2023 Rhode Island General Laws › Title 23 - Health and Safety › Chapter 23-27.3 - State Building Code › Article 2 - New Buildings and Structures › Section 23-27.3-127.1.4. - Procedures — Record of variances.

§ 23-27.3-127.1.4. Procedures — Record of variances.
(a)
Upon receipt of an appeal, the secretary of the board of standards and appeals shall appoint a panel of not less than nine (9) members of the board to hear the appeal. A majority of the panel constitutes a quorum.
(b)
The board shall fix a day for hearing on the appeal and shall give reasonable notice thereof to the aggrieved party and the property owners within two hundred feet (200′) of subject property line when, in the board’s discretion, it may have an adverse effect on neighboring properties. A properly indexed record of all variations made shall be kept in the office of the state building commissioner and shall be open to public inspection.
(c)
An aggrieved party may file an appeal for a variance to the board by certified mail, and a hearing date shall be set by the board within thirty (30) days of filing. A copy of the decision of the board shall be mailed to the aggrieved party and the local board of appeal from which the appeal has been taken not later than thirty (30) days following the date of the hearing. Failure to render a decision within thirty (30) days does not affect the validity of the decision or appeal.
(d)
Application for appeal must be accompanied by three (3) copies of the required plans for review by the state building commission and the state board of standards and appeal. When available, a copy of the local board of appeals hearing transcript shall also be filed. When the board of appeals deems it necessary, the aggrieved party shall also provide a radius map indicating the adversely affected neighboring properties and a list of names and addresses of the properties.
(e)
The local board of appeals shall submit to the state board of standards and appeals a copy of its decision.
(f)
Any aggrieved party affected by any ruling of the state board of standards and appeals may appeal to the sixth division district court within thirty (30) days from the mailing to the local board of appeals and owner.
(g)(1)
The appellant and the city or town involved in the original appeal to the board of standards and appeals shall remain as the parties in interest in any appeal to the sixth division district court. In the instance where a town or city does not have a legally constituted board of appeal and the state board is acting in accordance with § 23-27.3-127.1, the parties in interest in any appeal to the sixth division district court shall remain the original appellant. An appeal from a decision of the board of standards and appeals shall be instituted by the aggrieved party’s filing a complaint in the sixth division district court in the county where the building or structure is located, and the complaint shall be served upon the opposing party in the manner prescribed by applicable procedural rules. The state board of standards and appeals shall not be a party to the appeal and shall not be served with the complaint.
(2)
The filing of the complaint does not itself stay enforcement of the board’s decision, but the board may grant, or the reviewing court may order, a stay upon appropriate terms.
(3)
Once an appeal has been filed, the sixth division district court shall conduct its judicial review of the appeal in accordance with § 42-35-15(d), (e), (f), and (g), and subsequent review by the supreme court shall be in accordance with § 42-35-16.
(h)
Upon the filing of an appeal to the sixth division district court, the appellant shall notify the board of appeal in writing of the appeal, and the board shall within thirty (30) days after the receipt of the notice, transmit to the reviewing court the original or a certified copy of the entire record of the proceeding under review. By stipulation of all parties to the review proceedings, the record may be shortened. Any parties unreasonably refusing to stipulate to limit the record may be taxed by the court for the additional costs. The court may require or permit subsequent corrections or additions to the record. The cost of transcribing the record shall be paid by the appellant.
History of Section.
P.L. 1976, ch. 256, § 1; P.L. 1985, ch. 162, § 1; P.L. 1999, ch. 430, § 3.