Membership

• A. The board shall consist of five members, each of whom shall be a qualified elector of the city; any of whom shall have professional training and experience in the area of real estate development, engineering, architecture, urban planning, law or any other related field.
• B. To equalize the representation of the board, future board members shall be appointed from the following five geographic areas:
  • 1. One member shall be from either ward 1 or ward 2;
  • 2. One member shall be from either ward 3 or 5;
  • 3. One member shall be from either ward 4 or 6 and two at large members one shall be from Eastern Cranston — which shall consist of neighborhoods east of Reservoir Avenue and one shall be from Western Cranston — which shall consist of neighborhoods west of Reservoir Avenue.
• C. The board as constituted at the time of adoption of this chapter shall be continued; thereafter the city council shall appoint the members of the board as the terms of the present members expire. All members appointed as of March, 1985 shall be limited to one additional term beyond that term in which they were serving. All new members shall be limited to two consecutive terms. All appointments shall be for a term of five-years. Each member of the board shall hold office until his or her successor is chosen and qualified.

  In case any vacancy shall occur in the board from any cause, the city council shall appoint a member of the board to fill such vacancy for the remainder of the term. Board members shall be sworn in before the city council. The city clerk shall administer to each member an oath or affirmation to the effect that such zoning board member shall faithfully perform the duties of his office and shall support the constitution and laws of the state of Rhode Island and the United States of America and the ordinances and the zoning code of the city of Cranston.

• D. The members of the board may be removed by the city council for such cause as it shall deem sufficient and shall express in the order of removal.
• E. There shall be four alternate members to the board, to be appointed for a term of one year. The mayor shall appoint the first and third alternate members and the city council shall appoint the second and fourth alternate members by a majority vote. These alternate members shall sit and may actively participate in hearings. The first alternate member shall vote if a member of the board is unable to serve at a hearing and the second alternate shall vote if two members of the board are unable to serve at a hearing. The third alternate member shall serve if three members of the board are unable to serve at a hearing, and the fourth alternate member shall serve if four members of the board are unable to serve at a hearing. In the absence of the first alternate member, the second alternate shall serve in the position of the first. No member or alternate may vote on any matter before the board unless they have attended all hearings concerning that matter.
• F. The chairperson, or in his or her absence, the acting chairperson, may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses by the issuance of subpoenas.

(Prior code § 30-42(b); Ord. 07-10 § 1; Ord. 07-12 § 1; Ord. 07-52 § 1; Ord. 2012-3, § 1, 1/23/2012)