The text
The elements described within section 3.0 apply generally to all land development projects and subdivisions subject to these regulations.
Sec. 3.1. - Town regulatory officials.#
A.
Planning board. The town planning board has been authorized as the local regulatory agency for all matters of land development and subdivision.
B.
Administrative officer. The planning board may designate the chair of the planning board or the town planner as administrative officer to work as their agent to oversee and coordinate all aspects of the review, approval and recording as well as the construction phases for all land development projects and subdivisions (see section 9.1, administrative officer).
C.
The qualifications for the town planner are set by the planning board and the appointment of the town planner shall be by the town council.
Sec. 3.2. - Required submission documents.#
All applications subject to these regulations shall have specific submission requirements, depending upon the type of development proposed (see Section 12.0 for itemized lists of application requirements).
Sec. 3.3. - Fee structures and regulations.#
A.
General. The planning board shall impose reasonable fees for the review of applications, which come before it. The planning board may impose administrative fees and project review fees as may be applicable to the types of applications set forth below. Each fee shall be submitted separately, in accordance with the following provisions.
B.
Administrative fees.
1.
Applicability. An administrative application shall be assesed at the time of application, to offset the expense of review by the planning board and its office staff with regard to all applications set forth in subsection 2, below. Any application filed without this fee shall be deemed incomplete and no review work by the town shall commence until the fee has been paid in full.
2.
Application fees. Application fees shall be as follows:
A.
Pre-application review: $100.00.
B.
Administrative subdivision: $200.00.
C.
Minor land development projects and minor subdivisions (including rural residential compounds):
1.
Pre-application meeting: $100.00 (if more than two meetings, additional $100.00 required per additional meeting).
2.
Preliminary plan: $200.00 plus $50.00 for each additional unit or lot; Nonresidential: $100.00 plus five cents per square foot of gross floor area.
3.
Final plan: Residential: $100.00 plus $20.00 for each additional unit or lot.
Nonresidential: $100.00 plus five cents per square foot of gross floor area.
D.
Major land development projects and major subdivisions:
1.
Pre-application meeting (if more than two meetings, additional fees required equivalent to original meeting fee for each additional meeting):
Residential: $200.00 plus $20.00 for each additional unit or lot.
Nonresidential: $100.00 plus five cents per square foot of gross floor area.
2.
Master plan:
Residential: $300.00 plus $50.00 for each additional unit or lot.
Nonresidential: $100.00 plus five cents per square foot of gross floor area.
3.
Preliminary plan:
Residential: $500.00 plus $100.00 for each additional lot or unit
Nonresidential: $100.00 plus five cents per square foot of gross floor area
4.
Final plan:
Residential: $100.00 plus $20.00 for each additional unit or lot.
Nonresidential: $100.00 plus five cents per square foot of gross floor area.
F.
Extension requests: $100.00.
G.
Solar fee: Solar fees are calculated by the square footage of the area where the panels are located including the rows and interspacing between panels (unless otherwise noted). The fee applies as follows:
1.
Roof mounted: the appropriate building permit fee.
2.
Solar canopy: The square footage of the face of the panels calculated at $.02/square foot.
3.
Ground mounted with minor land development or DPR:
• Pre-application: $200.00.
• Preliminary plan: $300.00 plus $.02/SF.
• Final plan: $300.00 plus $.02/SF.
4.
Ground mounted with major land development:
• Pre-application: $200.00.
• Master plan: $300.00 plus $.02/SF.
• Preliminary plan: $300.00 plus $.02/SF.
• Final plan: $250.00 plus $.02/SF.
No single stage of review can have a calculated fee that exceeds $5,000.00 minus the base fee. If the calculated fee minus the base fee exceeds $5,000.00, the fee shall be capped at $5,000.00 for each stage of review.
H.
Application that cannot be classified or grouped with any other existing category:
• Pre-application: $200.00.
• Master plan: $300.00 (if required).
• Preliminary plan: $300.00.
• Final plan: $250.00.
I.
Unified development review application:
• $300.00 plus;
• The administrative fee listed in LDSR Section 3.3 entitled "Fee structures and regulations," B.2. for the proposed project type plus;
• The cost of all public notice is to be borne by the applicant.
J.
Any appeal filed pursuant to section 10, documents and reproduction fees including, but not limited to stenographic, copying, and tape reproduction. Fee will commensurate with actual cost.
3.
Fees for revised applications. Where an administrative fee has been calculated and the application is revised after payment of said fee, the following rules shall apply:
A.
If the basis for calculating the fee increases after the initial submittal, the applicant shall pay a fee equivalent to the difference between the fee originally paid and the fee that would have been paid had the original submission included these revisions. No review of these revisions shall take place until this additional fee is paid. The application is incomplete until such fee is paid. Failure to make this payment after requesting additional revisions shall be grounds for denial of the application.
B.
If the basis for calculating the fee decreases, a refund of that portion of the application fee predicated on those lots or units shall be granted only if, in the judgment of the planning board, no cost associated with the review of those lots or units has been yet incurred. The application is incomplete if the fee is not paid.
4.
Fee waivers. The planning board may waive or reduce any administrative fee, if, in the opinion of the board, unusual circumstances exist regarding the subject property or the applicant.
5.
Refund. Once the review process has been commenced, the planning board shall not refund administrative fees, including the case of withdrawal of the application by the applicant, except as provided in subsection B.3.B, above.
C.
Project review, hearing and inspection fees.
1.
Applicability. In addition to the administrative fees cited in section 3.3.B.2, the applicant shall also provide payment for all hearing costs, including the cost of legal ads and stenographers. The planning board shall also impose a project review fee on those applications which require, in the judgment and sole discretion of the planning board, analyses or review by outside consultants due to the size, scale or complexity of a proposed project, the project's potential impacts, and/or because the town lacks the necessary expertise to perform the review work related to the permit or approval. In hiring outside consultants, the board may engage, including but not limited to, engineers, planners, lawyers, landscape architects, architects, geo-technical experts, hydrology experts, or other appropriate firms, persons or professionals able to assist the board in its review of the proposal or application and to ensure compliance with all relevant laws, ordinances, and regulations, as well as with the formulation of reasonable measures to assess and/or mitigate identified impacts. Such assistance may include, but shall not be limited to, analyzing an application, review of information submitted by an applicant, design review of applications to determine consistency with the town's design standards and objectives including those referenced in the community comprehensive plan, examining the adequacy and reasonable alternatives of measures to mitigate potential impacts, monitoring or inspecting a project or site for compliance with the board's decisions or regulations, or inspecting a project during construction or implementation, or such other similar technical assistance as the planning board may require.
2.
Submittal. Project review fees shall be submitted at the time of the submittal of the application for deposit in an escrow account established by the town treasurer. Any application filed without this fee shall be deemed incomplete and no review work shall commence until the fee has been paid in full.
3.
Schedule of project review fees. The following schedule applies to the types of applications to the planning board set forth below. This schedule supersedes all previous schedules as they may have appeared in the zoning ordinance, the subdivision and land development regulations, and any listings, which may have been compiled from time to time for the benefit of applicants.
A.
Conceptual master plan, subdivision or land development project: $1,000.00 for the first six units or lots, plus $100.00 per unit or lot, after the first six.
B.
Preliminary plan, subdivision or land development project: $1,000.00 for the first six units or lots, plus $100.00 per unit or lot, after the first six.
C.
Final plan, subdivision or land development project: $1,000.00 for the first six units or lots, plus $100.00 per unit or lot, after the first six.
D.
Development plan, subdivision or land development project: $1,000.00 for the first six units or lots, plus $100.00 per unit or lot, after the first six.
4.
Replenishment. When the balance in an applicant's escrow account falls below 25 percent of the initial project review fee, as imposed above, the planning board shall consider whether to require a supplemental project review fee to cover the cost of the remaining project review.
5.
Inspection phase. After the granting of a final plan approval, or authorizing construction upon the acceptance of a performance guarantee, the planning board may require a supplemental project review fee for the purpose of ensuring the availability of funds to cover the inspection phase of the review process.
6.
Handling of project review fees. The project review fee is to be deposited into a special account as established by the town.
A.
Project review fees shall be turned over to the town by the planning board for deposit into an escrow account.
B.
Outside consultants retained by the planning board to assist in the review of an application shall be paid from this account.
C.
A copy of the latest statement from the banking institution handling the escrow account shall be forwarded to the planning board office as soon as it is received for timely and accurate accounting.
D.
A report on activity in the escrow account on an annual basis shall be submitted to the planning board and town council for review.
E.
An accounting of an applicant's funds held in the escrow account may be requested by the applicant at any time.
1.
The planning board shall respond to the request in a timely fashion.
2.
This accounting may include the following information:
a.
The latest statement from the banking institution handling the account, which should include an accurate accumulated interest portion to the closing date of the statement if such statements are subdivided into individual applicant's accounts.
b.
A report of all checks authorized for issuance since that last banking statement.
F.
An applicant may request an estimate of bills pending from consultants for work completed, or in progress, but not yet invoiced.
G.
Excess fees in the escrow account shall be returned to the applicant or the applicant's successor in interest, at the conclusion of the review process, as defined below. For the purpose of this section, any person or entity claiming to be an applicant's successor in interest shall provide the board with documentation establishing such succession in interest. All accumulated interest shall accrue to the town to cover costs associated with the management and processing of those procedures.
1.
With the approval or disapproval of a preliminary subdivision plan.
2.
With the disapproval of a final subdivision plan.
3.
With the release of the performance bond at the end of construction of an approved final subdivision plan.
4.
With the final inspection or the approval or disapproval on all other types of applications under the zoning ordinance or subdivision and land development regulations, whichever comes later.
7.
Appeal. The choice of a consultant, selected by the planning board for project review, may be appealed in writing to the board of appeal by the applicant, providing such appeal is initiated in accordance with section 10.0 of these regulations.
A.
Two circumstances may disqualify the selected consultant. These conditions constitute the only grounds for an appeal.
1.
Conflict of interest: A consultant shall not have a financial interest in the project under review, or be in a position to financially benefit in some way from the outcome of the pending review process. Consultants must be in compliance with the Rhode Island Ethics Law.
2.
Lack of appropriate qualifications: A consultant shall possess the minimum required qualifications. The minimum qualifications shall consist of either an educational degree in, or related to, the field at issue or three or more years of practice in the field at issue or a related field.
B.
The required time limits for action upon an application by the planning board shall be extended by duration of the appeal.
C.
This appeal shall not preclude further judicial review, as an appeal of the board of appeal's decision.
D.
Delinquent accounts. The following rules apply to fees owed to the planning board by applicants:
1.
Monthly interest charge. All fees past due by one month from the date of invoice shall be subject to a monthly interest charge based upon an annual interest rate of 12 percent.
2.
Costs of collection. All costs of collection associated with past due accounts shall be borne by the applicant.
(Amd. of 2-20-17; Ord. of 12-4-2023(2))
Sec. 3.4. - Project description and impact study.#
Any application for a residential subdivision creating more than five lots, and all nonresidential subdivisions shall include a narrative describing the proposed project's major elements, potential significant impacts on the surrounding neighborhood and/or community and the means by which these identified impacts shall be mitigated by the project design or otherwise. 1.
The planning board shall have the authority to require the applicant to prepare an Environmental and Community Impact Study (ECIS) to assess the potential short and long term effects of the proposed subdivision or land development project under any of the following conditions:
a.
If all or part of the property that is the subject of the application includes land identified by any or all of following agencies; the Exeter planning board, the Exeter conservation commission, the Rhode Island Natural Heritage Program, the Rhode Island Historic Preservation and Heritage Commission, the Nature Conservancy, the RI Department of Environmental Management, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as unique natural areas or areas of critical and/or environmental concern; or
b.
The planning board finds that there is reasonable expectation that the proposed subdivision or land development project may have a negative environmental impact on natural systems located on the property or adjacent to the property that is the subject of the application or upon nearby properties or natural systems.
c.
The planning board finds that there is reasonable expectation that the proposed subdivision or land development project may have a negative impact on community services and facilities.
2.
The board shall make findings of fact in writing and shall identify the environmental resources found to be potentially threatened. The board's findings shall be made a part of the record of the application.
3.
An ECIS required under this section shall include research and documentation describing and assessing short and long-term cumulative environmental impacts, which may include but not be limited to impacts upon:
a.
Freshwater wetlands;
b.
Flooding and drainage;
c.
Noise and air quality;
d.
Solid waste generation;
e.
Historic/archaeologic areas;
f.
Traffic/road capacity;
g.
Hydric soils;
h.
Forests and agricultural lands;
i.
Unique vegetation, significant trees, and important scenic or designed landscapes;
j.
Natural heritage sites;
k.
Wildlife and wildlife habitat;
l.
Groundwater quality and quantity;
m.
Surface water quality, streams and rivers;
n.
Schools and other community facilities; and
o.
Public wells and well fields.
4.
If an ECIS is required, the applicant shall be so informed at the preliminary meeting for a minor subdivision, or the conceptual master plan stage for a major subdivision and shall be advised at that meeting as to the specific issues that the ECIS must address.
5.
For any subdivision or land development project for which an ECIS is required, the board shall have the authority to impose conditions on approval, including but not limited to off-site improvements, that, based on the findings and analysis of the ECIS, are reasonably necessary to minimize adverse impacts that the development may have on the natural or manmade environment.
6.
All environmental and community impact studies shall be referred to the conservation commission and other appropriate town boards, commissions, or other local, state or federal, agencies for their review and comment prior to planning board approval of the preliminary plan.
7.
It in the opinion of the planning board, impacts identified in the ECIS cannot be adequately mitigated so as to achieve compliance with each of the requirements specified in section 3.5, the planning board shall have the authority to deny approval of the proposed development design.
Sec. 3.5. - Required findings for all approvals.#
For all development and subdivision applications subject to these regulations the planning board, or its designated agents, shall address each of the general purposes stated in section 1.5, and shall make positive findings on the following standard provisions as part of the proposed project's record, prior to approval. If a negative finding for any of these standards is made, the planning board shall have grounds for denial of the project design: 1.
The proposed development is consistent with the town's comprehensive plan and/or has to the board's satisfaction addressed the issues where there may be inconsistencies;
2.
Each lot in the subdivision shall conform to the standards and provisions of these regulations and of the town zoning ordinance. Provided, however, that lots not being created for the purpose of present or future development need not meet the area and other dimensional requirements of the town zoning ordinance provided that:
a.
A notation is shown on the recorded plat that the lot being created is not a buildable lot; and
b.
A conservation or preservation restriction pursuant to Title 34, Chapter 39 of the Rhode Island General Laws, as amended, is granted to the town prohibiting any such present or future development.
3.
There will be no significant negative environmental impacts from the proposed development as shown on the preliminary plan as determined by the planning board, with all required conditions for approval;
4.
Subdivision, as proposed, will not result in the creation of individual lots with such physical constraints to development that building on those lots according to pertinent regulations and building standards would be impracticable (see definition of buildable lot). Lots with such physical constraints to development may be created only if identified as permanent open space or permanently reserved for a public purpose on approved recorded plans;
5.
All proposed land developments land development projects and all subdivision lots shall have adequate, permanent and safe physical vehicular access to a public street. Lot frontage on a public street without physical access shall not be considered compliance with this requirement;
6.
Each subdivision shall provide for safe circulation of pedestrian and vehicular traffic for adequate surface water run-off, for suitable building sites, and for preservation of natural, historical, or cultural features that contribute to the attractiveness of the community; and
7.
The design and location of streets, building lots, utilities, drainage improvements and other improvements in each subdivision shall minimize flooding, soil erosion, and shall embody to the degree feasible a design that minimizes future maintenance;
8.
For each new lot frontage at the minimum setback or building line shall be not less than 75 percent of that required at the front lot line or street line;
9.
Provisions may be required for specific developments for access to any area isolated from the frontage on an existing public street. This shall be accomplished by reservation of land within the development to provide future access to isolated, adjacent parcels through a de-feasible easement running with the deed in favor of the town;
10.
The proposed development meets all of the design standards within section 7.0 of these regulations, including all approved waivers accepted and authorized by the planning board under section 4.5 of these regulations;
11.
The open space within conservation developments meets the standards and requirements of these Regulations with regard to amount, location, use, nature and design.
12.
The proposed development meets all other requirements of these regulations.