Administration

The East Providence Waterfront special development district commission was created under Rhode Island Public Law 2003, Chapter 345. The commission consists of 17 members: five members shall be appointed by the city council; five members shall be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate; the mayor and the governor shall jointly appoint a member who shall serve as the chairperson; and there shall be six ex officio non-voting members, including the mayor, the city planning director, the public works director, the executive director of the RI Economic Development Corporation, the director of the department of transportation, and the director of the department of environmental management or an associate director designated by the director.

All development in the East Providence Waterfront special development district shall be subject to review and approval by the East Providence Waterfront special development district commission. To assist in the design review of projects the East Providence Waterfront special development district commission has created two committees: the design review committee (DRC) and the hearing panel (HP), Members on the committees are appointed by the commission.

• • (1) Reviewing body roles and responsibilities.

    • a. Administration for the East Providence Waterfront special development district commission shall be coordinated by an executive director. Initial review of all projects shall be made by the executive director who shall also serve as the primary liaison between the development and each of the reviewing bodies. The primary role of the executive director shall be to determine whether the application package is complete. The executive director may use technical support from the state and the city and depending upon need and budgetary constraints, the executive director may retain outside consultants with the approval of the commission. The resources available to the executive director may include expertise in architecture/urban design, real estate development, planning and law.

    • b. The design review committee shall review all applications for the development of parcels in the waterfront district, including conformance with the city land development and subdivision review regulations, conformance with or proposed amendments to the performance standards and site development criteria, plans for public improvements, and requests for deviations or conditional use provisions. It shall evaluate each application presented by the executive director for conformance with the reviewing criteria set forth in section 19-483 herein and make recommendations to the hearing panel and the commission for their action as set forth in these procedures.

      The design review committee shall distribute copies of pertinent portions of the application under the planning board's purview to the planning board for review for conformance with the purposes and intent of the city comprehensive plan. The planning board shall respond with comments on applications within 30 days from the date of receipt.

      Any meetings or actions of the design review committee shall be conducted in accordance with section 19-477 of this article. The design review committee shall hold one public hearing on each application pursuant to and in accordance with the procedures set forth in section 19-477, including the procedures for public notice set forth in section 19-479.

    • c. The commission may designate a hearing panel to which the executive director may refer applications for deviations, or conditional use provisions. Such review by the hearing panel shall take place after the review and recommendation of the design review committee. Standards for instances where deviations or conditional use provisions shall be reviewed by the hearing panel are set forth in section 19-477.

      In the case of any application for a deviation or conditional use provision approval to the performance standards or the site development criteria referred to the hearing panel, the hearing panel shall hold a public hearing on each such application pursuant to and set forth in section 19-477, including the procedures for public notices set forth in section 19-477.

    • d. The recommendations of the design review committee, the transcript of any public hearing(s), and, where reference to the hearing panel established pursuant to section 19-477 has been made, the finding of fact of the hearing panel shall be forwarded to the commission, the only body authorized to make a decision of the merits of the application.

      Any meetings or actions of the East Providence Waterfront special development district commission shall be conducted in accordance with section 19-477. The commission shall review the record and hold a public hearing on each application, for which notice shall be given in accordance with the procedures set forth in section 19-477.

      In each case where no reference to the hearing panel has been made, the commission shall receive such evidence as the parties may present on questions of fact and may approve, modify or reject the recommendations of the design review committee. Where reference to the hearing panel has been made, the commission shall not hear new evidence and shall not substitute its judgment for that of the hearing panel as to the weight of the evidence of questions of fact, but may approve, modify or reject the recommendations of the design review committee and the hearing panel. The commission may remand the matter to the design review committee, or, where an initial reference has been made to the hearing panel, to the hearing panel for further findings or other action.

      If after a public hearing or at any step of the review process, the commission approves a project in a form materially different than the form in which the project was submitted to the public hearing, the commission shall determine whether a hearing on the project as approved is required. If so, a subsequent hearing shall be held in accordance with section 19-477.

      A majority of the appointed voting commissioners shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at a meeting. The affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the commission at a meeting which a quorum is present shall be necessary to render a decision.

(Ch. 317, § I, 3-2-04; Ch. 738, § III, 5-21-19)