New zoning for downtown Providence, Rhode Island,

New zoning for downtown Providence, Rhode Island, part of a package of measures recommended in a Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. charrette last March, suffered a setback when a judge ruled the zoning invalid because of the public hearing process in which it was adopted. “This put two important buildings at risk of demolition and has resulted in a major effort to get the zoning back on track,” says Douglas Storrs at Cornish Associates, whose Providence firm has been converting several old buildings into a mix of ground-floor retail and upper-floor housing. u