Gov. signs changes to planning process

PROVIDENCE – The rules that govern municipal comprehensive plans have changed.
Last week, Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee signed legislation that updates the 1980s-era Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Act.
Towns now must update their plans once every decade instead of once every five years. The law eliminates the nonfunctional Comprehensive Plan Appeals Board and formally transfers state authority to review and approve the plans from the director of the R.I. Department of Administration to the chief of the R.I. Division of Statewide Planning, who had, in practice, reviewed the plans.
The law also outlines required maps in the plan, including those showing zoning, public infrastructure, historical sites, conservation areas and natural resources.
In crafting the plans, communities must solicit and allow public feedback and charge its planning board or a special committee with drafting the plan. Once complete, the plan must be made public, including being posted on the Internet.
The law allows municipalities to adopt a 12-month moratorium to allow time to revise zoning to conform to a newly adopted plan.