The text
Sec. 1-1. - Designation and citation of Code.#
The ordinances contained in this and the following chapters shall be designated and cited as the "Bristol Town Code," and may be so cited.
(Code 1972, § 1-1)
Charter reference— Codification of ordinances, § 1303.
Sec. 1-2. - Definitions and rules of construction.#
In the construction of this Code and of all other ordinances of the town, the following rules shall be observed, unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the town council:
Causing an act. Any requirements or prohibitions of any act, shall respectively extend to and include the causing and procuring, directly or indirectly, of such act.
Code. The words "the Code" or "this Code" shall mean the "Bristol Town Code" as designated in section 1-1.
Computation of time. The time in which an act is to be done shall be computed by excluding the first and including the last day; and if the last day is Saturday or Sunday or a legal holiday, that shall be excluded.
Construction of permit provisions with ordinances. Any act otherwise prohibited by law or local ordinance shall be lawful if performed under, by virtue of, and strictly within the provisions of a permit or license so to do, and to the extent authorized thereby.
Council. The words "the council" or "town council" shall mean the town council of the Town of Bristol, Rhode Island.
County. The words "the county" or "this county" shall mean Bristol County, Rhode Island.
Crossing. Any crossing whether marked by a pavement or otherwise; the extension to any sidewalk space across any intersecting drive, street or highway.
Curb. Any boundary of any street, road, avenue, boulevard or drive, whether or not marked by a curb.
Daytime, nighttime. The word "daytime" is the period of time between sunrise and sunset; and nighttime is the period of time between sunset and sunrise, unless otherwise defined herein.
Gender. Words used in the masculine gender shall include the feminine and neuter.
In the town. The words "in the town" or "within the town" shall mean and include all territory over which the town now has, or shall hereafter acquire jurisdiction for the exercise of its police powers or other regulatory powers.
Joint authority. All words giving a joint authority to three or more persons or officers shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such persons or officers.
Keeper and proprietor. The words "keeper" and "proprietor" shall mean and include persons, firms, associations, corporations, clubs and copartnerships, whether acting by themselves or as a servant, agent or employee.
Land and real estate. The terms "land" and "real estate" include lands, tenements and hereditaments, and rights thereto and interests therein.
Month. The word "month" shall mean a calendar month.
Number. Words used in the singular number include the plural, and words used in the plural number include the singular.
Oath. When an oath is required or authorized by law, an affirmation in lieu thereof may be taken by a person having conscientious scruples against taking an oath. An affirmation has the same effect as an oath.
Officer, department, etc. Every officer, department, board, commission or similar body mentioned in this Code shall mean an officer, department, board, commission or similar body of the town, unless otherwise specified.
Official time. Whenever certain hours are named in this Code, they shall mean Eastern Standard Time or Eastern Daylight Saving Time, as may be in current use in the town.
Owner. The word "owner," applied to a building or land, shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint tenant or tenant by the entirety, of the whole or of a part of such building or land.
Pedestrian. The word "pedestrian" shall mean a person afoot.
Person. The word "person" shall include a corporation, firm, partnership, association, organization or any other group acting as a unit, as well as a natural person.
Personal property. The term "personal property" includes every species of property except real property.
Plural, singular. Words importing the singular shall include the plural, words importing the plural shall include the singular.
Preceding, following. The words "preceding" and "following" mean next before and next after, respectively.
Property. The word "property" includes real, personal and mixed estates and interests.
Real property. The term "real property" shall include lands, tenements and hereditaments.
Shall, may. "Shall" is mandatory, and "may" is permissive.
Sidewalk. The word "sidewalk" shall mean that part of the street exclusively reserved for pedestrians and constructed for such purpose.
Signature or subscription. The terms "signature" or "subscription" includes a mark when the person cannot write.
Soliciting. Persons selling goods or services by sample or taking orders for future delivery with or without accepting advance payment for goods. Persons seeking any form of contributions.
State. The words "the state" or "this state," shall be construed to mean the State of Rhode Island.
State law references. Whenever reference is made to the "General Laws" or "G.L. 1956," this shall mean the General Laws of Rhode Island, 1956, as amended. Whenever reference is made to "Public Laws" or "P.L.," this shall mean the Public Laws of Rhode Island.
Stopping or standing. When prohibited, such term means any cessation of movement of a vehicle occupied or not, except when necessary to avoid conflict with pedestrians or other traffic including horses and bicycles.
Tenant or occupant. The words "tenant" or "occupant," applied to a building or land, shall include any person holding a written or oral lease of, or who occupies, the whole or a part of such building or land, either alone or with others.
Tense. Words used in the past or present tense include the future as well as the past and present.
Town. The words "the town" or "this town" shall be construed as if the words "of Bristol, Rhode Island" followed them.
Traffic. The word "traffic" shall mean pedestrians and vehicles, either singly or together.
Ways, streets, highways. The words "ways," "streets" and "highways" shall be construed as including boulevards, avenues, courts, lanes, alleys, squares, places and sidewalks, and each of these words includes every other of them.
Weekday. The word "weekday" shall mean Monday through Friday.
Weekend. The word "weekend" shall mean Saturday and Sunday.
Written, in writing. The terms "written" or "in writing" shall be construed to include any representation of words, letters or figures, whether by printing or otherwise.
Year. The word "year" shall mean a calendar year.
(Code 1972, § 1-2)
Charter reference— Masculine and feminine gender, § 1313.
Sec. 1-3. - Catchlines of sections, history notes and references.#
(a)
The catchlines of the several sections of this Code, printed in boldface type, are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the section, and shall not be deemed or taken to be titles of such sections, nor as any part of the section, nor, unless expressly so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of such sections, including the catchlines, are amended or reenacted.
(b)
The history notes appearing in parentheses after sections of the Code and the references and notes scattered throughout the Code are for the benefit of the user of the Code and shall have no legal effect.
(Code 1972, § 1-3)
Sec. 1-4. - Provisions deemed continuation of prior ordinances.#
The provisions of this Code, so far as they are in substance the same as those ordinances existing on the effective date of this Code, shall be considered as continuations thereof and not as new enactments.
(Code 1972, § 1-4)
Sec. 1-5. - Effect of repeal of ordinances.#
(a)
The repeal of any ordinance shall in no case affect any act done, or any right accrued, acquired or established, or any suit or proceeding had or commenced in any civil case before the time when such repeal shall take effect.
(b)
No suit, prosecution or indictment, pending at the time of the repeal of any ordinance for any offense committed, or for the recovery of any fine, forfeiture or penalty, incurred under the ordinance so repealed, shall in any case be affected by such repeal, but such suit, prosecution or indictment may be proceeded with, and such ordinance shall be deemed to be in force for the purpose of prosecuting the same to final judgment and sentence, as the case may be.
(c)
The repeal of any ordinance shall not be construed to revive any other ordinance which has been repealed.
(Code 1972, § 1-5)
Sec. 1-6. - Severability of parts of Code.#
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the town council that the sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this Code are severable, and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this Code shall be declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid by the valid judgment or decree of a court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality or invalidity shall not affect any of the remaining phrases, clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of this Code.
(Code 1972, § 1-6)
Sec. 1-7. - General penalty; continuing violations.#
(a) Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in this Code or in any other ordinance or resolution of the town or in any rule, regulation or order promulgated by any officer or agency of the town under authority duly vested in such person, any act is prohibited or is made or declared to be unlawful or an offense or a misdemeanor, or the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful or an offense or a misdemeanor, where no specific penalty is provided therefor, the violation of any such provision of this Code or any other ordinance or resolution of the town or such rule, regulation or order shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500.00.
(b)
Except where otherwise provided, every day any violation of this Code or any other ordinance or resolution of the town or such rule, regulation or order shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.
(Code 1972, § 1-7; Ord. No. 2015-25, 1-6-16; Ord. No. 2017-13, 10-4-17)
Charter reference— Authority to provide for a penalty, § 208(a)(4).
State Law reference— Authority to impose penalties for ordinance violations, G.L. 1956, § 45-6-2.
Sec. 1-8. - Amendments to Code.#
(a)
All ordinances passed subsequent to the adoption of this Code which amend, repeal or in any way affect this Code may be numbered in accordance with the numbering system of this Code and printed for inclusion therein, or in the case of repealed chapters, sections and subsections or any part thereof, by subsequent ordinances, such repealed portions may be excluded from the Code by omission thereof from reprinted pages affected thereby, and the subsequent ordinances as numbered and printed or omitted, in the case of repeal, shall be prima facie evidence of such subsequent ordinances until such time that this Code and subsequent ordinances numbered or omitted are readopted as a new code of ordinances by the council.
(b)
Amendments to any of the provisions of this Code shall be made by amending such provisions by specific reference to the section of the Code in substantially the following language: "That section _____ of the Bristol Town Code is hereby amended to read as follows:…(Set out new provisions in full)…."
(c)
If a new section not then existing in the Code is to be added, the following language may be used: "That the Bristol Town Code is hereby amended by adding a section (or article, chapter or other designation, as the case may be), to be numbered _____, which reads as follows:…(Set out new provisions in full)…."
(d)
In lieu of subsection (c) of this section, when the council desires to enact an ordinance of a general and permanent nature embracing a subject not previously existing in the Code, which the council desires to incorporate into the Code, a provision in substantially the following language may be made a part of the ordinance: "It is the intention of the council, and it is hereby ordained, that the provisions of this ordinance shall become and be made part of the Bristol Town Code, and the sections of this ordinance may be renumbered to accomplish such intention."
(e)
All sections, articles, chapters or other provisions of this Code desired to be repealed should be specifically repealed by section number, article number, chapter or other number, as the case may be.
Sec. 1-9. - Supplementation of Code.#
(a)
By contract or by town personnel, supplements to this Code shall be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by the council. A supplement to the Code shall include all substantive permanent and general parts of ordinances passed by the council or adopted by initiative and referendum during the period covered by the supplement and all changes made thereby in the Code. The pages of a supplement shall be so numbered that they will fit properly into the Code and will, where necessary, replace pages which have become obsolete or partially obsolete, and the new pages shall be so prepared that, when they have been inserted, the Code will be current through the date of adoption of the latest ordinance included in the supplement.
(b)
In the preparation of a supplement to this Code, all portions of the Code which have been repealed shall be excluded from the Code by the omission thereof from reprinted pages.
(c)
When preparing a supplement to this Code, the codifier (meaning the person authorized to prepare the supplement) may make formal, nonsubstantive changes in ordinances and parts of ordinances included in the supplement, insofar as it is necessary to do so to embody them into a unified Code. For example, the codifier may:
(1)
Organize the ordinance material into appropriate subdivisions;
(2)
Provide appropriate catchlines, headings and titles for sections and other subdivisions of the Code printed in the supplement, and make changes in such catchlines, headings and titles;
(3)
Assign appropriate numbers to sections and other subdivisions to be inserted in the Code and, where necessary to accommodate new material, change existing section or other subdivision numbers;
(4)
Change the words "this ordinance" or words of the same meaning to "this chapter," "this article," "this division," etc., as the case may be, or to "sections _____ to _____" (inserting section numbers to indicate the sections of the Code which embody the substantive sections of the ordinance incorporated into the Code); and
(5)
Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve the original meaning of ordinance sections inserted into the Code, but in no case shall the codifier make any change in the meaning or effect of ordinance material included in the supplement or already embodied in the Code.
Sec. 1-10. - Certain ordinances not affected by Code.#
Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code shall be construed to repeal or otherwise affect the validity of any of the following ordinances when not inconsistent with this Code: (1)
Any ordinance promising or guaranteeing the payment of money by the town, or authorizing the issuance of any bonds of the town, or any evidence of the town's indebtedness, or any contract, agreement, lease, deed or other instrument or obligation assumed by the town or creating interest and sinking funds;
(2)
Any right or franchise, permit, or other right granted by any ordinance;
(3)
Any personnel regulations; any ordinance or resolution establishing salaries of town officers and employees or civil service rules;
(4)
Any ordinance dedicating, naming, establishing, locating, relocating, opening, paving, widening, repairing or vacating any street, alley or other public way in the town;
(5)
Any ordinance establishing and prescribing the street grades in the town;
(6)
Any appropriation ordinance or any ordinance levying or imposing taxes;
(7)
Any ordinance providing for local improvements and assessing taxes therefor;
(8)
Any ordinance dedicating or accepting any plat or subdivision in the town;
(9)
Any ordinance establishing the official plat of the town;
(10)
Any zoning map amendment or rezoning ordinance;
(11)
Any ordinance annexing territory or excluding territory from the town;
(12)
Any subdivision ordinance;
(13)
Any ordinance creating special districts or assessing taxes therefor;
(14)
Any ordinance granting specific tax exemptions;
(15)
Any temporary or special ordinance;
and all such ordinances are hereby recognized as continuing in full force and effect to the same extent as if set out at length in this Code.
Sec. 1-11. - Comprehensive plan incorporated by reference.#
The comprehensive plan of the town, as duly adopted and amended from time to time, and as most recently amended (January 12, 2016), is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
This section shall take effect for the purpose of conforming municipal land use decisions and for the purpose of being transmitted to the Rhode Island Director of Administration for state review upon public hearing and passage (January 12, 2016).
This section shall not become effective for the purposes of guiding state agency actions until it is approved by the State of Rhode Island pursuant to RIGL Ch. 45-22.2, a/k/a the Rhode Island Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Act.
(Ord. No. 2008-22, 9-10-08; Ord. No. 2016-02, 1-12-16)