[Amended 7-1-1975; 11-10-2002]
[Amended 11-2-2010]
There shall be a Planning Board consisting of seven members appointed by the Town Council at the first Town Council meeting of the new year. There shall be at least one member from each Council voting district and two at-large members appointed for staggered three-year terms. All current Planning Board positions shall be vacated upon passage of the Charter amendment. The first appointment subsequent to the Charter amendment shall be three for one year, two for two years, and two for three years. Thereafter, all appointments shall be for three-year terms, each member to hold office up until his/her successor is appointed and qualified. Any other vacancies, if any exist, shall be filled by appointment by the Town Council. The Planning Board members shall take office immediately after their appointment.
(1) 
The Board shall hold at least 10 regular monthly meetings each year and special meetings shall be held when called by the Chairperson or upon the written request of five members.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
(2) 
The Board shall adopt its own rules of procedure and organize itself into committees as it wishes.
(3) 
It shall have power, within the limits of its budget appropriation, to employ such clerical and technical assistants as it may require.
(4) 
The Planning Board may make special studies when requested by the Town Council, of the resources and needs of the Town with reference to its physical growth and development as affecting the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the people and the economy and efficiency of communal life.
(5) 
Such Planning Board shall have access to available plans, records, surveys, and other data filed with any department of the Town.
(6) 
The Planning Board shall report annually before January 15th to the Town Council and may recommend plans and schemes of development, including a list of recommended capital improvements which in the opinion of the Board are necessary or desirable to be undertaken during the ensuing fiscal year and the five fiscal years thereafter, and give estimates of the costs thereof, and shall make other reports upon such related matters as may be from time to time referred to such Board by the Town Council.
(7) 
Should the Town appropriate a sum not exceeding 1/4 mill on each dollar of its ratable property, based on the assessed valuation of the preceding year, to be expended for the purposes of advertising the resources, advantages and attractions of the community, and for the further purpose of promoting the growth and welfare of such Town, as such Town is authorized by law to do, the sum may be expended under the direction of the Planning Board.
(8) 
Such Board may also receive private subscriptions for the purpose of advertising the resources, advantages and attractions of the community and may expend said sums as herein provided.
(9) 
The Planning Board shall render such reports of its activities, recommendations and accomplishments as may be required by state law or Town ordinance.
(10) 
In accordance with law and ordinance, the Planning Board may adopt, modify and amend rules and regulations governing and restricting the platting or other subdivision of land in the Town, and to control the subdivision of land pursuant to such rules and regulations. In formulating such rules and regulations said Board shall act only after a public hearing as required by law.
(11) 
The Planning Board shall administer and enforce such rules and regulations and any person who shall thereafter subdivide any land in the Town shall make a plat thereof and submit the same to the Board and no plat of a subdivision of land in the Town shall be filed or recorded until it shall have been approved by such Planning Board and the approval entered in writing on the plat by the Chairperson or Secretary of the Board, provided that notice by registered mail of a hearing shall be given five days in advance of the hearing to the abutting owners.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
(12) 
Said Planning Board shall prepare the Comprehensive Plan referred to in the next section of this Charter and shall have continuing power to recommend to the Town Council general zoning revisions and shall exercise such other powers and perform such duties as may be conferred or imposed by ordinance.
The Planning Board shall prepare for submission to the Town Council a Comprehensive Plan for the physical development of the territory of the Town. Such Comprehensive Plan shall include the location, character and extent of streets, bridges, parks, rights-of-way, utilities, waterways, public buildings, and other public property of the Town and may also include the relocation, removal, widening, extension, abandonment or change of use of existing streets, public buildings, parks and other public property. Such Comprehensive Plan shall include the zoning plan and a general plan for the routing of all vehicular traffic. The Comprehensive Plan submitted may be accompanied by maps, plats, charts and descriptive and explanatory materials.
The Planning Board shall submit the Comprehensive Plan to the Town Council in whole or in sections, but before such submission of the Comprehensive Plan or any section thereof, amendment or addition thereto, the Board shall hold at least one public hearing thereon. After said public hearing or hearings the Planning Board shall submit said Comprehensive Plan, in whole or in sections as aforesaid, or any section, amendment or addition thereto as aforesaid, to the Town Council for adoption. The Town Council shall not be bound by the decisions of the Planning Board, but such decisions shall be considered as of an advisory nature for the future development of the Town.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
{Created.} There shall be a Zoning Board of Review in the Town of Lincoln as is authorized by Title 45, Chapter 24, General Laws of Rhode Island, 1956.
Composition of Zoning Board of Review. The Board of Review shall consist of five members, with one member from each Council district, each to hold office for the term of five years; provided, however, that the original selection shall be made for terms of one, two, three, four and five years respectively; and two alternates, each to hold office for the term of two years. The Town Council shall provide for the selection and organization of said Board of Review and shall have the right to name an auxiliary or sixth member of said Board of Review of said Town who shall sit as an active member when and if a member of said Board is unable to serve at any hearing, upon request of the Chairperson of said Board.
[Amended 11-2-2010]
(1) 
The Chairperson, or in his/her absence, the Acting Chairperson, may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses.
(2) 
The Board of Review shall make its own rules of procedure having to do with appeals to the Board, stay of proceedings on appeal and hearing of appeals to the Board, provided that such rules conform with law and amendments thereto.
(3) 
The Board shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member upon each question or, if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall keep records of its examinations and other official actions, all of which shall be filed immediately in the office of the Board and shall be a public record.
(4) 
The Board shall hear and decide appeals where it is alleged there is error in any order, requirement, decision or determination made by an administrative officer in the enforcement of zoning ordinances of the Town.
(5) 
The Board shall hear and decide special exceptions to the terms of the ordinance, upon which such Board is authorized to pass under such ordinance.
(6) 
The Board shall authorize upon appeal in specific cases such variance in the application of the terms of the ordinance as will not be contrary to the public interest, where owing to special conditions a literal enforcement of the provisions of the ordinance will result in unnecessary hardship, and so that the spirit of the ordinance shall be observed and substantial justice done.
(7) 
The Board may reserve or affirm wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination appealed from and may make such order, requirement, decision or determination as ought to be made, and to that end shall have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal was taken. The concurring vote of three members of the Board shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision or determination of any such administrative officer, and the concurring vote of four members of the Board shall be required to decide in favor of the applicant on any matter within the discretion of the Board upon which it is required to pass under such ordinance or to effect any variation in the application of such ordinance.
(8) 
The Zoning Board of Review will act as the Planning Board of Review in accordance with the duties prescribed by state law and the ordinances of this Town.