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North Kingstown
Town of North Kingstown Zoning Ordinance
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§ 21-96

Wickford Junction district

  • (a) Purpose and intent. The Wickford Junction (WJ) district is established as a mixed use, transit-oriented, economic development center. Because of the available transit infrastructure within and around the district, development shall be designed to provide a mix of commercial and residential uses at higher densities than what is permitted in most of the other zoning districts in the town. Density bonuses shall be made available through transfer of development rights and/or nutrient loading offsets to encourage environmentally friendly and bicycle and pedestrian-oriented site design practices and the incorporation of diverse housing types into mixed use environments. Better site design practices shall be encouraged in the district to facilitate the development of pedestrian friendly environments, to leverage environmental improvements, to increase property values, to promote commercial development, and to improve the general aesthetic appeal of the area.

  • (b) General requirements.

    • (1) Wastewater disposal. Wastewater disposal shall be centralized to the maximum extent practicable. All parcels located in the Wickford Junction shall be tied into a centralized sewer system if there is ready access to the collection system and the disposal system capacity can accommodate the calculated flow. Where proposed development cannot access a centralized sewer system, a community or shared OWTS shall be utilized on site unless not appropriate due to existing conditions or site constraints. In the event the applicant cannot utilize a single community OWTS, the applicant shall use a combination of as few as possible smaller OWTS unless financially and technically unfeasible. In addition, a permanent maintenance agreement for wastewater disposal throughout the entire Wickford Junction property shall be required as part of the final approval. The burden of proof of these requirements shall be placed upon the applicant. An OWTS leachfield(s) may be allowed in any dedicated open space area by the planning commission if it furthers the goals and intentions of this ordinance.

    • (2) Nutrient loading limitations.

      • a. Development proposals in the Wickford Junction district that lie within the Groundwater Recharge and Wellhead Protection overlay district shall not discharge nitrogen to groundwater at an average site-wide concentration beyond five mg/L except as may be provided for below. Nitrogen loading calculations shall incorporate those standards listed in subsection 21-186(g)(5) of the zoning ordinance. The concentration of nitrogen in wastewater effluent shall be determined by the wastewater disposal approach in accordance with subsection 21-186(g)(5) regardless of the proposed individual use or mix of uses.

      • b. Where a proposed Wickford Junction district development in a Groundwater Zone 2 overlay district would create average site-wide nitrogen concentrations that exceed five mg/L, an applicant may propose to mitigate the load that goes beyond the five mg/L threshold by adding dedicated open space to the nutrient loading calculations. Recharge from the dedicated open space would be added to the nutrient loading calculations in accordance with the assumptions for nitrogen loading and natural recharge found in section 21-186 and must provide enough dilution to return the nitrogen loading to a maximum of five mg/L. In order for any dedicated open space to be used as an offset for nitrogen loading associated with a particular development proposal, the following conditions shall be met:

        • 1. Dedicated off-site open space may only be used to offset nutrient loads in the Wickford Junction district if the open space and the development proposal are located within the same aquifer recharge area.

        • 2. The dedicated off-site open space used to offset the nutrient loading from the proposed development must be located in a Zone 1 groundwater protection area.

        • 3. The open space shall be land that is not already or otherwise restricted or protected from development through any easements or restrictions including, but not limited to, open space or conservation easements.

        • 4. The open space land shall not be considered unbuildable land as defined in section 21-22 and shall not be encumbered by significant physical or environmental constraints.

        • 5. The original nutrient loading analysis for the proposed development site may not show a site-wide average concentration of nitrogen that exceeds 7.5 mg/L.

Land used and protected as part of a transfer of development rights transaction for the proposed development may also be used to offset nitrogen loading provided it meets all of the other criteria of subsection 21-96(b)(2). The nutrient loading analysis including the open space offset shall not exceed five mg/L.

    • (3) Stormwater management. All applications shall be required to meet RIDEM's stormwater standards.

    • (4) Non-conformity. Pre-existing non-conforming land or structures shall be governed by those provisions listed in article XII of the zoning ordinance. In addition to those requirements, the following shall apply:

      • a. The relocation or reconstruction of any building that may be allowed pursuant to article XII shall require compliance with all Post Road district/Wickford Junction district design guidelines listed in the subdivision and land development regulations;

      • b. Where a building is non-conforming by dimension, and any addition, enlargement, expansion or change of use is proposed, such activity shall be exempt from the provisions of sections 21-309 and 21-311 where the proposed development activity will result in closer adherence to the purposes and standards associated with the Wickford Junction district and the requirements of the Wickford Junction district design guidelines. In these instances, the development activity shall be reviewed as part of a development plan review application to the planning commission. The planning commission may also review these activities as land development projects in accordance with the review thresholds in section 21-133.

    • (5) Commercial use. The intensity of commercial uses allowed in the Wickford Junction district is subject to the basic dimensional requirements of each site and any other site constraints that may be present. Increases in the intensity of commercial uses beyond what is permitted by right may be allowed by the planning commission through a transfer of development rights as described in article XXIII of this ordinance. Increases in commercial use intensity beyond what is allowed by right shall occur as the result of increases in the allowable height of buildings pursuant to article IV, table 2B, standard dimensional regulations for business districts, note 6. Increases in the intensity of uses shall require compliance with all other applicable provisions of the zoning ordinance including, but not limited to, allowable uses, parking requirements, design standards, and signage.

    • (6) Buffers. Landscaping shall be required between non-residential uses or mixed use developments and abutting residential districts. Buffer zones shall occupy the entire specified setback area in table 2B of article IV and shall substantially screen the site from view in accordance with the standards listed in section 21-277 of the zoning ordinance. Fences may be used as part of screening but shall not be constructed from materials incongruent with the design goals of the Wickford Junction district as determined by the planning commission. These requirements shall not apply to non-residential or mixed use development that are interior to any development in the district or that are designed to integrate existing or future neighboring residences into the site through the use of walkways, bicycle paths or other pedestrian amenities.

    • (7) Design guidelines. All proposed development in the Wickford Junction district shall comply with the Post Road/Wickford Junction district design guidelines and standards listed in the subdivision and land development regulations.

  • (c) Specific requirements.

    • (1) Residential use.

      • a. Residential units are prohibited in ground floor operations for buildings within 200 feet of Ten Rod Road in the Wickford Junction district that lie east of Quaker Lane and northeast of Ten Rod Road.

      • b. Residential unit density shall be exempt from the relevant density provisions of subsection 21-186(d)(1) and the number of residential units permitted by-right shall be determined by the size and dimension of the structures permissible within the building envelope provided for in the dimensional regulations table 2B, compliance with the parking requirements contained in sections 21-271 and 21-272 and compliance with the nutrient loading limitations set forth, herein, at subsection 21-96(b)(2).

      • c. For projects that apply transfer of development rights as described in article XXIII of this ordinance, the planning commission may increase the allowable residential density to 30 units per buildable acre provided all applicable performance standards within this ordinance are met.

      • d. The average bedroom count per unit for any residential development in the Wickford Junction district shall not exceed 2.0 bedrooms per unit.

      • e. All housing which is included in the Wickford Junction district shall have a minimum of 15 percent of all units deemed affordable as defined in section 21-22 and shall be maintained as such in accordance with section 21-602, Assurance of affordability. Options for off-site location, fee-in-lieu, and land conveyance as provided for in section 21-601, Basic inclusionary unit requirement, may be used to satisfy this requirement.

      • f. Affordable units that will exceed 20 percent of the total housing units in a development shall be required to utilize TDRs for those additional affordable units.

    • (2) Multi-modal circulation. Development proposals shall demonstrate circulation oriented design as follows:

      • a. Development proposals must have a clear, contiguous pedestrian and non-motorized vehicle circulation network within the development and leading to and from the site.

      • b. Sites directly adjacent to public transit stations shall clearly demonstrate that the pedestrian and non-motorized network connects to the public transit station.

      • c. Bicycle parking facilities shall be provided along the front or side edge of each primary structure or another reasonable location on site. These may include bicycle racks or dedicated bicycle parking areas that have racks or other structures designed for securing bicycles. One bicycle rack shall be provided at a minimum for each primary structure.

      • d. Travel lanes and driveways developed interior to the site shall have a minimum of four feet in width and indicated with striping dedicated bicycle lane(s) distinct from automobile travel lanes. This lane shall provide access to and from the site. The planning commission or the director may allow the use of sharrows at their discretion where traffic control measures such as speed bumps are incorporated into the travel lane.

      • e. Pedestrian connections between buildings, landscaped islands, park areas, or other pedestrian resting areas shall be provided as safe, broad and easily identifiable ways of walking through areas that may also be occupied by automobiles. These walkways shall be designed to clearly show the space is primarily dedicated to pedestrian traffic through the use of raised or alternative surfaces, signage or raised landscaped islands that may serve as a safe resting area for pedestrians between automobile travel lanes.

(Ord. No. 13-19, § 2, 12-9-2013; Ord. No. 22-02, § 1, 2-7-2022)