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PUBLIC HEARING TOWN OF CHARLESTOWN AMENDMENTS TO ZONING ORDINANCE Notice is hereby given that the following ordinance has been enacted by the Town Council of the Town of Charlestown on February 17, 2000 after advertised hearing pursuant to requirement of Home Rule Charter whereby all persons were given the opportunity to be heard. ORDINANCE NO. 218 AN ORDINANCE IN RELATION TO ZONING The Town Council of the Town of Charlestown hereby ordains: ARTICLE XVII entitled Growth management is hereby added as follows: § 218-126. Growth Management Authorized. This section authorizes the creation of growth management that will control the rate of growth as permitted by this ordinance. The purpose of growth management is to equitably allocate a limited number of building permits over time, so as to minimize the burden on existing facilities and resources, whose adequacy is essential to the public health, safety and welfare, and in a manner which is consistent with the Charlestown Comprehensive Community Plan. It is the intent of this section to allow controlled growth in relation to the existing and future capacity of town facilities and the Chariho Regional School District. The Town Council, Planning Commission, Town staff and consultants have conducted studies to develop a growth management program as called for in the Comprehensive Community Plan. The Town Council finds that these studies and documents, listed below, establish the basis for the Town’s Growth Management Program, and are incorporated herein by reference: 1. Community Planning Studio, University of Rhode Island, Graduate Program in Community Planning and Area Development. The Growth Management of Charlestown, Rhode Island. Kingston, RI. 4 Dec. 1984. 2. Hess, Nancy. Charlestown Planning Department Issues Brief: Growth Management - Choices for the Future. Charlestown, RI. 1999. 3. MGT of America, Inc. Chariho Facilities and Financial Study, Draft Final Report #2. Olympia, WA. Jan. 1999. 4. Pare Engineering. Controlling the Cost of Growth: An Approach for Charlestown, Rhode Island. Lincoln, RI. Jan. 1988. 5. Shamoon, Samuel J., Community Planner. Town of Charlestown, Growth Management Study. Providence, RI. January 19, 2000. Issuance of building permits authorizing creation of one or more dwelling units, as defined by § 218-5, through new construction or change of use shall be allowed only under the procedures and requirements set forth herein. Applicants for such residential building permits shall be authorized to proceed in the manner specified herein, and in accordance with the priority assigned to them. The total number of dwelling units authorized to begin construction in any quarter shall not exceed the calculated quota as established in § 218-130. There shall be a finite number of residential building permits for each quarter of each year. A quarter is defined as a three-month period that begins on the first day of January, April, July or October. From the effective date of this section to April 1, 2000, there shall be no residential permits issued whatsoever. Thereafter, the number of residential permits to be issued shall be limited in accordance with the following formula: Total Permits per Quarter = (equals) 28.96% of the currently available seats within the Chariho Regional School District PLUS 28.96% of the projected increase of seats within the Chariho Regional School District over the next ten years, commencing with April 1, 2000 ¸ (divided by) .590 ¸ (divided by) forty. Initially, it has been determined by the Town Council, based upon studies conducted pursuant to the Comprehensive Plan and studies cited in § 218-128, along with data supplied by the Superintendent of the Chariho Regional School District, the Town’s present capacity for additional dwelling units is based on the following: 1999 Chariho Capacity = 4,012 seats October 1, 1999 Chariho Enrollment = 3,978 seats Existing Capacity 34 seats Chariho Planned Capacity (approximately) 1,200 seats Charlestown Planned Capacity (approximately) 360 seats Divided by 0.590 610 permits Divided by 40 quarters 15 permits No more than fifteen (15) permits shall be issued as of the first two quarters following the adoption of this Article. The annual quota shall be the quarterly quota times four, initially 60 permits per year. Following the method established in § 218-131, the calculation of the formula for the third and all subsequent quarters shall be performed by the Building Official and shall be submitted to the Town Council, the Planning Commission and posted in the office of the Town Clerk not less than thirty (30) days prior to the commencement of the quarter for which the quota is to be applied. To assist the Building Official in his/her calculation, the Building Official shall request, in writing, that the Superintendent of the Chariho Regional School District supply him/her the number of available seats in the school district based on the current capacity less the actual enrollment as of October 1 of the school calendar year, and the increase in seat capacity, projected from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2009 based upon an adopted plan of the Chariho Regional School Committee. The Building Official shall monitor the Chariho Regional School District’s overall capacity by checking with the Superintendent of the Chariho Regional School District every first day of February, March, August, and November to determine if there are any changes in available seats. If there are no changes, the Building Official shall notify the Town Clerk that the number of permits to be issued the next quarter will be the same as the previous quarter. If there are changes in seats, the Building Official shall recalculate the quota and notify the Town Clerk of the new number of permits to be issued the next quarter. Notwithstanding any changes, the quota shall not change in the middle of any given quarter. The effective date of this Article shall be the date of its enactment. Any application for a building permit creating one or more additional dwelling units submitted after the effective date of this Article shall be subject to the review procedures set forth herein. Permit applications submitted before the effective date of this Article shall not be subject to any of the quota limitations of this Article. This Article shall supercede any and all ordinances inconsistent herewith. § 218-134. Exemptions from the Quota The following types of dwellings shall not be subject to the provisions of this Article with regard to the calculated quota. These dwellings have been determined to have no or minimal impact upon the Town’s capacity or provide positive benefits to the Town which are consistent with the Comprehensive Community Plan. The Building Official shall accept applications for construction of the dwellings listed below and shall act upon them without regard to the quotas, priority determination and procedures as set forth in this Article. All such permits issued shall be considered to be issued in addition to the calculated quota provisions of this Article. Complete applications for construction of dwelling units so authorized shall be granted permits within the time limits prescribed in the Rhode Island State Building Code, regardless of the availability of permits within the quota. A. Vested Rights - An application to construct a dwelling is not subject to this section pursuant to vested rights provisions of § 218-4 of this Ordinance and for any application in a subdivision or land development which has received final or preliminary approval by the Planning Commission as of the date of this Article. B. Elderly Housing - Dwellings which would contribute to meeting the year-round housing needs of elderly citizens through enforceable restrictions limiting occupancy to households whose members are sixty-two (62) years of age or older. Such restrictions would typically include deed restrictions and/or covenants imposed by the applicant and monitored by the Planning Commission. C. Retired Adult Communities - Planned developments for retired citizens, with amenities, established through publicly enforceable restrictions limiting occupancy to residents whose members are fifty-five (55) years of age or older. D. Multifamily Dwellings - Multifamily dwellings, pursuant to Article X of this Ordinance, having zero-bedroom (studio) or one-bedroom units, and which do not exceed a total of 800 sq. ft. floor area per dwelling unit. E. Accessory Family Dwelling Unit, as defined in § 218-5, and provided in § 218-93 of this Ordinance. Building permits shall be issued by the Building Official up to the maximum number permitted by the applicable calculated quota, in the order of priority assigned below. In the event of a tie, priority shall go to the application with the earlier date and time of the submission of a complete application. A. The first priority shall be given to applications for construction of Low and Moderate Income Housing as defined by § 218-5 of this Ordinance. B. The second priority shall be given to applications for construction of a single family detached dwelling if the applicant has not previously received a permit for any lot in Charlestown and the lot to be built upon is not and was not under common ownership with a lot or parcel which has previously received a building permit as of the effective date of this Article; and either, 1) the Applicant owned the lot to be built before the effective date of this Article or, 2) the lot to be built upon has been subdivided from a larger parcel before the effective date of this Article. C. The third priority shall be given to applicants whose application for construction of a dwelling has been denied for four (4) consecutive quarters because of the provisions of this Article. D. The fourth priority shall be given to applications for construction of a single family detached dwelling if the applicant is subject to the Planning Commission’s phasing of subdivisions pursuant to Section 4 of the Charlestown Subdivision/Land Development Regulations. E. The remainder of the quota shall be issued to any other applications in the order of complete applications received. § 218-136. Procedure for Issuance of Building Permits A. Applications for building permits for construction of one or more dwelling units shall be submitted to the Building Official, who shall adhere to the following procedure in reviewing and issuing permits: 1) Completeness - The Building Official shall, upon receipt of an application submitted, examine the application, plans and all materials for completeness, which shall include all plans and materials required for a building permit under the applicable provisions of the Zoning Ordinance and the Rhode Island State Building Code. If said application, plans and materials are complete, the Building Official shall stamp it indicating the date and time of official receipt by the Town. 2) Incomplete Applications - If the application is incomplete and does not contain all plans and materials as required by the Zoning Ordinance and the Rhode Island State Building Code, the application, plans and materials shall immediately be returned to the applicant who will be informed by the Building Official what is missing from the submission in order to qualify as a complete application. B. The Building Official shall not issue permits for any dwelling units in excess of the quota unless such units are exempt, as provided in § 218-134. The Building Official shall keep track of all permits issued plus complete applications submitted during the most recent quarter, beginning with the effective date of this Article. If, within any quarter, the number exceeds the quota, additional building permits shall no longer be issued. Applications for additional permits shall be accumulated for action at the beginning of the next quarter, and shall be prioritized and issued under the ensuing quarter. C. At the beginning of the next quarter, the Building Official shall add the total number of complete applications on file to the total number of permits issued during the previous three (3) quarters. In the event that the resulting sum (current quarter applications plus the previous three quarters’ accumulation) is fewer than the annual quota as defined in § 218-131 and 132, accumulated permits shall be issued up to the quarterly quota limit and new applications may be processed to such limit. In the event that the resulting sum exceeds the annual quota as defined in § 218-131 and 132, the accumulated permits shall not be issued and no further permits shall be issued for that quarter. D. The accumulation of applications may continue from one quarter to the next and permits issued within the limitations described in C) above. Under no circumstances shall the number of building permits, other than those exempt dwellings, shall exceed the annual quota. § 218-137. Limitation Permits Issued In order to assure that permits for residential building construction are equitably distributed among all qualified applicants, no more than five (5) building permits for dwelling units shall be granted to any single applicant, owner or group of owners of any single subdivision or land development project receiving preliminary approval after the effective date of this Article within any quarter if doing so would result in denial of a permit for any other applicant. No more than five (5) building permits for dwelling units during any quarter shall be issued to any single applicant if doing so would result in denial of a permit for any other applicant. CAPACITY – Actual and permanent seats within a public school system to serve the needs of Town residents. Effective capacity is a function of number of seats that meet the school’s educational goals with a fully functioning facility that includes not just classroom seats, but also support core facilities, such as space for art, music, vocational training, gym, lunch room, toilets, library, outdoor play area, and carrying capacity of the land to withstand additional septic discharge. Double sessions or even interim installation of trailer classrooms do not add capacity nor do they solve the problem of effective capacity. |
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