[Adopted 10-22-1985 as Ch.
1, Art. I, of the 1985 Code of Ordinances]
The ordinances embraced in this and the following chapters shall be
designated and cited as the "Code of Ordinances, Town of Smithfield, Rhode
Island." Such ordinances may also be cited as the "Smithfield Code."[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: State law reference - ordinances to be printed and
published in manner directed by Town Council, G.L. 1956, § 45-6-7.
In the construction of this Code and of all ordinances hereafter enacted,
the following interpretations shall be placed on the words and phrases mentioned
in this section, unless such construction or interpretation would be manifestly
inconsistent with the evident intent of the Town Council or repugnant to the
context or to the evident purport of any ordinance:
The time in which an act is to be done shall be computed by excluding
the first and including the last day, except that when the last day falls
on a Sunday or a legal holiday, the act may be done on the next succeeding
day which is not a Sunday or a legal holiday. When a public office in which
an act is to be performed is closed to the public for the entire day which
constitutes the last day for doing such act, or before its usual closing time
on such day, then such act may be performed on the next succeeding day which
is not a Sunday or legal holiday.[2]
Whenever the words "corporate limits," "corporation limits" or "Town
limits" are used they shall mean the legal boundary of the Town of Smithfield.
The term "Council" or "Town Council" shall mean the Town Council
of the Town of Smithfield.
The words "the county" or "this county" shall mean the County of
Providence in the State of Rhode Island.
Whenever a provision appears requiring the head of a department or
other officer of the Town to do some act or to make certain inspections, it
is to be construed to authorize the head of the department or other officer
of the Town, as the case may be, to designate, delegate and authorize subordinates
to perform the required act or make the required inspection unless the terms
of the provision designate otherwise.
A word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and be applied
to females and to firms, partnerships and corporations as well as to males.[3]
1956 — The General Laws of Rhode Island, Reenactment
of 1956, as now or hereafter amended.
In the interpretation and application of any provision of this Code,
it shall be held to be the minimum requirements adopted for the promotion
of the public health, safety, comfort, convenience and general
welfare. Where any provision of the Code imposes greater restrictions upon
the subject matter than the general provisions imposed by the Code, the provision
imposing the greater restriction or regulation shall be deemed to be controlling.
All words giving a joint authority to three or more persons or officers
shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such persons
or officers.[4]
Includes persons, firms, associations, corporations, clubs and partnerships,
whether acting by themselves or through a servant, agent or employee.
A calendar month.[5]
Words and phrases shall be construed according to the common and
approved usage of the language; but technical words and phrases and such others
as may have acquired a peculiar and appropriate meaning in law shall be construed
and understood according to such meaning.
A word importing the singular number only may extend and be applied
to several persons and things as well as to one person or thing, and a word
importing the plural number may be applied to one person or thing.[6]
Includes an affirmation in all cases in which, by law, an affirmation
may be substituted for an oath, and in such cases the words "swear" and "sworn"
shall be equivalent to the words "affirm" and "affirmed." The word "engaged"
shall be equivalent to the word "sworn" or "affirmed."[7]
Whenever the title of an officer, department, board or other agency
is given it shall be construed as though the words "of the Town of Smithfield"
were added.
"Or" may be read "and," and "and" may be read "or," if the sense
requires it.
Applied to a building or land, shall include any part owner, joint
owner, tenant in common, tenant in partnership, joint tenant or tenant by
the entirety of the whole or of a part of such building or land.
Includes a corporation, firm, partnership, association, organization,
club, society, body corporate or politic, or any other group acting as a unit,
as well as a natural person.[8]
Includes every species of property except real property, as herein
described.
Whenever the word "premises" is used it shall mean place or places.
Next before and next after, respectively.[9]
Includes real and personal property.
Includes, without limitation, any park, cemetery, school yard or
open space adjacent thereto and all beaches, canals or other waterways, and
any public street or way.
Includes lands, tenements and hereditaments and rights thereto and
interests therein.[10]
The word "shall" is mandatory, whereas the word "may" is permissive.
The "signature" or "subscription" of a person shall include a mark
when the person cannot write.
The State of Rhode Island.
The words "streets," "highways" and "ways" shall be construed as
including public boulevards, avenues, courts, lanes, alleys, squares, drives,
roads, corners and sidewalks.
The word "tenant" or "occupant," applied to a building or land, shall
include any person holding a written or oral lease of, or who occupies, the
whole or a part of such building or land, either alone or with others.
Words used in the past or present tense include the future as well
as the past and present.
The Town of Smithfield in the County of Providence and the State
of Rhode Island.
Seven days.
Includes any representation of words, letters or figures, whether
by printing or otherwise.[11]
A calendar year.[12]
[1]
Editor's Note: This section was originally enacted 3-27-1979.
[2]
Editor's Note: State law reference - Similar provisions, G.L. 1956,
§ 43-3-13.
[3]
Editor's Note: State law reference - Similar provisions, G.L. 1956,
§ 43-3-3.
[4]
Editor's Note: State law reference - Similar provisions, G.L. 1956,
§ 43.3-5.
[5]
Editor's Note: State law reference - Similar provisions, G.L. 1956,
§ 43-3-12.
[6]
Editor's Note: State law reference - Similar provisions, G.L. 1956,
§ 43-3-4.
[7]
Editor's Note: State law reference - Similar provisions, G.L. 1956,
§ 43-3-11.
[8]
Editor's Note: State law reference - Similar provisions, G.L. 1956,
§ 43-3-6.
[9]
Editor's Note: State law reference - Similar provisions, G.L. 1956,
§ 43-3-16.
[10]
Editor's Note: State law reference - Similar provisions, G.L. 1956,
§ 43-3-10.
[11]
Editor's Note: State law reference - Similar provisions, G.L. 1956,
§ 43-3-16.
[12]
Editor's Note: State law reference - Similar provisions, G.L. 1956,
§ 43-3-12.
The catchlines of the several sections of this Code printed in boldface
type are intended as mere catchwords to indicate the contents of the section,
and unless otherwise expressly so provided, shall not be deemed or taken to
be titles of such sections or as any part of the section, nor, unless expressly
so provided, shall they be so deemed when any of such sections, including
the catchlines, are amended or reenacted.
It is hereby declared to be the intention of the Town Council that the
sections, paragraphs, sentences, clauses and phrases of this Code are severable,
and if any phrase, clause, sentence, paragraph or section of this Code shall
be declared unconstitutional, invalid or unenforceable by the valid judgment
or decree of any court of competent jurisdiction, such unconstitutionality,
invalidity or unenforceability shall not affect any of the remaining phrases,
clauses, sentences, paragraphs and sections of the Code, since the same would
have been enacted by the Town Council without the incorporation in this Code
of any such unconstitutional, invalid or unenforceable phrase, clause, sentence,
paragraph or section.
A.
The repeal of an ordinance shall not revive any ordinances
in force before or at the time the ordinance repealed took effect.
B.
The repeal of an ordinance shall not affect any punishment
or penalty incurred before the repeal took effect, nor any suit, prosecution
or proceeding pending at the time of the repeal, for an offense committed
or cause of action arising under the ordinance repealed.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: State law reference - Similar provisions, G.L. 1956,
§ 43-3-22—43-3-24.
A.
All ordinances passed subsequent to this Code, which
amend, repeal or in any way affect this Code, may be numbered in accordance
with the numbering system of this Code and printed for inclusion herein, or
in the case of repealed chapters, sections and subsections or any part thereof,
by subsequent ordinances, such repealed portions may be excluded from the
Code by omission thereof from reprinted pages affected thereby, and the subsequent
ordinances, as numbered and printed, or omitted in the case of repeal, shall
be prima facie evidence of such subsequent ordinances until such time that
this Code and subsequent ordinances numbered or omitted are readopted as a
new Code by the Town Council.
B.
Amendments to any of the provisions of this Code should
be made by amending such provisions by specific reference to the section of
the Code in substantially the following language: "That section ________ of
the Code of Ordinances, Town of Smithfield, Rhode Island, is hereby amended
to read as follows: ______ (Set out new provisions in full) ______."
C.
In the event a new section not heretofore existing in
the Code is to be added, the following language may be used: "That the Code
of Ordinances, Town of Smithfield, Rhode Island, is hereby amended by adding
a section (or article, chapter or other designation, as the case may be),
to be numbered ________, which reads as follows: ______ (Set out new provisions
in full) ______."
D.
In lieu of Subsection C, when the Town Council desires to enact an ordinance of a general and permanent nature embracing a subject not existing in the Code, which the Town Council desires to incorporate into the Code, a provision in substantially the following language may be made a part of the ordinance: "It is the intention of the Town Council, and it is hereby ordained, that the provisions of this ordinance shall become and be made part of the Code of Ordinances, Town of Smithfield, Rhode Island, and the sections of this ordinance may be renumbered to accomplish such intention."
E.
All sections, articles, chapters or other provisions
of this Code desired to be repealed should be specifically repealed by section
number, article number, chapter or other number, as the case may be.
A.
By contract or by Town personnel, supplements to this
Code shall be prepared and printed whenever authorized or directed by the
Town Council. A supplement to the Code shall include all substantive permanent
and general parts of ordinances passed by the Town Council or adopted by initiative
and referendum during the period covered by the supplement and all changes
made thereby in the Code. The pages of a supplement shall be so numbered that
they will fit properly into the Code and will, where necessary, replace pages
which have become obsolete or partially obsolete, and the new pages shall
be so prepared that, when they have been inserted, the Code will be current
through the date of the adoption of the latest ordinance included in the supplement.
B.
In the preparation of a supplement to this Code, all
portions of the Code which have been repealed shall be excluded from the Code
by the omission thereof from reprinted pages.
C.
When preparing a supplement to this Code, the codifier
(meaning the person, agency or organization authorized to prepare the supplement)
may make formal, nonsubstantive changes in ordinances and parts of ordinances
included in the supplement, insofar as it is necessary to do so to embody
them into a unified Code. For example, the codifier may:
(1)
Organize the ordinance material into appropriate subdivisions;
(2)
Provide appropriate catchlines, headings and titles for
sections and other subdivisions of the Code printed in the supplement, and
make changes in such catchlines, headings and titles;
(3)
Assign appropriate numbers to sections and other subdivisions
to be inserted in the Code and, where necessary to accommodate new material,
change existing section or other subdivision numbers;
(4)
Change the words "this ordinance" or words of the same
meaning to "this chapter," "this article," "this division," etc., as the case
may be, or to "sections _______ to ______" (inserting section numbers to indicate
the sections of the Code which embody the substantive sections of the ordinance
incorporated into the Code); and
(5)
Make other nonsubstantive changes necessary to preserve
the original meaning of ordinance sections inserted into the Code, but in
no case shall the codifier make any change in the meaning or effect of ordinance
material included in the supplement or already embodied in the Code.
A.
Nothing in this Code or the ordinance adopting this Code
shall be construed to repeal or otherwise affect the validity of any ordinance:
(1)
Affecting the boundaries of the Town;
(2)
Vacating, abandoning or accepting any street, alley or
easement;
(3)
Relating to sewer construction or any specific local
improvement;
(4)
Authorizing, directing or ratifying any purchase or sale;
(5)
Approving or accepting any subdivision or plat;
(6)
Authorizing or directing the issuance of any bonds or
other evidence of indebtedness;
(7)
Authorizing or directing the making of any investment;
(8)
Establishing fees, charges or other numerical designations,
not inconsistent herewith;
(9)
Regulating specific businesses;
(10)
Making or otherwise affecting any appropriations;
(11)
Levying or otherwise affecting any taxes, not inconsistent
herewith;
(12)
Relating to franchise;
(13)
Pertaining to zoning or rezoning; or to subdivision regulation;
(14)
Regulating or restricting traffic or parking on particular
streets or in particular locations in the Town, not inconsistent herewith;
or
(15)
Relating to personnel, affirmative action, salary or
wage schedules or police rules and regulations, not inconsistent herewith.
B.
All such ordinances are hereby recognized as continuing
in full force and effect to the same extent as if set out at length herein.
