The Planning Board is empowered to adopt, modify and amend regulations and rules governing land development and subdivision projects within the Town of Portsmouth and to control land development and subdivision projects pursuant to those regulations and rules.
1. 
The Planning Board shall adopt or repeal, and provide for the administration, interpretation, and enforcement of land development and subdivision review regulations.
2. 
Provisions of these regulations and appendices may incorporate maps, and other technical and graphic material. These regulations, and all the amendments thereto, shall be consistent with all provisions of the Rhode Island Land Development & Subdivision Review Enabling Act of 1992, as well as Portsmouth's Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Ch. 405, Zoning.
1. 
No regulations shall be adopted, repealed, or amended until after a public hearing has been held upon the question before the Planning Board. The Planning Board shall first give notice of the public hearing by publication of notice in a newspaper of general circulation within Portsmouth at least once each week for three (3) successive weeks prior to the date of the hearing, which may include the week in which the hearing is to be held. At this hearing opportunity shall be given to all persons interested to be heard upon the matter of the proposed regulations. Written notice, which may be a copy of the newspaper notice, shall be mailed to the Associate Director of the Division of Planning of the Rhode Island Department of Administration at least two (2) weeks prior to the hearing. The newspaper notice shall be published as a display advertisement, using a type size at least as large as the normal type size used by the newspaper in its news articles, and shall:
a) 
Specify the place of said hearing and the date and time of its commencement;
b) 
Indicate that adoption, amendment or repeal of these regulations is under consideration;
c) 
Contain a statement of the proposed amendments to the regulations that may be printed once in its entirety, or may summarize or describe the matter under consideration;
d) 
Advise those interested where and when a copy of the matter under consideration may be obtained or examined and copied; and
e) 
State that the proposals shown thereon may be altered or amended prior to the close of the public hearing without further advertising, as a result of further study or because of the views expressed at the public hearing. Any such alteration or amendment must be presented for comment in the course of said hearing.
2. 
Notice of the public hearing shall be sent by first class mail to the Planning Board of any municipality where there is a public or quasi-public water source, or private water source that is used or is suitable for use as a public water source, located within two thousand feet (2,000') of the municipal boundaries.
3. 
Notice of a public hearing shall be sent to the governing body of any state or municipal water department or agency, special water district, or private water company that has riparian rights to a surface water resource and/or surface watershed that is used or is suitable for use as a public water source located within either Portsmouth or two thousand feet (2,000') of the municipal boundaries, provided, however, that a map survey has been filed with the building inspector, which shall be kept as a public record, showing areas of surface water resources and/or watersheds and parcels of land within two thousand feet (2,000') thereof.
4. 
No defect in the form of any notice under this section shall render any regulations invalid, unless such defect is found to be intentional or misleading.
5. 
The above requirements are to be construed as minimum requirements.
1. 
Printed copies of these regulations shall be available to the general public and shall be revised to include all amendments. Any appendices shall also be available. A reasonable charge may be made for copies.
2. 
Upon publication of these regulations and any amendments thereto, the Planning Board shall send a copy to the Rhode Island Department of Administration's Division of Planning and to the State Law Library.