Land nonconforming by area
1. Enlargement of undersized lots. Lawfully established lots which have less than the minimum area requirements, may be maintained and may be changed by adding additional land to such lots without prejudice to the rights of the owner of such lots pursuant to the provisions of this section.
2. Merger of abutting nonconforming lots. If two or more abutting nonconforming lots are held in the same ownership at any time after May 2, 1977, such lots shall be combined for the purposes of this ordinance in order to conform or more nearly conform to any of the dimensional requirements of this ordinance for the district in which the lots are located, and such lots shall not be sold separately, provided, however that a lot that is nonconforming by area shall not merge with an adjacent lot if the nonconforming lot has an area at least as large as half of the lots within two hundred feet of the nonconforming lot.
3. Subdivision of merged lots.
A. A lot that has been created by the merger of two or more nonconforming lots may be subdivided, or combined with other lots and subdivided, provided that the planning board or the administrative officer approves the subdivision.
B. Lots in the RE-2 zoning district and lots in the groundwater protection overlay district shall not be reduced in size or frontage.
C. If a lot in the RU-3 or RU-4 zoning district that has been created by the merger of two or more nonconforming lots is subdivided, or combined with other lots and subdivided, the new lots may be created with reduced area or reduced frontage by special use permit. The planning board shall require the applicant to produce evidence that:
1) Each lot is suitable for the installation of an on-site wastewater treatment system that complies with R.I. department of environmental management regulations; and
2) The proposed reduction in area or frontage will not substantially impact the appropriate use of the surrounding property or, if such an impact may occur, that it will be adequately mitigated by the installation or construction of fences, vegetative buffers, or by other measures.
4. Use of dimensionally nonconforming lots.
A. The owner of a dimensionally nonconforming lot shall not be required to obtain relief from the zoning board of review to construct a building on the lot simply because the lot is dimensionally nonconforming by area. The required minimum front, side, and rear yard depths shall be reduced, and the maximum building lot coverage shall be increased, by the same proportion that the lot area is not in conformity with the minimum lot area for the zoning district. If further dimensional relief is necessary to construct the building, that relief is available by modification or by dimensional variance.
B. A dimensionally conforming building on a dimensionally nonconforming lot may be enlarged or altered without zoning relief if the enlargement or alteration complies with the applicable dimensional regulations for the zoning district.
C. A dimensionally nonconforming building on a dimensionally nonconforming lot may be enlarged or altered with a modification or a dimensional variance.
(Amd. of 3-3-03, § 7; Ord. of 12-4-2023(1))