The Westerly Town Council has empowered, by ordinance, the Town
of Westerly Planning Board to adopt, modify and amend regulations
and rules governing land development and subdivision projects within
the Town and to control land development and subdivision projects
pursuant to these regulations and rules.
A.
The Planning Board, once authorized by the ordinance
required under RIGL 45-23-51, shall adopt or repeal, and provide for
the administration, interpretation, and enforcement of land development
and subdivision review regulations.
B.
The Westerly Land Development and Subdivision Regulations
and all the amendments thereto shall be consistent with all provisions
of the Land Development and Subdivision Review Enabling Act of 1992
as well as the Town of Westerly Comprehensive Plan and the Westerly
Zoning Ordinance.
A.
Public hearing required.
(1)
No Town land development and subdivision 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shall be adopted, repealed, or amended until after a public hearing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 the Town at
least once each week for three 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 Statewide Planning Program of the Rhode Island Department
of Administration at least two 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.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
(2)
The advertisement shall:
(a)
Specify the place of said hearing and the date
and time of its commencement;
(b)
Indicate that adoption, amendment or repeal
of Westerly Land Development and Subdivision 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 as long as the
intent and effect of the proposed regulation is expressly written
in that notice;
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
(d)
The Town has established and maintains a public notice registry allowing
any person or entity to register for electronic notice of any changes
to the local regulations and shall annually provide public notice
of existence of said registry by a publication of notice in a newspaper
of general circulation within the municipality. Public notice registry
as per the section does not alone qualify a person or entity on the
public notice registry as an "aggrieved party";
[Added at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions,
Art. I)[1]]
(e)
Advise those interested where and when a copy
of the matter under consideration may be obtained or examined and
copied; and
(f)
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.
B.
Public hearing notice. Notice of the public hearing
shall be sent, by first-class mail, to:
(2)
The Town 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 2,000 feet of Westerly's Town boundaries.
(3)
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 a surface
watershed that is used or is suitable for use as a public water source
located within Westerly or within 2,000 feet of Westerly's boundaries;
provided, however, that the governing body of the state or municipal
water department or agency, special water district, or private water
company has filed with the Westerly Building Official a map survey
showing the areas of surface water resources and/or watershed, and
parcels of land within 2,000 feet of the areas of surface water resources
and/or watersheds, pursuant to RIGL 45-24-53(e).
C.
Defective notice. 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.
D.
Public hearing. The Planning Board shall conduct a
public hearing at the date, time and place specified in the newspaper
advertisement and notices. At the hearing, opportunity shall be given
to all persons interested to be heard upon the matter of the proposed
regulations.
A.
Printed copies of the Westerly Land Development and
Subdivision Regulations shall be available for purchase by the general
public in the office of the Town Clerk, Westerly Town Hall. The regulations
shall be revised to include all current amendments and all appendices.
There shall be a charge for a copy to cover the cost of printing.
B.
Upon publication of the local regulations and any
amendments thereto, the Town shall send a copy to the Rhode Island
Department of Administration's Statewide Planning Program and to the
State Law Library.
