[Added 10-18-2004; amended 5-10-2006]
[Amended10-9-2019]
A.
The purpose of the Corporate Zoning District (the "CZD") is to provide
an area for economic development in the community according to prescribed
review and approval procedures, and according to design, density,
and dimensional criteria particular to the CZD. The CZD is intended
to provide for large-scale developments which incorporate a diversity
of compatible land uses, which may include a mixture of office, light
industrial, hotel, and compatible ancillary retail uses.
B.
It is the intent of this article to allow for a multi-year phased
development that promotes high-quality design, provides employment
opportunities, and expands the Town's tax base. Economics and demographics
require an update and revisions since the last amendment in 2006.
The Town Council, the Planning Board and the Planning staff
have found:
All development within the CZD shall conform to the policies
and design guidelines as set forth in the Comprehensive Community
Plan. In order to demonstrate such conformity, the applicant shall
be required to submit a description of all proposed development to
the Planning Board as part of a master plan for the CZD. This description
shall be a statement, in text, maps, illustrations or other media
of communication, that is designed to provide a basis for rational
decision-making regarding the long-term physical development of the
CZD.
Provisions of this article shall apply only to property located
in the zoning district entitled "Corporate Zoning District (or CZD),"
which encompasses those areas of the Town of West Greenwich so designated
by the Town Council and which shall be shown on the Official Zoning
Map.
A.
Development within the CZD shall be reviewed and approved by the Planning Board as a major land development project as provided for in this chapter, and administered under Chapter 450, Land Development and Subdivision Regulations, of the Town Code. A single application for a master plan for the CZD shall be submitted to the Planning Board for review and approval in accordance with the Land Development and Subdivision Regulations. This application shall make note of all existing uses. Preliminary and final approval may be sought in stages, with appropriate modifications of the master plan. The subdivision of any proposed lots shall occur after final approval of the specific lots for which preliminary and final approval is sought.
[Amended 10-9-2019]
A.
Use matrix.
(1)
Permitted uses and accessory uses. See attached Zone Use Matrix.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: The Use Matrix is included as an attachment to this chapter.
(2)
Uses allowed by special use permit. See attached Zone Use Matrix.
(3)
Drive-through windows are permitted in the CZD by special use permit.
(4)
Parking garages are permitted in the CZD as an accessory use.
B.
The Planning Board shall apply such controls and restrictions as
may be necessary to achieve a synergetic proportion of total land
that is devoted to different uses. Individual retail trade uses shall
be limited to a maximum of 20,000 gross square feet.
[Amended 10-9-2019]
C.
Roads within the CZD shall be privately owned and maintained.
Dimensional regulations for corporate land development projects
shall be as follows:
A.
Minimum lot size for commercial and industrial buildings: two acres.
B.
Minimum frontage (including frontage on private roads): 100 feet.
D.
Minimum separation between buildings (except for existing buildings):
25 feet.
E.
Maximum lot coverage ratio (ratio of area of building to area of
lot): 40%.
F.
Maximum impervious area (ratio of area of impervious surfaces to
area of lot): 65%.
[Amended 10-9-2019]
H.
Maximum accessory building height: 40 feet.
I.
Multiple buildings. Two or more buildings are permitted on one lot.
J.
Minimum buffer:
(1)
One hundred feet to any residential zone for any structure or activity
in the CZD (including outdoor storage), 75 feet of which shall be
vegetated with trees and other thick screening.
(2)
Fifty feet to any Neighborhood Business or a Highway Business Zone
for any structure or activity in the CZD (including outdoor storage).
K.
Minimum district size: 15 acres.
A.
Ratios. Parking ratios for existing uses within the CZD shall remain
the same. All new uses within the CZD shall satisfy the applicable
parking requirement set forth in the following table:
|
Use
|
Parking Requirement
|
|---|---|
|
Office, corporate, commercial and retail
|
1 parking space per 250 square feet of building space
|
|
Industrial, manufacturing and storage
|
2 parking spaces per every 3 full-time-equivalent employees
|
|
Hotel
|
5 parking spaces, plus 1 parking space per room
|
B.
Landscaping. Ten percent of the area of all parking lots shall be
landscaped.
C.
Shared parking. Common parking areas shall be encouraged for mixed-use
developments which have different hours, days and/or seasons of peak
parking demand. The Planning Board may permit individual parking standards
to be reduced for separate uses where it can be demonstrated that
adequate parking may be made available on a shared basis. The Planning
Board may require written easements or other assurances as may be
required to enforce shared parking arrangements. Where reasonable
and practical, the Planning Board may require common driveways and
interconnected parking lots to facilitate shared parking.
[Amended 10-9-2019]
D.
Loading and service areas. When required, loading and other service
areas such as trash dumpsters shall be placed to the rear or side
of buildings in visually unobtrusive locations. Screening and landscaping
shall prevent direct views of the loading areas and their driveways
from adjacent properties or from public or private streets used by
the general public. Screening and buffering shall be achieved through
walls, fences and landscaping, and shall be visually impervious.
E.
Refuse areas. All outdoor refuse storage, collection and recycling
areas shall be enclosed and solidly screened, and shall extend on
three sides of such an area, with a gate or door on the fourth side.
A brick wall, if used, shall be capped at the top. The Planning Board
may modify this requirement if such area is not visible from abutting
property or streets, and, in the opinion of the Planning Board, is
not necessary in order to screen or buffer abutting property or streets
or to otherwise meet the purposes of the Comprehensive Plan or this
chapter.
F.
Parking garages. Above- and below ground parking garages are permitted.
G.
Accessory parking. Accessory parking areas for uses not located within
the CZD are not permitted.
A.
A minimum of 20% of the area of the CZD and a minimum of 25% of the
area of each lot in the CZD shall be pervious and landscaped. The
following areas shall be considered pervious and landscaped areas:
[Amended 10-9-2019]
B.
Landscaping shall be evenly distributed throughout the CZD and not
designated to any one section of the development.
A diversity of roof heights, gable orientations and volumes
in new buildings shall be considered. Architectural elements such
as dormers should be in proportion with the overall building and should
also be in keeping with the surrounding building context. Exaggerated
or excessively large (or small) architectural elements shall be avoided.
The Planning Board shall require architectural drawings, or typical
drawings, of the exteriors of proposed new buildings to be submitted
as part of review of land development projects.
A.
The Planning Board shall require the submission of a comprehensive
signage plan for all uses, individual buildings or a complex of buildings
and uses as part of its review. The signage plan shall include conceptual
drawings and supporting information describing the proposed signage
for all major buildings and uses, including entrance signs, directional
signs, a typical lighting plan, etc. The applicant shall also provide
the Planning Board with a typical sign for all directory and directional
signs. Once the typical signage plan is approved, the Zoning Enforcement
Officer shall issue specific sign permits.
C.
The CZD shall follow the regulations in Article VII, Sign Regulations, of this chapter, except as otherwise permitted below.
D.
Commercial and industrial buildings in the CZD may have signs totaling
up to 200 square feet for each building.
E.
Directional signs within the CZD shall be permitted, subject to normal
architectural standards. Permitted signs within the CZD may be illuminated
or indirectly illuminated. No flashing signs nor portable or mobile
signs shall be permitted.
F.
The Planning Board may approve one pylon sign for the CZD, for uses
in the CZD only. No off-premises advertising is permitted. The sign
shall not exceed 100 feet in height nor exceed 1,500 square feet in
surface area.
All proposed new uses in the CZD shall be serviced with public
water and public sewer. Electric and communications lines shall be
placed underground within a land development project.
The Planning Board shall require vehicular traffic created by
development in the CZD to be integrated into the surrounding area
and be compatible with abutting and nearby properties. If state highways
are involved, such improvements shall also be approved by the Rhode
Island Department of Transportation and federal agencies, if applicable.
In making this determination of the need for off-site traffic improvements,
the Planning Board may require a separate circulation plan and traffic
study to be submitted by the developer as part of the master plan
application for approval, and any other study or documentation requested
by the Planning Board.
A.
Streets, parking areas, pedestrian areas and other actively used
development in the CZD shall be provided with adequate lighting while
minimizing adverse impacts, such as glare and overhead sky glow, on
adjacent properties and public rights-of-way. Streetlights shall be
decorative and blend with the architectural style of buildings in
the CZD.
B.
The applicant shall submit a lighting plan at the preliminary stage
of review, designed and stamped by a Rhode Island licensed electrical
engineer.
As part of its review of development within the CZD, the Planning
Board shall require that adequate, safe and attractive pedestrian
and/or bicycle circulation be provided, which shall include a network
of sidewalks that shall be ADA accessible in accordance with state
and federal standards. Unpaved bicycle and foot paths are encouraged
within the CZD, and need not be ADA accessible. Consideration shall
be given to the accommodation of mass transit.
Uses, activities or operations which violate any governmental
building, fire, safety, health, environmental or other standards or
regulations are prohibited. No nuisance shall be permitted to exist
or operate upon any lot so as to be offensive or detrimental to any
adjacent lot or property or to its occupants. A nuisance shall include,
but not be limited to, any of the following conditions:
A.
Any use, including careless construction activity, that emits dust,
sweepings, dirt, or cinders into the atmosphere, or discharges liquid,
solid wastes, or other matter into any street, property or wetland
which may adversely affect the health, safety, comfort of or intended
use of their property by persons within or adjacent to the CZD.
B.
The escape or discharge of any fumes, odors, gases, vapors, steam,
acids or other substance into the atmosphere, which may be detrimental
to the health, safety or welfare of any person or may interfere with
the comfort of persons within the CZD or which may be harmful to property
or vegetation.
C.
The radiation or discharge of intense glare or heat, or atomic, electromagnetic,
microwave, ultrasonic, laser or other radiation. Any operation producing
intense glare or heat or such other radiation shall be performed only
within an enclosed or screened building and then only in such a manner
that the glare, heat or radiation emitted shall not be discernible
from any point exterior to the site or lot upon which said operation
is conducted.
D.
Excessive noise. No outside speaker or public address system shall be permitted without the express written consent of the Planning Board. At no point outside of any lot line shall the sound pressure level of any machine, device, or any combination of same, from any individual plant or operation, exceed the decibel levels set forth in Article VI.
E.
Storage of hazardous materials. No material of a hazardous character,
as defined by the Hazardous Substance Act (R.I.G.L. § 23-24-2),
shall be stored except within a building having roofing, walls and
floors constructed of such materials as to render said building weathertight,
and so as to prevent leakage of materials into the ground or release
into the atmosphere. Storage and use of such materials shall be in
strict compliance with the requirements of applicable local, state
and federal agencies governing such storage and use.
