[Amended 7-1-1975; 11-10-2002]
[Amended 11-2-2010]
There shall be a Planning Board consisting of
seven members appointed by the Town Council at the first Town Council
meeting of the new year. There shall be at least one member from each
Council voting district and two at-large members appointed for staggered
three-year terms. All current Planning Board positions shall be vacated
upon passage of the Charter amendment. The first appointment subsequent
to the Charter amendment shall be three for one year, two for two
years, and two for three years. Thereafter, all appointments shall
be for three-year terms, each member to hold office up until his/her
successor is appointed and qualified. Any other vacancies, if any
exist, shall be filled by appointment by the Town Council. The Planning
Board members shall take office immediately after their appointment.
(1)
The Board shall hold at least 10 regular monthly meetings
each year and special meetings shall be held when called by the Chairperson
or upon the written request of five members.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
(2)
The Board shall adopt its own rules of procedure and
organize itself into committees as it wishes.
(3)
It shall have power, within the limits of its budget
appropriation, to employ such clerical and technical assistants as
it may require.
(4)
The Planning Board may make special studies when requested
by the Town Council, of the resources and needs of the Town with reference
to its physical growth and development as affecting the health, safety,
morals and general welfare of the people and the economy and efficiency
of communal life.
(5)
Such Planning Board shall have access to available
plans, records, surveys, and other data filed with any department
of the Town.
(6)
The Planning Board shall report annually before January
15th to the Town Council and may recommend plans and schemes of development,
including a list of recommended capital improvements which in the
opinion of the Board are necessary or desirable to be undertaken during
the ensuing fiscal year and the five fiscal years thereafter, and
give estimates of the costs thereof, and shall make other reports
upon such related matters as may be from time to time referred to
such Board by the Town Council.
(7)
Should the Town appropriate a sum not exceeding 1/4
mill on each dollar of its ratable property, based on the assessed
valuation of the preceding year, to be expended for the purposes of
advertising the resources, advantages and attractions of the community,
and for the further purpose of promoting the growth and welfare of
such Town, as such Town is authorized by law to do, the sum may be
expended under the direction of the Planning Board.
(8)
Such Board may also receive private subscriptions
for the purpose of advertising the resources, advantages and attractions
of the community and may expend said sums as herein provided.
(9)
The Planning Board shall render such reports of its
activities, recommendations and accomplishments as may be required
by state law or Town ordinance.
(10)
In accordance with law and ordinance, the Planning
Board may adopt, modify and amend rules and regulations governing
and restricting the platting or other subdivision of land in the Town,
and to control the subdivision of land pursuant to such rules and
regulations. In formulating such rules and regulations said Board
shall act only after a public hearing as required by law.
(11)
The Planning Board shall administer and enforce such
rules and regulations and any person who shall thereafter subdivide
any land in the Town shall make a plat thereof and submit the same
to the Board and no plat of a subdivision of land in the Town shall
be filed or recorded until it shall have been approved by such Planning
Board and the approval entered in writing on the plat by the Chairperson
or Secretary of the Board, provided that notice by registered mail
of a hearing shall be given five days in advance of the hearing to
the abutting owners.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
(12)
Said Planning Board shall prepare the Comprehensive
Plan referred to in the next section of this Charter and shall have
continuing power to recommend to the Town Council general zoning revisions
and shall exercise such other powers and perform such duties as may
be conferred or imposed by ordinance.
The Planning Board shall prepare for submission
to the Town Council a Comprehensive Plan for the physical development
of the territory of the Town. Such Comprehensive Plan shall include
the location, character and extent of streets, bridges, parks, rights-of-way,
utilities, waterways, public buildings, and other public property
of the Town and may also include the relocation, removal, widening,
extension, abandonment or change of use of existing streets, public
buildings, parks and other public property. Such Comprehensive Plan
shall include the zoning plan and a general plan for the routing of
all vehicular traffic. The Comprehensive Plan submitted may be accompanied
by maps, plats, charts and descriptive and explanatory materials.
The Planning Board shall submit the Comprehensive
Plan to the Town Council in whole or in sections, but before such
submission of the Comprehensive Plan or any section thereof, amendment
or addition thereto, the Board shall hold at least one public hearing
thereon. After said public hearing or hearings the Planning Board
shall submit said Comprehensive Plan, in whole or in sections as aforesaid,
or any section, amendment or addition thereto as aforesaid, to the
Town Council for adoption. The Town Council shall not be bound by
the decisions of the Planning Board, but such decisions shall be considered
as of an advisory nature for the future development of the Town.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
{Created.} There shall be a Zoning Board of Review in the Town of Lincoln as is authorized by Title 45, Chapter 24, General Laws of Rhode Island, 1956.
Composition of Zoning Board of Review. The Board
of Review shall consist of five members, with one member from each
Council district, each to hold office for the term of five years;
provided, however, that the original selection shall be made for terms
of one, two, three, four and five years respectively; and two alternates,
each to hold office for the term of two years. The Town Council shall
provide for the selection and organization of said Board of Review
and shall have the right to name an auxiliary or sixth member of said
Board of Review of said Town who shall sit as an active member when
and if a member of said Board is unable to serve at any hearing, upon
request of the Chairperson of said Board.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
(1)
The Chairperson, or in his/her absence, the Acting
Chairperson, may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses.
(2)
The Board of Review shall make its own rules of procedure
having to do with appeals to the Board, stay of proceedings on appeal
and hearing of appeals to the Board, provided that such rules conform
with law and amendments thereto.
(3)
The Board shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing
the vote of each member upon each question or, if absent or failing
to vote, indicating such fact, and shall keep records of its examinations
and other official actions, all of which shall be filed immediately
in the office of the Board and shall be a public record.
(4)
The Board shall hear and decide appeals where it is
alleged there is error in any order, requirement, decision or determination
made by an administrative officer in the enforcement of zoning ordinances
of the Town.
(5)
The Board shall hear and decide special exceptions
to the terms of the ordinance, upon which such Board is authorized
to pass under such ordinance.
(6)
The Board shall authorize upon appeal in specific
cases such variance in the application of the terms of the ordinance
as will not be contrary to the public interest, where owing to special
conditions a literal enforcement of the provisions of the ordinance
will result in unnecessary hardship, and so that the spirit of the
ordinance shall be observed and substantial justice done.
(7)
The Board may reserve or affirm wholly or partly,
or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination appealed
from and may make such order, requirement, decision or determination
as ought to be made, and to that end shall have all the powers of
the officer from whom the appeal was taken. The concurring vote of
three members of the Board shall be necessary to reverse any order,
requirement, decision or determination of any such administrative
officer, and the concurring vote of four members of the Board shall
be required to decide in favor of the applicant on any matter within
the discretion of the Board upon which it is required to pass under
such ordinance or to effect any variation in the application of such
ordinance.
(8)
The Zoning Board of Review will act as the Planning
Board of Review in accordance with the duties prescribed by state
law and the ordinances of this Town.
