A look north along Allens Avenue in Providence.

The Providence Journal / Ruben W. Perez

PROVIDENCE — The city Redevelopment Agency wants the city to declare 590 acres along the Allens Avenue waterfront as “blighted and substandard,” a move that would give the agency the power to take properties by eminent domain and guide redevelopment in an area that is heavily contaminated and marked by vacant, abandoned and underused properties.

City officials say the redevelopment plan has the potential to revitalize the industrial waterfront zone. It is part of the vision to transform ProvPort — the former city-run port now leased to a private firm — into a regional job engine, encourage new investment on Allens Avenue and make the waterfront more of a public destination.

But at least 11 local businesses are fighting it, saying the plan will strangle job growth and serve as a disincentive for investment for the 40 years that the plan would be in effect, according to a letter sent to Mayor David N. Cicilline last week.

“The plan is an affront to basic property rights and an insult to successful area businesses and institutions that collectively employ thousands of people and are responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in total economic impact,” their letter states.

The U.S. Department of Energy has also voiced its concern to Cicilline and Governor Carcieri. In a letter on Nov. 10, James J. Markowsky, assistant secretary in the Office of Fossil Energy, says that the city’s plans for the waterfront may have negative consequences for the petroleum fuel supply in New England, as a number of major fuel terminals are located along the waterfront.

Thomas E. Deller, city director of planning and development, said in a letter to area businesses that the plan has “no impact” on property rights of concerned businesses.

The city Plan Commission is accepting public comment on the “Allens Avenue and Port Redevelopment Plan” through Tuesday. A public hearing will take place on Dec. 15 at the Department of Planning at 400 Westminster St. The plan also requires City Council approval.

The plan takes in Allens Avenue from the Lifespan hospital complex, near Henderson Street, south to Johnson & Wales University’s Harborside Campus, on the Cranston line.

It is a two-mile stretch that includes ProvPort, fuel terminals for Motiva and Sprague Energy, at least three strip clubs, the former Providence to Newport ferry dock, a handful of diners and a spattering of other industrial businesses.

Though it is essentially cut off by Route 95, the Allens Avenue waterfront spans South Providence and Washington Park, low-income neighborhoods where unemployment is more than double the state’s high rate of 12.9 percent, and, in some areas, more than 30 percent, according to 2008 Census data.

The city’s proposed plan outlines a vision for expanding ProvPort through the acquisition and conveyance of more than 13 acres of the surrounding area to the port.

It calls for the creation of a loop rail system, allowing the Providence and Worcester Railroad to increase its capacity from 15 railcars to 50. It also calls for the $1.3-million reconstruction of one of ProvPort’s berths, the relocation of the port’s security checkpoint and the construction of a new headquarters for the city Department of Public Works, currently at 700 Allens Ave.

City Councilman Luis A.. Aponte, who represents Washington Park and Lower South Providence, says the plan has the potential for job creation and economic opportunity, which is in the “best interests” of both the city and the state.

“Allowing Allens Avenue to stay the way it is and to expect the results to be different is foolish,” he said. “The only business that is growing there is the adult entertainment business.”

Patrick Conley, an Allens Avenue property owner, supports the vision.

For four years, Conley has been trying to build a hotel and condominium complex on a parking lot he owns, but his efforts have been blocked by the state and have elicited fierce opposition from neighboring businesses.

Conley approached the city earlier this year to consider purchasing the five-acre parcel. Declaring the area blighted would “render the area ripe for redevelopment,” he said.

But not everyone on Allens Avenue is convinced.

Joel Cohen, co-owner of Promet Marine Services, a shipyard, says the mere threat of condemnation or eminent domain will discourage businesses from investing in their properties. “What’s the point then of investing a few million dollars if it’s just going to go down the drain?” says Cohen.

Deller, city planning director, said the Providence Redevelopment Agency has “no plans” to acquire by eminent domain any properties not addressed in the plan. Unless land is specifically identified in the plan for acquisition, the PRA has no legal right to pursue acquisition through eminent domain, he added.

Cohen and other business owners are not convinced. They say the city’s plan is overbroad and should be limited to ProvPort if the city’s true intent is to expand the city port.

They compare the proposal to a plan by the City of New London, Conn., earlier in the decade in which the city took 90 acres of land by eminent domain in an attempt to encourage the development of a multimillion-dollar mixed-use zone centered around a recently built Pfizer research center.

Now, eight years later, the mixed-use development has never materialized, and the drug company just this month announced it will close the research center and relocate 1,500 jobs to nearby Groton.

“We’re not blighted,” says Cohen. “But if the city does this, it will be like dropping a bomb on Allens Avenue.”KEY POINTS

Allens Avenue waterfront and port redevelopment plan

The Providence Redevelopment Agency wants 590 acres along Allens to be declared “blighted and substandard,” giving it powers of eminent domain in the zone.

Mayor David N. Cicilline says the plan will allow the city to revitalize the industrial waterfront, transforming the port, encouraging investment, increasing job opportunities and expanding the city and state tax base.

Eleven local businesses oppose the plan.

The U.S. Department of Energy has also voiced concerns.

The City Plan Commission will hold a public hearing Dec. 15. The plan also requires City Council approval.

pmarcelo@projo.com