INSTITUTIONAL MASTER PLAN FORMAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN REVIEW
1910 INSTITUTIONAL MASTER PLAN FORMAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN REVIEW
A. Purpose An institutional master plan is required to promote the orderly growth and development of health care institutions and university or college educational facilities while preserving neighborhood character, historic resources, and consistency with the City's Comprehensive Plan and adopted land use policies. The institutional master plan is a statement in text, maps, illustrations, and/or other media that provides a basis for rational decision-making regarding the long-term physical development of the institution.
B. Authority The City Plan Commission may approve an institutional master plan and institutional development plan review.
C. Applicability All health care institutions and university or college educational facilities shall file an institutional master plan with the City Plan Commission. The plan shall be updated every five years from the most recent date of approval, which includes any amendments to a plan. All updates shall show changes in the institution’s development plans and real property holdings. The institutional master plan may also be amended prior to the five year renewal. A building permit will not be issued to an institution whose institutional master plan approval is older than five years until an amendment to or renewal of such plan is filed with and approved by the City Plan Commission.
D. Procedure
1. Institutional Master Plan Pre-Submittal Public Participation Prior to formal submittal of an institutional master plan to the City Plan Commission, the institution shall undertake a public participation process. (This does not apply to the institutional development plan review.) The public participation process shall include: a. A minimum of one neighborhood presentation of the major proposals in the plan. Neighborhood organizations, elected officials, and Department of Planning and Development staff shall receive prior notice of this meeting, and shall have the opportunity in the meeting to provide comments.
b. A preliminary meeting before the City Plan Commission on a new or amended institutional master plan is required if the Director of the Department of Planning and Development deems that the scope of the institutional master plan is so significant that the meeting is warranted.
2. Action by City Plan Commission Institutional master plans and amendments to previously approved plans, and institutional development plan reviews shall be reviewed by the City Plan Commission for compliance with the City's Comprehensive Plan and this Ordinance at a regularly scheduled meeting of the City Plan Commission following submittal of a complete application.
3. Institutional Master Plan Submittal Requirements The institutional master plan shall contain, at minimum, the following: a. Mission statement of the institution including its relationship with the neighborhood and community in which it is physically situated.
b. Description of existing conditions that include a list of all properties owned or leased by the institution, arranged by assessors plat and lot and street address, existing uses by general land use category, including street level and all upper story uses, condition of structures, parking lots, open space, and other relevant existing conditions of the campus or grounds.
c. A list of properties on the National Register of Historic Places or designations of a local historic district, and proposed exterior changes to these properties.
d. Statement of ten year goals and five year objectives, and means and approaches through which such goals and objectives may be reached.
e. Proposed changes in land holdings of the institution including newly acquired property and property to be sold.
f. Proposed streets to be abandoned and new streets to be established, including private rightsof-ways.
g. Major repairs or renovations of a building involving more than 10,000 square feet of gross floor area that would result in a change of general land use category of such building.
h. New structures, additions to existing structures of more than 25% of gross floor area or 10,000 square feet of gross floor area, whichever is less, new or reconfigured parking facilities, new outdoor facilities, and any action that would result in the rerouting of traffic in the public right-ofway for a period of two weeks or longer.
i. Proposed demolition of any structure, parking garage, parking lot, park, or any other campus facility. In the event of demolition, the plan shall contain a tenant relocation program that contains, at a minimum, provisions relative to institutionally-owned residential structures intended for demolition. The relocation shall contain alternatives to demolition that will accommodate the interests of said tenants, the neighborhood, and the institutions, and provide for tenant relocation assistance.
j. A parking plan that shows the location of all institutional parking facilities on and off the campus. The plan shall identify the existing number of parking spaces, the location of new spaces required as a result of any proposed development, any proposed shuttle system between lots and campus facilities, and other information deemed appropriate.
k. Any proposed activity that would require an action by the Zoning Board of Review or City Council to implement. Any proposal for a special use permit to locate an institutional use in a Commercial or Downtown District shall be accompanied by a plan for the development of the lot or lots in question that demonstrates to the satisfaction of the City Plan Commission that the proposal is consistent with the mixed-use goals set forth in this Ordinance and in the plan for such district.
l. In addition to the above, any hospital subject to regulation by the Department of Health pursuant to the Rhode Island General Laws §23-15, as amended, and to the rules and regulations promulgated by the Director of Health for the State of Rhode Island pursuant thereto, which are required thereby to obtain a certificate of need as a precondition to licensure of any new or additional premises, shall file said certificate of need as an appendix to its plan.
m. A study of traffic conditions that analyzes existing traffic generation, and the impacts of traffic generation predicted from proposed projects. The study shall include actions that the institution will take to reduce the negative impacts of increased traffic. The institution shall establish the scope of the traffic study through consultation with the Director of the Department of Planning and Development and Traffic Engineer.
n. The plan shall include an implementation element that defines and schedules for a period of five years or more the specific public actions to be undertaken in order to achieve the goals and objectives of the plan.
o. A description of the public participation process that was followed in the creation of the plan.
p. An inventory of tree canopy and landscaping on the property, and provisions for coming into conformance or maintaining conformance with this Ordinance.
q. A statement regarding public access to the institution’s campus and grounds.
E. Modifications to Approved Institutional Master Plans The following development actions are considered consistent with an approved institutional master plan, even if not specifically shown on that approved institutional master plan:
1. Construction of new structures of 2,000 square feet of gross floor area or less that are adjunct to and support an existing use on campus.
2. Additions to existing structures of less than 25% of the existing gross floor area or 10,000 square feet in gross floor area, whichever is less.
3. A change of use to any use permitted within the district.
4. New parking facilities of 10 or fewer parking spaces.
5. Creation or expansion of any bicycle parking facilities.
6. Creation or expansion of open space, and alternate landscape designs and stormwater management techniques.
7. Façade renovation to an existing structure.
8. Interior renovations to an existing structure.
F. Waivers The City Plan Commission as part of Institutional Master Plan Development Plan Review may waive regulations pertaining to the maximum number of buildings on a lot, front setback, restrictions on the maximum number of driveways, sign area, and the location of paved area.