Developer pitches mixed residential plan for Mulligan’s Island; city and residents stress traffic, schools and preservation

Mulligan’s Island LLC representatives told a joint session of the City of Cranston Planning Commission and City Council that they intend to seek a new zoning designation to allow a mix of single-family, duplex/townhouse and multifamily housing on the 55-acre property currently developed as Mulligan’s Island.

City planning director Beth Ashman opened the workshop with background on the parcel, saying the site has a mixed-plan-development (MPD) designation tailored to the Cranston Sports and Entertainment Center and that any substantially different use will require a council zone change. She and other city staff told the audience that any redevelopment proposal will require traffic and stormwater engineering reviews and that the historic Daniel Congdon Cemetery on the site “needs to be preserved with a 25‑foot buffer.”

The developer’s attorney, John Mancini, said his client wants the parcel rezoned to permit residential development within an MPD so multiple housing types can be planned together. Mancini and project engineer Greg Guglielmo described a concept that places lower-density single-family housing along the existing neighborhood edges, staged duplex/townhouse units in a mid-ring and multifamily buildings near the state‑owned Howard Complex and the…