April 25, 2005

Attendees

(Underline indicates attended meeting)

John West, Chair Richard Adams, Secretary Richard Cambra Leo Keefe

Jack Maloney, Zoning Officer Bill Nash Claire Pimentel Goeff Regan

Robert Silva Barbara Schuster Ed Silveira, Council Liason Ron Wolanski, Town Planner

The meeting was called to order at 6:45 PM. Attendees were as indicated above.

Previous Meeting Minutes

None

Organizational Items and Authority

Jack Maloney, acting as temporary Chair provided an overview of the committee’s responsibilities. Section 109 of the Town Charter requires review of the Town Zoning Ordinance every five years. Accordingly, the Town Council asked the Zoning Officer to form a Zoning Ordinance Review Committee (ZORC).

John West was elected Chair or the committee. Dick Adams was elected secretary. Ed Silveira is Town Council liaison. Members provided a brief, introductory description of their backgrounds.

Review Approach and Schedule

Review will proceed on a Zoning Ordinance Article-by-Article basis. Subcommittees will be formed as appropriate to review specific articles. To avoid conflict or overlap with the ongoing Design Standards subcommittee of the Planning Board, items related to design standards may be deferred.

Jack Maloney and Dick Adams will draft a tentative review schedule. The schedule will be based on a six month completion date. The schedule will be emailed to all members.

Proposed changes to the Town Zoning Ordinance will be incorporated in the current Zoning Ordinance using “track changes” or similar capability. Dick Adams will maintain the current revised version.

An email list will be established for distribution of committee materials.

Reference Materials

Jack Maloney provided ZORC members current copies of the Town Zoning Ordinance. Amendments were included as inserts. Dick Adams will work with Jack and Matthew Wainwright, Town Director of Information Technology to obtain electronic media as needed.

The RI Zoning Law, Title 45-24 is available at http: //www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE45/45-24/INDEX.HTM.

Meeting Schedule

ZORC meeting will be held on the second Monday of each month from 6:30 – 8:00 PM at the Middletown Library conference room. Next meeting will be 9 May.

Recommended Changes

Zoning Board Third Alternate

The committee unanimously approved a motion to request that Town Council send a letter to our state legislators requesting enabling legislation establishing a Zoning Board 3^rd Alternate. The 3^rd alternate is needed to avoid canceling Zoning Board meeting due no quorum.

Zoning Ordinance Changes

Attention was directed to page 26 of the Middletown Zoning Ordinance (MZO) regarding definition of a home business. As stated, home businesses are defined so broadly as to permit virtually any business in any residential zone.

MZO Chapters 2 & 4 are intended to summarize and incorporate RI zoning law, Title 45-24, into the Town Zoning Ordinance.

Bob Silva provided a brief tutorial on the use of MZO tables. He noted that unless specifically listed and permitted, use is assumed to be prohibited, unless is variance is approved by the Zoning Board or Review (SBOR). He also noted that the zone designation Light Industry Adjacent to Residential (LIA) is not listed. It is a footnote to the basic LI Zone.

Acronyms are listed in Article 5.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 PM.

Action Items

No. Item Responsibility Status Due

1 Review Articles 1-5 All members 9 May 05

2 Develop committee schedule Maloney/Adams 9 May 05

3 Electronic version of Zoning Ordinance Adams/Maloney 9 May 05

4 Email list to all members Adams Complete 26 April 05

5 Draft Memo on 3^rd Alternate ZBOR member West ASAP

6 Schedule conference rooms Maloney Complete 26 April 05

7 Create list of relevant websites Wolanski 9 May 05

/s/ R. P. Adams

Dick Adams, ZORC Secretary

May 9, 2005

Attendees

(Underline indicates attended meeting)

John West, Chair Richard Adams, Secretary Richard Cambra Leo Keefe

Jack Maloney, Zoning Officer Bill Nash Claire Pimentel Geoff Regan

Robert Silva Barbara Schuster Ed Silveira, Council Liaison Ron Wolanski, Town Planner

The meeting was called to order at 6:40 PM. Attendees were as indicated above.

Previous Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the 25 April meeting were approved with minor corrections.

Organizational Items and Authority

John West discussed the approach to reviewing the Zoning Ordinance. The email/phone list was corrected and will be distributed.

Review Approach and Schedule

A review schedule was distributed and discussed. It was noted that the schedule is extremely ambitious. As work progresses, the schedule will be revised and updated.

The Zoning Ordinance changes will be inserted into a projected copy of the Ordinance as Articles were discussed.

Reference Materials

A complete, current electronic copy of the Zoning Ordinance is not yet available. Dick Adams will work with Jack Maloney to obtain the latest version.

The RI Zoning Law, Title 45-24 is available at http: //www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE45/45-24/INDEX.HTM.

Meeting Schedule

ZORC meeting will be held on the second Monday of each month from 6:30 – 8:00 PM at the Middletown Library conference room. Next meeting will be 6 June.

Recommended Changes

Article 1. Minor changes were made clarifying text and adding references to RI General Laws. It was suggested that wherever RIGL text is quoted or a section is required to conform the RIGL, a footnote be added to indicate the applicable reference. Section 101, item (16) was added indicate conformance with RIGL related to affordable housing.

Article 2. Notes were added to indicate the text needs to be modified to reflect a 3^rd Zoning Board alternate member if approved by the Town Council. Global revisions are need to make the language gender neutral. Zoning Board powers references were corrected.

Article 3. Minor readability clarifications were suggested. Section 304 Item M was changed to correct references. Clarification language was inserted in Section 304A. Sections should be renumbered to eliminate “A”. All other corrections were grammatical or clarifications.

Article 4. Minor clarifications and misspellings corrected. Items need to be renumbered in alphabetical order. Language which duplicates ordinance text deleted.

Article 5. Item K changed to include LI Adjacent to Residential. Section 503 needs to be redrafted to provide guidance on how to divide lots with multiple zonings or simply authorize the Zoning Official to do so, which is current practice.

The committee discussed Commercial Design Standards being developed by the Planning Board. The changes will be recommended as changes to the Zoning Ordinance. The Planning Board expects to have these changes completed by 7 September.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 PM.

Action Items

No. Item Responsibility Status Due

1 Review Articles 1-5 All members Complete 9 May 05

2 Develop committee schedule Maloney/Adams Complete 9 May 05

3 Electronic version of Zoning Ordinance Adams/Maloney Pending 9 May 05

4 Email list to all members Adams Complete 26 April 05

5 Draft Memo on 3^rd Alternate ZBOR member West Complete ASAP

6 Schedule conference rooms Maloney Complete 26 April 05

7 Create list of relevant websites Wolanski Complete 9 May 05

/s/ R. P. Adams

Dick Adams, ZORC Secretary

June 13, 2005

Attendees

(Underline indicates attended meeting)

John West, Chair Richard Adams, Secretary Richard Cambra Leo Keefe

Jack Maloney, Zoning Officer Bill Nash Claire Pimentel Geoff Regan

Robert Silva Barbara Schuster Ed Silveira, Council Liaison Ron Wolanski, Town Planner

Sam Hogan, Asst. Town Planner

The meeting was called to order at 6:35 PM. Attendees were as indicated above.

Previous Meeting Minutes

Minutes from the 9 May meeting were approved.

Organizational Items and Authority

John West initiated a discussion of the Commercial Design Standards being developed by a subcommittee of the Planning Board. He was concerned that the Commercial Design Standards would invalidate much of the work of the ZORC. Dick Adams and Sam Hogan described the Commercial Design Standards work and schedule and said that they should not require significant changes to the work being done by the Committee. However, the Commercial Design Standards will need to be integrated into the Zoning Ordinance once they are approved. A copy of the draft Commercial Design Standards will be provided to the ZORC after the next meeting of the Design Standards Subcommittee.

Review Approach and Schedule

A revised schedule was distributed and discussed. The schedule now includes the Commercial Design Standards schedule. It was noted that the work of the Design Standards Subcommittee has been delayed at least two weeks. It is now highly unlikely that their work can be completed before the Council set deadline.

Reference Materials

A baseline copy of the current Zoning Ordinance is available and is the basis for review. Claire Pimentel provided a copy of RIGL 45-24, Zoning Ordinances, for reference. Title 45-24 is also available at http: //www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE45/45-24/INDEX.HTM.

Meeting Schedule

ZORC meeting will be held on the second Monday of each month from 6:30 – 8:00 PM at the Middletown Library conference room. Next meeting will be 11 July.

Recommended Changes

Note: Recommended changes are shown in the current version of the ordinance. The file name is: Zoning Ordinance (12-09-04) Chap 1-6 Rev 6_13_05.doc.

The current working file distributed to committee members is: Zoning Ordinance (12-09-04) Chap 1-7 Rev 7_11_05.doc.

Global Changes. It was noted that the organization of the Zoning Ordinance is inconsistent. That is, the designation of subordinate paragraphs varies among Sections, and levels of indenture are inconsistent. Dick Adams agreed to correct the ordinance organization.

Article 1. Minor changes were made clarifying text and adding references to RI General Laws. It was suggested that wherever RIGL text is quoted or a section is required to conform the RIGL, a footnote be added to indicate the applicable reference. Section 101, item (16) was added indicate conformance with RIGL related to affordable housing.

Article 2. Notes were added to indicate the text needs to be modified to reflect a 3^rd Zoning Board alternate member if approved by the Town Council. Global revisions are need to make the language gender neutral. Zoning Board powers references were corrected.

Article 3. Minor readability clarifications were suggested. Section 304 Item M was changed to correct references. Clarification language was inserted in Section 304A. Sections should be renumbered to eliminate “A”. All other corrections were grammatical or clarifications.

Article 4. Minor clarifications and misspellings corrected. Article 4 definitions were reviewed. Comments from Ron Wolanski and committee members were incorporated. To simplify the definitions, paragraph numbers were eliminated and definitions arranged in alphabetical order.

Article 5. Item K should include a note explaining LI (Adjacent to Residential) modification to LI. Section 503 needs to be redrafted to provide guidance on how to divide lots with multiple zonings or simply authorize the Zoning Official to do so, which is current practice.

Article 6. Section 602 was partially reviewed and updated with current amendments, including insertion of Light Industry (Adjacent to Residential) column. Review of the Section 602 and 603 tables will continue at the next meeting. The scheduled will be adjusted to reflect the addition work needed to review the tables.

The committee discussed Commercial Design Standards being developed by the Planning Board. The changes will be recommended as changes to the Zoning Ordinance. The Planning Board expects to have these changes completed by 7 September.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM.

Action Items

No new items were assigned.

No. Item Responsibility Status Due

8

9

/s/ R. P. Adams

Dick Adams, ZORC Secretary

July 11, 2005

Attendees

(Underline indicates attended meeting)

John West, Chair Richard Adams, Secretary Richard Cambra Leo Keefe

Jack Maloney, Zoning Officer Bill Nash Claire Pimentel Geoff Regan

Robert Silva Barbara Schuster Ed Silveira, Council Liaison Ron Wolanski, Town Planner

Sam Hogan, Asst. Town Planner

The meeting was called to order at 6:35 PM. Attendees were as indicated above.

Previous Meeting Minutes

Review of the minutes from the 13 June meeting was deferred.

Organizational Items and Authority

Dick Adams indicated that a draft version of the Commercial Design Standards was not available since the Planning Board Design Standards Subcommittee did not have a current revision from the consultant, Andy Teitz. The draft will be provided as soon as sufficient progress had been made.

Review Approach and Schedule

The schedule for both Zoning Ordinance Review and Commercial Design Standards was discussed. It was noted that the work of the Design Standards Subcommittee has been delayed at least a month. The Council will be advised of the delay. Review of the Zoning Ordinance is behind the original schedule due to the line-by-line review of the tables, but this was expected and is necessary.

Reference Materials

The Zoning Ordinance of 12-09-04 is the basis for review. Title 45-24, Zoning, is available at http: //www.rilin.state.ri.us/Statutes/TITLE45/45-24/INDEX.HTM.

Meeting Schedule

ZORC meeting will be held on the second Monday of each month from 6:30 – 8:00 PM at the Middletown Library conference room. The next meeting is TBD since the 2^nd Monday is a holiday.

Recommended Changes

Note: Recommended changes are shown in the current revised version of the ordinance. The file name is: Zoning Ordinance (12-09-04) Chap 1-7 Rev 7_11_05.doc.

The current working file distributed to committee members is: Zoning Ordinance (12-09-04) Chap 1-7 Rev 7_11_05.doc.

Global Changes. It was noted that the organization of the Zoning Ordinance is inconsistent. That is, the designation of subordinate paragraphs varies among Sections, and levels of indenture are inconsistent. Dick Adams made the changes need to establish a consistent organization. They are shown in the current revision.

Article 1. Minor changes were made clarifying text and adding references to RI General Laws. In general, when RIGL text is quoted or a section is required to conform to RIGL, a footnote has been added to indicate the applicable reference. Section 101, item (16) was added indicate conformance with RIGL related to affordable housing.

Article 2. Notes were added to indicate the text needs to be modified to reflect a 3^rd Zoning Board alternate member if approved by the Town Council. Global revisions were made to make the language gender neutral. Zoning Board powers references were corrected.

Article 3. Minor readability clarifications were made. Section 304 Item M was changed to correct references. Clarification language was inserted in Section 304A. Sections should be renumbered to eliminate “A”. All other corrections were grammatical or clarifications.

Article 4. Minor clarifications and misspellings corrected. Article 4 definitions were reviewed. Comments from Ron Wolanski and committee members were incorporated. To simplify the definitions, paragraph numbers were eliminated and definitions arranged in alphabetical order. An APA book of definitions was obtained and will be compared with Ordinance definitions. The committee will be advised of any recommended changes.

Article 5. Item K was modified to include a note explaining LI (Adjacent to Residential) modification to LI. Section 503 needs to be redrafted to provide guidance on how to divide lots with multiple zonings or simply authorize the Zoning Official to do so, which is current practice.

Article 6. Section 602 was partially reviewed and updated with current amendments, including insertion of Light Industry (Adjacent to Residential) column. Line by line review of the Section 602 and 603 tables will continue at the next meeting. The scheduled will be adjusted to reflect the addition work needed to review the tables.

None

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM.

Action Items

No new items were assigned.

No. Item Responsibility Status Due

8

9

/s/ R. P. Adams

Dick Adams, ZORC Secretary