrastructure Bank is providing $250,000 to plant 200 street trees in Valley Falls and Lonsdale. A National Forest Service grant in cooperation with Providence, Woonsocket, Groundwork Rhode Island and Clark University will allow for the planting of another 200 trees.

The Town of Cumberland is partnering with American Forests to raise awareness of the relationship between the number of street trees in urbanized areas and social equity, public health, economic development, impacts on our rivers and streams, and quality of life.

Access Cumberland’s Tree Equity Score Analyzer (TESA) GIS map that shows the tree canopy throughout the Town. It is interactive- you can plant new trees to increase the TESA score, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood. It is engaging and eye-opening to the value of trees in our community.

In 2023, Davey Resource Group surveyed hundreds of significant trees on Town property. That data can be accessed on the interactive Treekeeper software.

 RIPTA’s Metro Connector Study is exploring options for providing fast, frequent and reliable service connecting major transportation hubs, regional activity centers, and residential neighborhoods in metropolitan Providence. Rapid transit options include bus rapid transit or light rail operating in its own separated lane to provide fast, frequent and reliable service. 

RIPTA wants to hear from community members to help understand community needs and goals at the start of the project! 

For more information, or to take take an online survey to share your transit needs, visit the Metro Connector website. 

In 2022, RIPTA secured funding from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to support the state and participating municipalities in planning for infrastructure improvements that will prevent injuries and save lives. With the SS4A grant award and other statewide efforts through the Division of Statewide Planning and the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, the state is ready to focus on improving safety on all roadways. 

The SS4A planning project will create municipal Safety Action Plans (SAPs) for 32 participating communities,  as well as a statewide SAP.  The project will establish guidelines to effectively implement a tangible version of the Safe Streets for All mission, guided by the Safe Systems Approach. This will encompass shifting safety needs, known and emerging areas of safety improvement, identification of priority projects, and will help the State of Rhode Island and its municipalities position for further federal implementation funding.

In June of 2025, the Cumberland Safe Streets and Roads for All Safety Action Plan was completed. The Plan was prepared with the support of a consultant team composed of Bowman, AECOM, Nelson\Nygaard, Toole Design Group, VJS Consulting, and IMEG.

Click here to view the Cumberland Safe Streets and Roads for All Safety Action Plan

Click here to view fast facts on roadway safety in Cumberland

The Town of Cumberland is seeking to rehabilitate the Valley Falls Heritage Park in tandem with the Amaral Building across the street, creating a Wellness Hub for local residents to access various social services, history, and wellness programming. 

Please see the project page for more information.

The Town of Cumberland has received $500,000 in CDBG funds to support the renovation of the historic Long Barn at the municipally-owned Metcalf-Franklin Farm. The Long Barn renovations are intended to ensure the preservation of this historic asset, which functions as the focal point for the Farm’s activities, activities that address food insecurity.

The Historic Metcalf-Franklin Farm, a 65-acre site acquired by the Town in 2005, was the last working dairy farm in Cumberland, Rhode Island. Operated in coordination with the Historic Metcalf-Franklin Farm Preservation Association (HMFFPA), the property provides opportunities for the public to experience the Farm’s agricultural heritage and to gain an increased appreciation for natural resources and the food cycle. For over 16 years, the HMFFA has been growing and distributing vegetables, and its efforts have continuously expanded to partnership with the RI Community Food Bank and more local food organizations that include Pawtucket Soup Kitchen, The Salvation Army of Pawtucket, and Community Care Alliance. Restoration of the Long Barn ensures its continuation as a vital structure used to address food insecurity in Rhode Island. 

Amaral Building Adaptive Reuse 

In September 2022, the Town was awarded a $1 million Community Development Block Grant to rehabilitate the historic building at 16 Mill Street. Read more on Valley Breeze.

Northeast Collaborative Architects, hired with money granted from the RI Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission, determined in February 2022 that rehabilitation of the building will amount to an estimated $1.8 million. For the remaining cost, the Town is seeking another grant for community health centers and anticipates the use of monies allocated to the Town through the American Rescue Plan Act.

Originally constructed circa 1890 by the Valley Falls Company and formerly referred to as the Old Post Office, the Amaral Building behind Town Hall was likely intended to be used as a company store. In the years since, it has been used as a post office, a library, and a grocery store with an upstairs residence. View the National Register nomination for the Cumberland Town Hall Historic District, which includes more information about the building.

The Town will establish an Office of Community Based Health and Engagement (OCBHE) within the Amaral Building as an outlet wherein various local organizations - including Cumberland’s all paramedic-level EMS Department, the Blackstone Valley Advocacy Center, and the Northern Rhode Island Food Pantry - can provide services in the heart of Valley Falls among some of Cumberland’s most underserved populations.

This project is partially funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund (CPF) through the Governor’s Community Learning Center Municipal Grant program and by a Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Click here for more information

New Pond Park

Widely recognized as the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution, the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor was established by Congress in 1986. Just a few years earlier in 1983, the Environmental Protection Agency placed 920 acres within it, including the proposed New Pond Park site, on its National Priorities List.

In May of 2020, the Town Council adopted the New Pond Park Conservation and Management Plan (PDF). It includes further exposition on the history of the site and detailed plans for remediation.

Ultimately, after the site has been remediated and capped, the Town aims to have a 62-acre park alongside the Blackstone River that includes trails, paved walkways, connection to the Blackstone River Bikeway, enhanced river access, and other recreation amenities.

In 2024, Cumberland was selected through a competitive statewide process to work with University of Rhode Island's Community Research and Design Lab (URI RCDL) to reimagine Elm Street-an area lacking green space and tree cover and facing increased stormwater issues.

Project goals included:

• Creating a vibrant, sustainable, and welcoming public space
• Planting trees and native vegetation to reduce heat and improve air quality
• Implementing green infrastructure to manage stormwater and reduce flooding
• Shaping the project through your community input

Below you can find the conceptual designs and full report done by the URI RCDL’s talented Landscape Architecture students.

Conceptual Master Plan

Traffic Concept

Placemaking & Community Building

Trees & Stormwater Management

Final Plan