PROVIDENCE — A city nonprofit is seeking to raise at least $50,000 to fund a legal challenge to a zoning change that allows developers to build a 46-story luxury apartment tower on former Route 195 land.

Building Bridges Providence, a public advocacy group founded to support the development of a park and pedestrian bridge in the I-195 district, has taken the lead in organizing an appeal to the zoning change, which the Providence City Council approved in November.

The zoning change exempts New York developer Jason Fane from a 100-foot height limit on a parcel along Dyer Street and allows him to build up to 600 feet on the land. Mayor Jorge Elorza vetoed the council’s initial approval, but the council overrode his veto on Dec. 13.

An appeal to the zoning change can be filed in Providence Superior Court within 30 days of that decision.

Building Bridges has been in touch with attorneys about mounting a legal challenge to the zoning change on the basis that it constitutes illegal spot zoning and violates the city’s comprehensive zoning plan, said Sharon Steele, president of Building Bridges.

Steele declined to say how much money the group has raised so far, but said it will be making an announcement soon.

Neighborhood associations and nonprofits throughout the city oppose the project, known as the Hope Point Tower, Steele said. She called the City Council’s decision to approve the zoning change an “egregious violation” of the comprehensive plan.

“ ... The comprehensive plan is not an innocuous general policy statement, but rather a binding framework or blueprint that must be complied with,” she said.

Labor groups strongly support the project, as do Senate President Dominick Ruggerio and House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello. Ruggerio has said he plans to submit legislation that would remove some of the city’s authority in developing former Route 195 land.

That legislation “is in the process of being researched at this point,” Ruggerio spokesman Greg Paré wrote in an email this week.

Dante Bellini, spokesman for the Fane Organization, declined to comment on Building Bridges and its plans to appeal.

“We won’t comment on their plans nor will we discuss anything that may or may not happen in the future,” he wrote in an email. “We are only focused on Design Review and all the details attendant to that process.”

— mlist@providencejournal.com

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