Multifamily dwellings of four or more units

[Amended 5-15-2000 by Ch. No. 1300; 10-30-2000 by Ch. No. 1329]

• A. In the HDR-6 and HDR-15 Zoning Districts, property being developed for four or more residential units is permitted by special use permit under § 260-34 and further governed by both the districts' dimensional regulations (See § 260-19) and the following:
  • (1) Location of structures within a lot shall be established as far as practicable from any one- and two-family homes on adjacent lots. Said locations, together with all parking areas and other impervious surfaces, shall be depicted on the site plan accompanying the special use permit application, and the plan for which a special use permit is granted shall be adhered to. Projects submitted for approval shall conform to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Stormwater Design and Installation Standards Manual, December 2010, or as amended, latest edition. No lot shall have a paved front yard for parking. All parking shall be in side or rear yards. Existing sidewalks and curbing shall not be removed except at driveway openings, and driveway openings shall not exceed 20 feet in width.

    [Amended 7-8-2013 by Ch. No. 1790; at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]

  • (2) Landscape buffers shall be maintained along the side and rear lots of 20 feet in HDR-6 Zoning Districts and 30 feet in HDR-15 Districts.
  • (3) Townhouse structures of not more than four units per structure may be permitted on any lot conforming to the dimensional standards. (See § 260-19.). Multifamily buildings may be permitted only on lots with a minimum of two acres in HDR-6 and a minimum of four acres in HDR-15 Zoning Districts.
  • (4) All multifamily units shall be limited to not more than two bedrooms.
• B. With respect to those specific properties listed in Appendix G hereto, which is incorporated herein by reference, dwelling units arranged as single-detached, double-detached, and attached townhouses and/or combinations thereof, assisted living and/or congregate housing units are permitted by special use permit pursuant to § 260-34 with the additional requirement that the Zoning Board shall also be satisfied by legally competent evidence that all best practices and procedures to minimize the possibility of any adverse effects on the neighboring property, the Town of Westerly, and the environment have been considered and will be employed, including but not limited to consideration of soil erosion, water supply protection, septic disposal, wetland protection, traffic limitation, safety and circulation and are further governed by the following:
  • (1) Purpose: The purpose of this provision is to provide for coherent development and variety of housing types with respect to certain property in which the underlying zoning district is MDR-30, LDR-40, or RR-60 and located north of Route 1A.
  • (2) Permitted uses: The permitted uses shall be limited to residential dwelling units and those accessory uses thereto permitted in the underlying zoning district. Rehabilitative facilities built in conjunction with assisted living/congregate housing complexes shall also be permitted. Twenty percent of said assisted living and congregate housing units may be devoted to skilled nursing beds.
  • (3) Minimum contiguous lot area: 50 acres.
  • (4) Minimum lot area exclusive of wetlands: 30 acres.
  • (5) Minimum lot frontage and width: 50 feet.
  • (6) Maximum height of structures:
    • (a) Assisted living/congregate housing: 42 feet (not to exceed three stories).
    • (b) All other structures: 35 feet.
  • (7) Density regulations:
    • (a) The number of bedrooms permitted on each site shall be determined as follows:
      • [1] Step 1: Deduct from the gross area of the property the freshwater and coastal wetlands.
      • [2] Step 2: Deduct an additional 15% of the area of the property remaining after Step 1.
      • [3] Step 3: Deduct the area of any existing utility easements within the property.
      • [4] Step 4: Divide the remaining land resulting from Steps 1, 2, and 3 by the minimum lot size in the existing (underlying) zoning district.
      • [5] Step 5: Multiply the result of Step 4 by three.
    • (b) Dwelling units containing up to the maximum number of bedrooms in units of at least two bedrooms may be arranged in single detached, double attached, and attached townhouses to a maximum of six units per structure. Assisted living and congregate housing complexes may include single-bedroom units and may include more than six units per structure.
  • (8) Buffer strip. A minimum strip, 100 feet in width, shall be maintained as a landscaped buffer along all side and rear lot lines in such developments and a strip 50 feet in width shall be maintained along the front lines as landscaped buffer strip.
  • (9) Off-street parking. Minimum off-street parking shall be provided and maintained as follows:
    • (a) Two car spaces of at least 270 square feet per dwelling unit. The 270 square feet may include servicing drives.
    • (b) No parking shall be permitted within the landscaped buffer strips.
    • (c) Off-street parking spaces and servicing drives shall be located within the boundaries of the development.
    • (d) The number of parking spaces required for assisted living/congregate housing complexes shall be as required in § 260-77A(4)(c) and (d).
  • (10) Lot coverage. The total ground area for all impervious surfaces shall not exceed the percentage of lot coverage in the zoning district.
  • (11) Structures, parking and other improvements shall be located as far as practicable from the property boundaries.
  • (12) All areas not proposed and permitted for structures and parking shall be designated recreation and open space, and the developer must convey to the Town a conservation restriction in the form of a development easement, in perpetuity. The Town shall be deemed to hold such development easement for the benefit of the Town as well as for the benefit of property owners within and abutting the Planned District, their successors and/or assigns, and may not release or modify said development easement in whole or in part without the unanimous consent of the property owners and the approval of the Town Council. The fee title to all or a portion of the areas not proposed and permitted for structures and parking may be conveyed to a nonprofit land conservation organization subject to said development easement. [See RIGL 45-24-47(D)]. An open space management plan shall accompany the application for review by and inclusion in the Zoning Board approval.

  Editor's Note: Appendix G is included as an attachment to this chapter.