(a)  A special economic development district commission shall adopt a plan of development. Any plan of development adopted by a special economic development district commission pursuant to this chapter may regulate and restrict, by means of regulations duly adopted by the commission, the erection, construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair, or use of buildings, structures, or land within the special economic development district in a uniform, consistent, and nondiscriminatory manner that is rationally related to the purposes of this chapter. The plan may include regulations relating to allowable land uses; the location and use of buildings; street systems; dimensional, height, and area coverage requirements; setbacks and build-to lines; frontage; parking requirements; landscaping; pedestrian travel; signs; design review; open spaces; and population density.

Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 45-24.6-6

  • Commission: means a special economic development district commission or independent public instrumentality authorized by the general assembly and empowered by this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 45-24.6-3
  • Development map: means a map of a special economic development district that shows the parcels into which the district may have been divided according to the plan of development. See Rhode Island General Laws 45-24.6-3
  • District: means any developable or blighted state-owned tracts or parcels of land, which at its creation, aggregation and/or acquisition by a state agency or instrumentality consists of or consisted of twenty (20) or more contiguous acres in size. See Rhode Island General Laws 45-24.6-3
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • plan: means a plan, including design and development criteria and regulations, for the development of a special economic development district adopted by a special economic development district commission pursuant to this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 45-24.6-3
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Regulations: means the rules regulating the construction, erection, alteration, demolition, or use of a structure or land within a special development district adopted by a special economic development commission pursuant to a plan of development. See Rhode Island General Laws 45-24.6-3
  • Special economic development district: means an area of a municipality or municipalities that has been or will be established, designated, laid out, or defined by the general assembly, including, but not limited to, independent public instrumentalities created by the general assembly. See Rhode Island General Laws 45-24.6-3

(b)  Pursuant to the plan of development, the commission may divide the special economic development district into several parcels as indicated on a development map, and may regulate structures and uses differently in different parcels, so long as regulation of similar structures and uses is uniform within any one parcel.

(c)  A plan of development may be adopted or amended only after a public hearing before the commission, at which all interested parties have an opportunity to be heard. Notice of the time, place, nature, and purpose of the public hearing shall be given to all owners of real property within the bounds of the special economic development district and within two hundred feet (200?) of the perimeter thereof, by registered or certified mail at least seven (7) days before the date of the hearing, and by publication of notice in a newspaper of general circulation within the municipality at least once each week for three (3) successive weeks prior to the date of the hearing.

(d)  The municipality shall not have concurrent jurisdiction over the special economic development district.

History of Section.
P.L. 2019, ch. 88, art. 12, § 8.