Municipal Technical Assistance Program: Templates and Resources

RIHousing has created a set of documents with the goal of helping municipalities bring their local ordinances and regulations into conformance with the new zoning and planning requirements established by recently passed legislation.

Municipal Technical Assistance Program (MTAP) > Templates and Resources

Last Updated: 10.09.2024

RIHousing created a series of guidance documents and materials to assist Rhode Island municipalities in updating their land use and permitting and zoning enforceable policies (e.g., zoning ordinances and subdivision regulations) in response to the 2023 General Assembly session. As a result of the 2024 General Assembly session, some of those templates required updating and the creation of several new templates was needed to provide guidance to municipalities for interpretation and adoption into the regulatory framework at the local level.

The templates and other resources should only be used in consultation with a municipality’s solicitor to ensure that they are used appropriately within the local regulatory framework.

– Video Tutorial: MTAP Webpage Overview

Introduction and Summary of Guidance Documents

The General Assembly adopted new requirements or amended existing requirements through fourteen bills, which made changes to various aspects of zoning, planning, and permitting statutes for the purposes of standardizing and streamlining the development process and otherwise reducing barriers to housing development. Those bills that resulted in amendments to existing templates, or the creation of new templates, are described briefly in the text below, along with their effective dates, and can be accessed by clicking on the hyperlinks provided in blue. New bills that affect zoning, planning and permitting statutes are described briefly below, along with a more detailed summary in the Bill Summaries 2024 document.

  • H 7062 A/S 2998 A: provides homeowners statewide the right to develop a single accessory dwelling unit (ADU) on an owner-occupied property in all residential districts if it meets specified conditions. It clarifies an ADU law amendment from 2022. Takes effect upon passage.
  • H 7948 A/S 2999 A: this is an update to a 2023 bill related to inclusionary zoning by setting minimum density requirements, requiring a minimum percentage of LMI units, setting a minimum number of units as a trigger, and alters the fee-in-lieu provision. Effective date: January 1, 2025.
  • H 7949 Aaa/S 3001 A: this is an update to a 2023 bill related to the role of the planning board, technical review committee, and administrative officer. It amends both the zoning enabling and the subdivision enabling statutes. More specifically, it amends the definition and processes for land development projects and development plan review and requires unified development review. It also amends provisions related to variances, special-use permits, modifications, notice provisions, substandard lots of record, and lot merger. Takes effect upon passage.
  • H 7950 A/S 3000 A: provides amendments relative to the permitting authority of, and acceptable forms of financial security permissible for construction and/or improvement guarantees relating to the completion of required public improvements. Effective date: January 1, 2025.
  • H 7979/S 2991: provides amendments to the membership provisions of planning boards or commissions and would enable municipalities to establish “combined review boards” to replace separate planning and zoning boards. Effective date: January 1, 2025.
  • H 7980 Aaa/S 2989 A: makes amendments relative to manufactured homes, including a definition for a manufactured home and a provision where cities/towns may allow manufactured homes which comply with the State Building Code as a single-family home on any lot zoned for single-family use provided the home complies with all dimensional requirements for a single-family home in the District or seeks appropriate relief. Takes effect upon passage.

Bill Summaries

The Bill Summaries document provides an overview of each of the bills that resulted in required changes to various statutes, as well as providing summaries for those bills that will impact municipalities but may not have requirements for local integration into the regulatory framework. The bill numbers, effective date, brief bill summary, and key changes are outlined for each bill. It is noted in the first line of each table if the bill generated and update to an existing template, a new template, or no template was needed.

 

Legislative Language Summary Table

View table here >

Several of the bills have sections of the local regulatory framework that will need to be cut and pasted from state law. These tables attempt to provide those instances where no tailoring of the enabling language is needed prior to adopting the language into the local regulatory framework. These tables are designed to be used in conjunction with the associated templates. Language that required adjustment for insertion into the local regulatory framework is contained in the associated templates, along with the language for direct insertion. The legislative language summary tables should not be used without the associated templates that are identified in the light orange boxes within and at the end of each table.

 

Best Practices and Examples

As part of the development of the regulatory templates, research was conducted to look at best practices and examples both nationwide and locally. This provided examples of how municipalities are already addressing similar issues. As part of the guidance provided to municipalities, there are best practices and example resources for subdivision, zoning, inclusionary zoning, comprehensive permits, adaptive reuse and accessory dwelling units.These best practices and examples should be used as a resource to learn more about a topic area. Any information gathered from them should only be used in consultation with a municipality’s solicitor to ensure that the information is utilized in a manner consistent with Rhode Island General Law.

 

Model Regulatory Templates

Included in the guidance documents are templates of model regulatory text, which are intended to be adapted and tailored by the municipalities into their local enforceable policy as appropriate. The templates are color coded and annotated to simplify their use as follows:

  • Template language in red is either directly from state law or has been adapted directly from state law for insertion into the local regulatory framework and should not be altered. Text in black is supporting text or suggested text from best practices and examples for consideration by the municipality.
  • Several of the templates are updated versions of the 2023 regulatory templates to account for legislative changes taking effect in 2024. All updated templates will be clearly labeled as such at the top of the document. Therse templates will retain previously existing red text and show new changes in blue with strikethroughs and underlines. Blue underlined text represents language mandated by state law and it should be inserted unaltered into the local regulatory framework.
  • Footnotes are used to reference sections of general law or call the reader’s attention to specific and important information. In updated templates from 2023, footnotes will indicate where previously existing inconsistencies have now been corrected in the 2024 legislation. These templates should not be used without direct consultation of all of the associated footnotes.
  • All footnoted references refer to the amended legislation that was approved during the 2024 General Assembly. Some footnotes from the 2023 session remain, as not all inconsistencies were addressed in the 2024 legislation.
  • In some cases, an inconsistency was identified in the general law during the process of drafting the templates. The templates use black text, within sections of red text, and a footnote, to identify sections where it was likely intended for language to be inserted or represented differently, but without a change to the enabling legislation, the text represented in black could be interpreted to be inconsistent with state law. In most of these circumstances the use of the exact text from the enabling legislation would be incorrect or inconsistent. In all of these cases, municipalities should consult with their solicitor for specific guidance.
  • Where the 2024 legislation has addressed inconsistencies in bills from the prior year, the updated template will show the corrected text in blue, indicating it is language that is required by state law to be inserted unaltered into the local regulatory framework. The blue text uses strikethroughs to show deletions and underlining to show additions.
  • In some cases, the templates include bracketed text. Bracketed text signals the need for a municipality to provide the proper name of a local body, such as the planning board, or to add in a reference to a local regulatory section number or name. It should be noted that using internal references to specific sections of an ordinance or regulation are not required. These are provided as placeholders. A general reference to the source document can be made, or specific sections of state law can be used for reference if the municipality does not want to cite specific sections of local code. Some templates include internal references, that are bracketed, to sections within the model. These are represented with the model template section numbers and will need to be updated with local section references once drafted for insertion into the local regulatory framework.
  • The regulatory templates have been drafted to represent the minimum requirements necessary to update the land development regulations and zoning ordinance for compliance with the changes to the enabling legislation. Each municipality may have a different approach and organizational style to the regulatory documents. The templates can be used in whole, or in part, with the understanding that the language represented in red, or in blue, if representing an update to an existing template, is required for compliance. Municipalities will need to determine where these current sections exist in their regulatory documents and determine how best to use the model template to amend each relevant section. There are policy considerations that need to be addressed in some circumstances. The templates attempt to identify these sections through footnotes and bracketed text where the municipality can make a determination about a certain provision. An example of this is deciding who the permitting authority is for minor final subdivisions and land development applications. The law provides that either the administrative officer or the technical review committee can be the permitting authority in this instance. When using such language from the template, the municipality will need to make a policy determination and draft their tailored language accordingly.
  • The templates should only be used in consultation with a municipality’s solicitor to ensure that the tailored and directly inserted language is used appropriately and in the correct location within each regulatory framework. These regulatory templates are not intended to be used as a direct cut and paste in all circumstances and municipal solicitors should be carefully consulted as to how the local regulations and ordinances are amended.

 

Guidance Documents

Land Development Projects and Subdivisions

 

Templates
Best Practices
Checklists
Flow Charts
Informational Videos

Development Plan Review

Templates

Best Practices
Checklists
Flow Charts
Informational Video

 

Unified Development Review

 
Templates
Best Practices

Adaptive Reuse

Templates
Best Practices

Appeals

Templates
Best Practices

Comprehensive Permit

Templates
Best Practices
Flow Charts
Informational Video

Technical Review Committee

Templates

Modifications, Variances and Special Uses

Templates
Best Practices

Inclusionary Zoning

Templates
Best Practices

Precedence of Approvals

Templates

Combined Review Board

Templates

Accessory Dwelling Unit

Templates
Best Practices

Mobile and Manufactured Homes

Templates

CONTACT 

Stacy Wasserman
swasserman@rihousing.com
401-457-1242