PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The Providence City Council Ordinance Committee on Thursday gave its blessing to a zoning change that would pave the way for a New York developer to build the state’s tallest skyscraper on the former I-195 land.

The five-member committee voted 3-1 to recommend approval to the full council to raise the maximum building height of Parcel 42 along Dyer Street from 130 feet to 600 feet, which would allow developer Jason Fane to build a 46-story residential skyscraper.

Committee Chairman Terry Hassett (Ward 12) and Councilors Jo-Ann Ryan (Ward 5) and Carmen Castillo (Ward 9) all voted to recommend approval of the zoning change. Councilman Bryan Principe (Ward 13) voted against the change. Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris (Ward 11) abstained from voting.

“We’ve got a developer that is serious and ready to build,” Ryan told her colleagues before the vote. “We need to embrace developers.”

Fane is seeking to invest approximately $300 million in the project, but he has faced criticism from residents and other developers who argue it’s bad urban policy to engage in “spot zoning,” a practice of approving one-off zoning changes for specific projects. He also plans to seek a 20-year tax stabilization agreement, which is allowed on the I-195 land for projects of this size.

The Ordinance Committee initially voted in July to recommend that the full council vote the proposal down, but the council sent it back to the committee so Fane could discuss his project in a public hearing. The project has the support of the building trades and the majority of the council appears to be in favor of the proposal, although Council President David Salvatore has said he is against it.

Principe, who along with Hassett is leaving the council at the end of the term, argued the “ink hasn’t dried” on the city’s zoning ordinance, which took several years to craft before it was approved in 2014. He said the change would “obliterate the zoning ordinance that we worked so hard on.”

“We’re saying to everyone else that we’re for sale,” Principe said. “Our zoning doesn’t matter.”

Dante Bellini, a spokesperson for Fane, said the group was “gratified that we prevailed tonight” and looking for to the full council’s vote, which could come as soon as next week.

Sharon Steele, a city resident who has strongly opposed the project, called the committee’s recommendation a “tragedy.” She said she will work to convince Mayor Jorge Elorza to veto the change if it’s approved by the full council, but she also threatened to take the matter to Superior Court.

“It was obvious the fix was in,” Steele said.

Elorza has repeatedly said he isn’t opposed to the zoning change, but he has not endorsed the overall project. He has said he wants to see a finalized version of the design before weighing in.

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Dan McGowan (dmcgowan@wpri.com) covers politics and the city of Providence for WPRI.com. Follow him on Twitter: @danmcgowan