[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Council of
the Town of Coventry 11-12-1991 by Ord. No. 9-91-0181 as Ch. 15, Art.
III, of the 1991 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
In accordance with R.I.G.L. § 45-23.1-1
et seq., there is hereby established an official map of the Town entitled
"Coventry Official Map." Such map is established for the purpose of
serving and promoting the public health, safety, morals, convenience,
economy, orderliness and general welfare of the community; to further
the orderly layout and use of land; to stabilize the location of real
property boundary lines; to ensure proper legal descriptions; to facilitate
adequate provision for transportation; and to facilitate the further
subdivision of larger tracts into smaller parcels of land.
The Official Town Map shall show the location
of the streets of the Town existing and established by law as public
streets, and the boundaries of such streets are hereby established
as shown on such map. Such map shall also show the location of the
lines of streets on plats of subdivisions which have been approved
by the Planning Commission.
A certificate shall be recorded with the Town
Clerk showing that the Town Council has established an Official Map.
There shall be a certified copy of the Official Map recorded and kept
in the office of the Town Clerk. The copy shall be available for inspection
by any interested person during regular office hours. The certified
copy shall bear on its face a certification that it is a true copy
of the Official Map described in and accompanying the ordinance from
which this chapter is derived and shall show the date of the adoption
of such ordinance and shall be signed by the President of the Town
Council and countersigned by the Town Clerk. Thereafter, no change
or addition to such Official Map shall become effective until it has
been indicated by the appropriate insertion on the certified copy
and a certificate placed thereon or attached thereto bearing the number
and date of adoption of the amending ordinance. The certificate shall
be signed by the President of the Town Council and countersigned by
the Town Clerk.
The Town Council is authorized and empowered
to make, from time to time, additions to or modifications of the Official
Map, by placing thereon the exterior lines of planned new streets
or street extensions, widenings, narrowings or vacations. No such
changes shall become effective until after a public hearing in relation
thereto, at which parties in interest and citizens shall have an opportunity
to be heard. At least 10 days' notice of such a public hearing shall
be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the Town. Before
making such additions or changes, the Town Council shall refer the
matter to the Planning Commission for report thereon, but if the Planning
Commission does not make its report within 45 days of such reference,
the necessity for such report may be deemed to be waived. The locating,
widening or closing, or the approval of the locating, widening or
closing, of streets by the Town under provisions of law other than
those contained in this chapter shall be deemed to be a change or
addition to the Official Map and shall be subject to all the provisions
of this chapter, except provisions relating to public hearing and
referral to the Planning Commission. The placing of any street or
street line upon the Official Map shall not in and of itself constitute
or be deemed to constitute the opening or establishment of any street
or the taking or acceptance of any land for street purposes.
For the purpose of preserving the integrity
of the Official Map, no building permit shall be issued for any building
in the bed of any street shown on the Official Map except as provided
in this section. Whenever one or more parcels of land upon which is
located the bed of such a mapped street cannot yield a reasonable
return to the owner unless a building permit is granted, the Zoning
Board of Review may, in a
specific case, grant a permit for a building in the bed of such mapped
street which will increase the cost of opening such street as little
as practicable or tend to cause a minimum change of the Official Map.
No such permit shall be granted until after a public hearing for which
reasonable notice shall have been given to all interested parties
and at which parties in interest and others shall have an opportunity
to be heard. The Zoning Board of Review may impose reasonable requirements
as a condition of granting the permit so as to promote the health,
safety, morals, convenience, economy, orderliness and general welfare
of the community. The Board shall refer the application to the Planning
Commission for report and recommendation before taking action, and
shall refuse a permit where the applicant will not be substantially
damaged by placing his building outside the mapped street.
A.
No building permit for the erection of any building
shall be issued unless the building lot abuts a street which has been
placed on the Official Map giving access to the proposed structure.
Before a permit shall be issued, such street shall have been certified
to be suitably improved according to the standards of this section
by the Director of Public Works. If such a street is not suitably
improved, such improvement shall be ensured by means of a performance
guarantee in accordance with rules and regulations adopted in the
same manner as rules and regulations for subdivisions as provided
in R.I.G.L. § 45-23-25 et seq. The Planning Commission shall
determine which standard shall apply for each case. The Planning Commission
shall advise the Director of Public Works of the applicable standard
so that he may review the conditions of a road prior to the issuance
of a building permit and certify the road's conditions.[1]
B.
Standards.
(1)
The standards for a suitably improved road are:
(a)
Gravel road. A twenty-four-foot-wide driving
area that shall be stripped of all rocks, stumps and loam to a depth
of 12 inches and replaced with 10 inches of bank run gravel and two
inches of processed gravel.
(b)
Oiled road. A twenty-four-foot-wide driving
area that shall be stripped of all rocks, stumps and loam to a depth
of 12 inches and replaced with 10 inches of bank run gravel and two
inches of processed gravel, which shall be coated with a double seal.
(c)
Subdivision road. A road that shall meet the
standards of the Subdivision Regulations of the Town.
(2)
In determining which standard shall apply, the Planning
Commission shall review the condition of suitably improved Town roads
within a one-thousand-foot radius of the property and shall choose
that standard which most closely enforces the existing conditions.
Where right-of-way width or other conditions affect the standards
of this section, the Planning Commission may adjust the standards
to fit the particular situation.
C.
Where the enforcement of this section would entail
practical difficulty or unnecessary hardship, or where the circumstances
of the case do not require the structure to be related to a street,
the Zoning Board of Review may, in a specific case, make reasonable
exceptions and direct the Building Inspector to issue a permit subject
to conditions that will ensure adequate access for fire-fighting equipment,
ambulances and other emergency vehicles necessary for the protection
of health and safety, and that will protect any future street layout
shown on the Official Map. This action can only be made after the
Planning Commission and Director of Public Works have had the opportunity
to respond in writing to the request and after a public hearing for
which reasonable notice has been given to all interested parties,
for which notice was published in a newspaper of general circulation
in the Town at least 10 days before the hearing, and at which interested
parties and others shall have the opportunity to respond.
Any person aggrieved by any decision of the Zoning Board of Review under § 164-5 or 164-6 may present to the Supreme Court a petition, duly verified, setting forth that such decision is illegal in whole or in part and specifying the grounds of illegality. Such petition shall be presented in accordance with R.I.G.L. § 45-23.1-5.
