Rhode Island Code of Regulations › Title 480 - State Housing Appeals Board › Chapter 00 - N/A › Subchapter 00 - N/A › Part 2 - Rules Implementing the Rhode Island Low and Moderate Income Housing Act (480-RICR-00-00-2) › Section 480-RICR-00-00-2.2 - Definitions

Current through June 14, 2024
A. Whenever used in these rules, the following terms shall be construed as follows:
1. "Affordable housing plan" means a component of a housing element, as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws §
											45-22.2-4(33), to meet housing needs in a city or town that is prepared in accordance with guidelines adopted by the state planning council, and/or to meet the provisions of R.I. Gen. Laws §§
											45-53-4(b)(1) and (c).
2. "Approved affordable housing plan" means an affordable housing plan that has been approved by the director of administration as meeting the guidelines for the local comprehensive plan as promulgated by the state planning council; provided, however, that state review and approval, for plans submitted by December 31, 2004, shall not be contingent on the city or town having completed, adopted, or amended its comprehensive plan as provided for in R.I. Gen. Laws §§
											45-22.2-8,  45-22.2-9, or  45-22.2-12.
3. "Aggrieved person" means:
a. any person or persons or entity or entities who can demonstrate that their property will be injured by a decision of any officer or agency responsible for administering the zoning ordinance of a city or town; or
b. anyone requiring notice pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 45-53.
4. "Calculation of the percentage of low and moderate income housing units" means the calculation of low and moderate income year round housing units that shall be made annually by Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation. The Executive Director of the Corporation shall determine and certify such percentages. The percentage determination for each city and town shall be revised annually to accurately reflect the percentage of low and moderate income units in each city and town. In addition to the percentage calculation for each community, the Executive Director shall publish a chart showing the number of eligible units for each community, the basis for the determination of each type of unit and any other information the Executive Director deems relevant. The chart shall then be forwarded for review to each community, which shall then have thirty days to suggest modifications or revisions. Thereafter, and after review of any proposed modifications, the Executive Director shall, in writing, certify the chart for that year. The chart, together with supporting documentation, shall be kept in the possession of the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation, and shall be available for public inspection and copying.
5. "Certificate of Completeness" is a notice issued by the Administrative Officer in accordance with the provisions of R.I. Gen. Laws §
											45-23-36 informing an applicant that the application is complete and meets the requirements of the checklist, and that the applicant may proceed with the approval process.
6. "Community residence" means a home or residential facility where children and/or adults reside in a family setting and may or may not receive supervised care as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws § 45-24-31.15.
7. "Completed application" means a single application consisting of all forms, accompanying documents, exhibits and fees required pursuant to these rules submitted to request relief from the provisions of local ordinances in lieu of separate applications to the applicable local boards.
8. "Comprehensive permit" means a single application for a special exception to build low and moderate income housing in lieu of separate applications to applicable boards.
9. "Comprehensive plan" means a comprehensive plan adopted and approved by a city or town pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 45-22.2 and 45-22.3
10. "Consistent with local needs" means:
a. reasonable in view of:
(1) the State's need for low and moderate income housing;
(2) the number of low income persons in the city or town affected;
(3) the need to protect the health and safety of the occupants of the proposed housing or of the residents of the city or town;
(4) the need to promote better site and building design in relation to the surroundings or to preserve open space; and if
(5) local zoning or land use ordinances, requirements and regulations are applied as equally as possible to both subsidized and unsubsidized housing.
b. local zoning and land use ordinances, requirements or regulations for a particular city or town are consistent with local needs when imposed by a city or town after a comprehensive hearing in a city or town where:
(1) Low and moderate income housing exists which according to the last decennial census is:
(AA) in the case of an urban city or town which has at least 5000 occupied year round rental units, and the units comprise 25% or more of the year round housing units, is in excess of 15% of the total occupied year round rental units, or
(BB) in the case of all other cities and town is in excess of 10% of the year round housing units
(2) the comprehensive plan of the city or town and the zoning and land use ordinances, requirements and regulations to implement the comprehensive plan provide for low and moderate income units in excess of the ten percent (10%) of the year round housing units or in excess of fifteen percent (15%) of the year round occupied rental units as provided in R.I. Gen. Laws §
													45-53-3(2)(i)(A)  as provided in §
													2.2(A)(10)(b)     ((1)) of this Part above.
11. "Denial" means the Local Review Board:
a. refuses to grant a comprehensive permit; or
b. extends the hearing without reasonable cause.
12. "Final plan" means the final plan as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 45-23.
13. "Housing unit" means a house, an apartment, a group of rooms or a single room occupied as a separate living quarters and as the occupants' usual place of residence or, if vacant, intended for occupancy as a separate living quarters. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants live and eat separately from other persons in the building and which have direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall. The occupants may be a single family, one person living alone, two or more families living together, or any other group of related or unrelated persons who share living arrangements (U.S. Census Bureau definition).
14. "Infeasible" means any conditions attached to the approval of the comprehensive permit, which make it impossible for a public agency or non-profit organization or limited equity housing cooperative to build or operate low or moderate income housing:
a. without financial loss due to the requirements of the subsidizing state or federal agency in regard to the size and character of the development or the nature of the subsidy or limits imposed on tenant eligibility, rent levels or permissible income and
b. without substantially changing the proposed rent levels and unit sizes.
15. "Letter of eligibility" means a letter issued by the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws §
											42-55-5.3(a).
16. "Limited equity housing cooperative" means a cooperative housing association or corporation organized and operated primarily for the benefit of low and moderate income persons, having articles of incorporation and whose equity, after allowance for maximum transfer value of its stock, is permanently dedicated to providing housing to persons of low and moderate income or to a charitable purpose.
17. "Local board" means any town or city official, zoning board of review, planning board or commission, platting board of review, or building inspector; or the officer or board of appeal or zoning enforcement officer, local conservation commission, historic district commission, or other municipal board having supervision of the construction of buildings or the power of enforcing municipal building, land use regulations, such as subdivision, or zoning laws.; or the city council or town council.
18. "Local review board" means the planning board as defined by R.I. Gen. Laws §
											45-22.2-4(24), or if designated by ordinance as the board to act on comprehensive permits for the town, the zoning board of review established pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws §
											45-24-56.
19. "Low and moderate income housing" means any housing whether built or operated by any public agency or nonprofit organization or by limited equity housing cooperative or any private developer, that is subsidized by a federal, state or municipal government subsidy under any program to assist the construction or rehabilitation of housing affordable to low or moderate income households as defined in the applicable federal or state statute, or local ordinance and that will remain affordable through a land lease or deed restriction for ninety- nine years or such other period that is either agreed to by the applicant and the town or prescribed by the federal, state or municipal government subsidy program but that is not less than thirty (30) years from initial occupancy.
20. "Major and minor land development plan and major and minor subdivision" means the major and minor land development and major and minor subdivision as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 45-23.
21. "Master plan" means the requirements for a master plan as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 45-23.
22. "Meeting housing needs" means adoption of the implementation program of an approved affordable housing plan and the absence of unreasonable denial of applications that are made pursuant to an approved affordable housing plan in order to accomplish the purposes and expectations of the approved affordable housing plan.
23. "Municipal government subsidy" means assistance that is made available through a city or town program sufficient to make housing affordable, as affordable housing is defined in R.I. Gen. Laws §
											42-128-8.1(d)(1); such assistance may include, but is not limited to, direct financial support, abatement of taxes, waiver of fees and charges, and approval of density bonuses and/or internal subsidies, and any combination of forms of assistance.
24. "Nonprofit organization" means a nonprofit corporation which has tax exempt status as determined by the United States Internal Revenue Service.
25. "Public agency" means any state, municipal or other governmental entity or public body or its agency or instrumentality.
26. "Rehabilitation" means substantial upgrade or modification of the interior or exterior of the structure, correction of substandard conditions and/or replacement of major housing systems in danger of failure, but excluding repairs of owner- occupied units and privately-owned rental units unless they, remain as low or moderate income housing for a period of not less than thirty (30) years from initial occupancy after rehabilitation as cited in R.I. Gen. Laws §
											45-53-4.
27. "Site control" means evidence that the developer has control of the property in question: a copy of a properly executed deed, purchase and sale agreement, option agreement or lease agreement indicating the term of the lease.
28. "State Housing Appeals Board" means the board which hears appeals of denials or conditioned approvals from applicants filing an application for a comprehensive permit to construct or rehabilitate low or moderate income housing under the provisions of R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 45-53. The Board shall consist of seven voting members and one alternate, to be appointed by the Governor, who shall include:
a. four (4) local officials, who shall not be from the same city or town; two (2) of whom shall be from a city or town with a population of less than twenty-five thousand (25,000); and two (2) of whom shall be from a city or town with a population of twenty-five thousand (25,000) or greater, and shall include one local zoning board member, one local planning board member, one city council member, and one town council member,
b. one (1) affordable housing developer
c. one (1) affordable housing advocate
d. one (1) representative of the business community, and
e. one (1) attorney knowledgeable in land use regulation, who should be chairperson of the board.
f. One of the local official members shall be designated by the Governor as the alternative local official member who shall be a voting member of the board only in the event that one or more of the other three (3) local officials is unable to serve at a hearing.