Requirements for permit

Bed and breakfast homes are permitted only upon the initial issuance of a special use permit by the zoning board. All applications for a bed and breakfast home shall include the following:

• • A. Site plan requirements. In a site plan submission, plans for a bed and breakfast home shall be presented to the zoning board of review. The plans shall be prepared by a registered architect, registered landscape architect and/or engineer, and shall show the following, together with appropriate dimensions:

    • 1) Proposed name of the bed and breakfast home;

    • 2) Location by legal description;

    • 3) Names and addresses of applicant and designer of the plan;

    • 4) Scale of plan, one-inch equals 40 feet or larger;

    • 5) Date, north arrow, and contours at two-foot intervals;

    • 6) Boundary line of property indicated by a solid line, and the total acreage encompassed thereby;

    • 7) Location, widths and names of all existing or prior platted streets, utility rights-of-way, parks, and other public open spaces, saltwater or freshwater wetlands, permanent buildings and structures, houses or permanent easements and zoning boundary lines, within 200 feet of the lot;

    • 8) Existing sewers, water mains, culverts and other underground facilities located on the lot, indicating pipe sizes, grades, manholes and location;

    • 9) Location, arrangement and dimensions of automobile parking spaces, width of aisles, width of bays and angle of parking;

    • 10) Location and dimensions of vehicular drives, entrances and exits; location and dimensions of pedestrian entrances, exits and walkways;

    • 11) Number of dwelling rooms and number of bedrooms;

    • 12) Floor plans and exterior elevation drawings of all buildings, with exterior dimensions; including all means of ingress and egress;

    • 13) Construction materials, including fire ratings, if any;

    • 14) Fire protection systems;

    • 15) Location, height and materials of walls, fences and screen planting;

    • 16) Ground cover, finished grades, slopes, banks and ditches;

    • 17) Proposed or existing utilities, including sewers, water, lighting, electricity and communications;

    • 18) Drainage plan showing methods of disposal and/or control of surface water runoff.

  • B. Minimum standards for approval. Every bed and breakfast home shall comply with the following minimum standards:

    • 1) Each guestroom shall have two means of egress.

    • 2) Each guestroom shall contain an approved fire extinguisher and an approved fire detector and meet applicable standards of the local fire marshal.

    • 3) A list of all guests and their addresses shall be maintained by the owner and be made available to the town upon request of the zoning enforcement officer and/or tax assessor.

    • 4) An adequate sewage disposal system must be in place with proper documentation by RIDEM [Rhode Island Department of the Environment] or by a certified OWTS designer or installer. Alternatively, the board of water and sewer commissioners shall certify that adequate sewer capacity has been allotted for the proposed use and that all fees have been paid.

    • 5) Water-saving devices shall be installed in all water fixtures in the building, including fixtures in the primary residence. Bed and breakfast homes using private water wells shall provide a certificate of good water quality from the state of the environment.

(Ord. of 2-3-2025(1), § 1(Exh. A))