Development standards for the innovation hub
The intent of this section is to achieve excellent building and site design in a cohesive village center that is supportive of new and continued employment opportunities in diverse fields, including high technologies, to protect and enhance features within and adjacent to the district as enumerated in section 17.65.010, to prevent where reasonably possible and to otherwise mitigate any displacement of current residents and businesses through flexible standards and bonuses designed to accommodate workforce housing, and to protect and enhance Newport's unique historic, cultural, and scenic character. Architectural and site and to protect and enhance Newport's unique historic, cultural, and scenic character. Architectural and site design for all parcels shall be consistent with the adopted NEUP and its design guidelines, as incorporated into the comprehensive plan. The NEUP and design guidelines are applicable to all new developments and redevelopments. For the purposes of this chapter, redevelopment shall mean a fifty (50) percent or greater change to the original building footprint, parcel area, value of the building; or exceeding ten thousand (10,000) square feet in building footprint or parcel area.
Waivers from the requirements of the development standards, NEUP Design Guidelines or from the subdivision and land development regulations, may be granted by the planning board as may be reasonable where the literal enforcement of the provisions of the regulations is impracticable, will exact undue hardship or when such waiver is in the interest of good planning and/or design and otherwise consistent with the comprehensive plan.
The construction and design of buildings, streets and open spaces shall be in accordance with the NEUP and its design guidelines, as adopted, and be subject to review and approval by the planning board to ensure an elevated standard of design.
Developments and redevelopments shall:
• Provide an outstanding standard of building, site and landscape design.
• Encourage a density of buildings and activities, and discourage sprawling low-rise development with an emphasis on parking.
• Site principal buildings close to a street edge.
• Utilize the ground floor of multi-use buildings for industrial/commercial uses and as a lobby or access for upper story uses.
• Provide for active and public uses on the ground floor, with windows that provide adequate and appropriate visual access to the interior commercial and activity areas.
• Incorporate complete streets and multimodal transportation options, with emphasis on the pedestrian experience.
• Provide for limited, necessary, use driven parking located away from the street, to the interior of the site, and shared parking whenever possible to reduce the number of parking spaces and impervious surface.
• Incorporate low impact development site practices, even on higher elevation sites, to reduce stormwater runoff and improve water quality.
• Incorporate green building measures such as daylighting, natural ventilation, biophilia, ground-source heat pumps, heat-recovery ventilation, passive heating and cooling, extra insulation, green roofs and walls, solar panels and carports, permeable surfaces, natural and local materials, low-flow water fixtures and water reuse, smart building management, monumental stairs, vestibules, energy-efficient appliances, commuter showers, waste reduction, upcycling and recycling, composting, and limiting petroleum based products.
• Comply with Newport Code of Ordinances Section 12.04.050 green and complete streets effective upon passage of this section.
A. Site Circulation. Interior circulation system shall be inclusive of all transportation choices and relate to public and planned public or private improvements in the area, including future roadways, street realignments, bike lanes, walkways and transit.
The circulation system shall be in accordance with the NEUP, the NEUP Design Guidelines, the transportation master plan once adopted, the green and complete street ordinance, once adopted, and implement convenient and safe pedestrian, bicycle and transit, accessible to all.
B. Site Drainage. All development and redevelopment shall submit a stormwater management plan consistent with the Rhode Island Stormwater Design and Installation Manual, the Rhode Island Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Handbook, and in accordance with any applicable provisions of the city ordinances, rules or regulations. The stormwater management plan shall reduce the generation of stormwater discharge rate, volume and water quality volume to the maximum extent possible using nonstructural management design prior to structural methods and are subject to review and approval by the director of utilities or their designee. All stormwater management plans shall address stormwater management on site-specific conditions and shall document that design of the stormwater management for the site is fulfilled to the maximum extent possible.
C. Flood Plain—Building and Site Design Considerations. A development or redevelopment located within a flood hazard area shall complete a coastal hazards risk assessment and incorporate future climate conditions into the design, maintenance and operations plans.
The integration of flood resilient strategies significantly impacts the street level connection of buildings to the public realm. It is also critical to address the interface between the private and public realm in a manner that ensures access is maintained for all people and of all abilities and the solutions contribute to the overall enhancement and experience of the street wall at street level.
D. Landscape. It is the intent of this subsection to require that all development and redevelopment in the IH provide air outstanding landscape installation that fosters resiliency. Special attention shall be paid to earth forms, site drainage, plant forms and placement, hardscape materials, and ground plane treatments. Plans shall include all landscape materials and hardscape details, including fences, walls and site amenities and shall be prepared by a landscape design professional.
• Wherever practicable, preservation of the existing vegetation is encouraged. Every reasonable effort shall be made to preserve significant features, including, but not limited to, trees protected in Chapter 12.36 of the City of Newport Code of Ordinances and historic stone walls, as defined in Chapter 17.74.
• Structures elevated to comply with building code requirements shall incorporate landscaping at street level to mitigate any potential negative effects to the street wall and pedestrian environment.
• Streets and pathways shall be built for accessibility and landscaped with planting determined to be hardy in Newport's coastal climate, and ideally, native species.
• Stormwater control shall be integral to the landscape design, to the maximum extent practicable.
• Additional screening for aesthetic purposes, light pollution or noise reduction may be required.
• Frontage screen planting shall be in accordance with NEUP Design Guidelines for frontage type.
E. Open Space. All development or redevelopment in the urban village subdistrict shall include provisions for publicly-accessible open space. All required open spaces shall be in accordance with the NEUP Design Guidelines. Where open space is required, it shall be owned in accordance with the provisions of RIGL 45-24-47(d). If the open space is privately owned, a restriction shall be recorded that the land will be kept in the authorized condition and shall not built upon.
When open space is required, it shall:
1. Be a minimum of five percent of the total development parcel size
2. Be located on the site associated with the development or redevelopment
3. Not be parked or driven on except for emergency access and permitted temporary events
4. Be a minimum area of two hundred twenty-five (225) square feet with no dimension less than fifteen (15) feet
5. Not be located within a required transition area
6. Abut and be directly accessible from a public sidewalk or right-of-way
7. Not be separated from the public sidewalk or public right-of-way by any structure for more than forty (40) percent of its width, with the exception of a wall or fence with a maximum height of forty-two (42) inches.
8. Wherever reasonably possible include green features and/or green spaces, such as:
(i) A "park," meaning a natural preserve available for unstructured recreation, with its landscape consisting of paths and trails, meadows, waterbodies, woodlands, and/or open shelters, all naturalistically disposed, and may be lineal, following the trajectories of natural corridors;
(ii) A "green," meaning an open green space available for unstructured recreation consisting of lawn and trees, naturalistically disposed;
(iii) A "square," meaning an open green space available for unstructured recreation and civic purposes with its landscape consisting of paths, lawns, and trees, formally disposed;
(iv) A "plaza," meaning an open space available for civic purposes with its landscape consisting of pavement or stone work, with trees being optional, preferably located at the intersection of important streets;
(v) A "playground," meaning an open green space designed and equipped for the recreation of children which shall be fenced and may include an open shelter.
Off-site Aggregation of Open Space. The open space requirement may be met by providing for the required space off-site if and only if the planning board makes an affirmative finding that the off-site location creates greater public value than reasonable on-site options.
G. Utilities. All utility lines shall be installed underground.
H. Vehicle Parking and Loading. All new automobile and bicycle parking and loading shall be in accordance with the NEUP Design Guidelines. No commercial proposals may use on-street parking in neighboring residential areas to meet parking minimums. At least ten percent of the provided automobile parking, up to a maximum requirement of five spaces per proposal, shall be equipped with electric vehicle charging.
I. Sustainability and Resiliency. A proposed development that receives planning board approval that would otherwise be subject to Section 17.90.030 Permitting of Wind Energy Systems shall be exempt from the requirements of the second through sixth sentences of that Section. Sections 17.90.060 and Section 17.90.080 do not apply to this zone.
All development and redevelopment is encouraged to be designed in a manner to meet at a minimum, base core and shell LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification (or other recognized rating system.) Applying for certification is not required, but highly encouraged.
All development and redevelopment shall incorporate green building measures to the maximum extent practicable, such as daylighting, natural ventilation, biophilia, groundsource heat pumps, heat-recovery ventilation, passive heating and cooling, extra insulation, green roofs and walls, solar panels and carports, permeable surfaces, natural and local materials, low-flow water fixtures and water reuse, smart building management, which may include onsite renewable energy power storage, monumental stairs, vestibules, energy-efficient appliances, commuter showers, waste reduction, upcycling and recycling, recycling of demolished buildings, composting, and such measures that avoid petroleum products.
To comply with net-zero energy standards, the following methodology is suggested:
A. Construction of a cool roof.
B. Green space covering an area in one of the following amounts, whichever is least:
Ten percent of the gross floor area of the building.
Sixty (60) percent of the total roof area on the building.
The available roof space on the building.
C. On-site solar panels covering an area anywhere on the building or site equal to seventy (70) percent of the total roof area or an area equal to an amount required to provide at least one hundred (100) percent of estimated annual average electricity used at the development. Other renewable energy devices may be used in place of onsite solar panels so long as the owner provides evidence of similar generation capacity
J. Community' Benefit Agreement. Any applicant for development or redevelopment constituting a land development project, a subdivision or requiring unified development review may, depending on the scale of the proposal or the intensity of its likely externalities, be required by the administrative officer to submit a community impact report from a third-party expert which shall detail the impact the development or redevelopment is likely to have on the local community.
If the planning board makes findings based on their knowledge of the geographic area and personal expertise which amount to a determination that a community impact report is clearly needed or that a submitted community impact is clearly insufficient or otherwise implausibly omits probable community impacts, the planning board may require the applicant to engage and pay for a report prepared by an independent consultant approved by the planning board. If the planning board determines that there may be material adverse impacts on the community, as a condition of approval, the planning board may require that the applicant agree to a community benefit agreement to address such impacts. Such community benefits will be commensurate with the identified adverse impacts.
The applicant may include a draft community benefit agreement alongside its community impact report. If an application includes a proposed community benefit agreement, the planning board shall weigh the benefits of the total proposal relative to the status quo and may require additional community benefits to the extent necessary to mitigate any new and unreasonable externalities very likely to occur as a result of any approval of an application.
The planning board and the applicant may consider additional planning and zoning relief for the benefit of the applicant within the context of the community benefit agreement so long as such relief enhances the total community benefit of the application as a whole.
K. Workforce Housing. Any request for dimensional relief that directly or indirectly accommodates an increase in workforce housing units shall be considered in the following context:
(1) Displacement is a hardship more than a mere inconvenience.
(2) The cost to create income limited housing units is a hardship more than a mere inconvenience.
(3) The creation of income limited housing is not primarily for financial gain.
(4) Dimensional relief that accommodates an increase in workforce housing units without imposing material negative externalities on immediate abutters may qualify as the least relief necessary.
(Ord. 2021-24, § 1, 9-8-2021; Ord. No. 2022-13, § 2, 5-11-2022)