PROVIDENCE — Handed a sheaf of papers last night with a raft of changes to the Comprehensive Plan that they spent months this spring and summer crafting and reviewing, members of the City Plan Commission barely batted an eyelash.

The plan was passed a first time by the City Council on Nov. 1, and regulations require that city planners have a 30-day period to review the council’s changes and either support them or fight them.

Despite major changes by the City Council to the document — which forms the backbone of city planning and zoning codes — commission members last night quibbled with only a few of the council’s revisions. They recommended stripping down a section promoting mixed-use development in poor neighborhoods, and wanted to make sure that the city could make a few long-awaited zoning changes almost immediately after the plan gets its final passage.

“There’s not much to talk about — the revisions are what they are,” said Commission Chairman Stephen Durkee.

The Comprehensive Plan’s most significant sections deal with land use, waterfront issues and implementation of the plan itself.

The plan has been opposed by neighborhood groups that say that the city is rushing the approval process, and by waterfront industrial business owners along Allens Avenue, who fear that a section recommending changing the zoning on Allens Avenue north of Thurbers Avenue from industrial to mixed-use will lead to large-scale condo projects and the demise of their businesses.

The City Council tried to appease both groups. Council members first built in protections ensuring that no major zoning changes happen until after a series of neighborhood-specific meetings are held.

Next, sections were added to to defend the right of the heavy industrial businesses to exist, stating “residents understand that such businesses are encouraged in this area and any noise, odors, vibrations, etc. generated by the businesses shall not be deemed a nuisance to any resident.”

In addition, they assured the waterfront businesses that no zoning changes would be made in the area until after the Waterfront charette, its neighborhood planning meeting, is complete.

But neither set of objectors were completely satisfied with the council’s revisions, and last night they plead their case to the City Plan Commission to make additional changes.

Sara Mersha, of the social advocacy group Direct Action for Rights and Equality, took specific issue with one addition by the council, a section stating that the city should “promote mixed-income development in economically distressed areas.”

Mersha said that the introduction of mixed-income development would come at the cost of the residents already living in the poorer neighborhoods.

“The problem with mixed-income development is that it really does promote displacement,” she said.

Her concerns found a sympathetic ear in commission member Andrew Cortes.

“The way it reads is that we need to bring rich people into poor neighborhoods,” Cortes said. “I don’t like it.”

Mersha wanted the entire section struck, but the commission settled on recommending that it be shortened to “promote mixed-income development.”

The waterfront business interests were not as successful when they argued against the inclusion of a certain map in the plan. Andrew Teitz, a lawyer representing the Working Waterfront Alliance, argued that the commission should make it clear that a particular land-use map that already lists the northern Allens Avenue area as planned for mixed use does not amount to a preliminary change in the zoning code.

“You’re already changing the rules of the game … before you get to the charette,” Teitz said.

The commission declined to recommend that the council firm up that language, but they did assure Teitz that if any developer tries to use that map to prove that a mixed-use project is permitted in that area, the developer would be rejected.

“If someone petitions for a zoning variance of this map, it won’t fly,” Durkee said. “Fact is, that map is just a piece of paper.”

The charette on the Waterfront is scheduled for February.

The commission did request that language be strengthened allowing some procedural changes to the city zoning rules after the plan is adopted — most importantly, that the threshold for a project to be subject to mandatory review by the commission be lowered from 40,000 square feet. Chairman Durkee said that too many projects come in at just under that size and avoid review.

dbarbari@projo.com