Environment and Watershed Protection and Development Bonds
Question 5 asks voters to approve $55 million in bonds for environmental and recreational purposes. According to the official summary, the money is divided among eight programs, with the largest share going to a Resilient Rhody Infrastructure Fund that would provide financial assistance to local governmental units for improving infrastructure resiliency, vulnerable coastal habitats, and river and stream floodplains. Other allocations cover brownfield remediation grants, renovation and construction of facilities and parks, local recreation grants, marine infrastructure repairs, Narragansett Bay watershed restoration, farmland protection, and open space acquisition.
A yes vote means
A yes vote approves the issuance of $55,000,000 in bonds, allocated among the environmental and recreational programs listed in the official summary.
A no vote means
A no vote does not approve the issuance of these $55,000,000 in bonds.
Key points
- 1Total bond authorization: $55,000,000 for environmental and recreational purposes.
- 2Resilient Rhody Infrastructure Fund: $25,000,000 for financial assistance to local governmental units to restore or improve resiliency of infrastructure, vulnerable coastal habitats, and river and stream floodplains.
- 3Facility Improvements: $12,000,000 for renovation and repair of existing facilities and recreational venues and for development and construction of new facilities and parks.
- 4Narragansett Bay Watershed Restoration: $7,000,000 for water-quality activities including stormwater management, nutrient loading abatement, and riparian buffer and watershed ecosystem restoration.
- 5$3,000,000 each for Brownfields Remediation (up to 80% matching grants), the Agricultural Land Preservation Commission (farmland protection), and the Open Space Program; $1,000,000 each for Local Recreation Projects (up to 80% matching grants to municipalities) and Marine Infrastructure Development.
Official Rhode Island Secretary of State / voter-guide content.