By DONNA KENNY KIRWAN

PAWTUCKET — The City Council has given final approval to an amendment to its zoning ordinance that would greatly expand the allowable re-uses of old mill buildings that are currently zoned for only for manufacturing.

At its noontime meeting on Wednesday, the council voted 6-0 to pass the zoning amendment, which is similar to one that had been adopted in Central Falls last year.
One of the first places that the overlay district will likely be applied is the former Paramount Cards and Coats and Clark mill complexes at Conant and Pine Streets. Developer Lance Robbins, who refurbished the former Hope Webbing complex on Main Street into the Hope Artiste Village, a mix of retail and commercial space, has plans for a similar transformation of this sprawling property.
Pawtucket Planning Director Michael Cassidy has said that under the current manufacturing zone that involves the property, most other uses, including commercial or retail, would be limited or prohibited. The overlay district, which can be applied on a property-by-property basis, would allow for a wide assortment of other retail and commercial uses to co-exist with manufacturing.
The City Council also voted to schedule a public hearing for Sept. 10 on a request for a tax stabilization plan for the developer who has purchased the former school administration building at 81 Park Place.
The Council also took no action on a resolution from Councilor Henry Kinch, Jr. that had proposed changing the name of Park Place North to Bill Busald Way. The resolution was forwarded to the City Council Properties Committee for review.
Kinch has maintained that the new School Administration Building at 286 Main Street should be named for Edward J. Creamer, as the previous administration facility at 81 Park Place had originally been dedicated to the former school business manager.
Prior to the meeting, School Committee member Amy-Lynn Zolt and two friends of Busald, a longtime School Committee member and former chairman, spoke out against the change. Saying that the street had nothing to do with Busald while the building “was his baby,” Zolt urged the council to instead consider a request to have Busald’s name put on the building in some manner. Tom Scanlon, a longtime friend of Busald’s, said that he has been collecting signatures on a petition to do what Zolt has suggested.
Later on Wednesday, Kinch said he was withdrawing his street name request in favor of a new plan that would involve having the names of both Creamer and Busald adorn the School Administration building jointly. He said he had spoken to friends and family members of both men since he made his original request, and now thinks the joint building name would be a good compromise. He called Creamer, who lives on Oswald Street in Darlington, and the late Busald “fantastic individuals” and said,“I think this is a good way to honor both men.”
Another resolution, proposed by Mayor James Doyle to rename the city’s new emergency management facility in honor of the late Shawn M. Nassaney, passed unanimously by the council. Nassaney was a young man from Pawtucket who died in one of the planes that crashed during the Sept. 11 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City.