The Town of New Shoreham has posted a set of proposed amendments to its zoning ordinance, rewriting definitions, district rules and permitting procedures to match changes state lawmakers made to Rhode Island's land-use statutes.
The proposal was published to the town's website on Aug. 4 in a public notice listing the sections in play. It is a proposal, not a final action: the notice indicates the Town Council will consider the amendments, and no hearing or vote date appeared in the posting.
For Block Island property owners, the practical question is which parts of the land-use process change. The answer, based on the notice, is most of it.
Local sponsorAffordable photography lessons in Newport, Jamestown, or your town.E.L. Photo RIThe amendments would revise five definitions in Article 2, Section 202 — "development plan review," "land development project," "secondary dwelling development," "site plan" and "special use." Definitions are not housekeeping. They determine which review track an application lands on, which board hears it, and how long the process takes.
Article 3 changes cover Sections 319, 321 and 322, which govern the Planned Development, Public Education, Public Utility and Medical Center zones. Article 4 amendments run from Section 403 through Section 426, the sections setting standards for special use permits. Those sections address secondary dwelling development, multi-family housing, affordable housing, large residential structures, restaurants, mixed commercial and residential use, waterfront uses, parking, utilities, light assembly and power generators. A special use permit is a discretionary approval: a use the ordinance allows in a district only if a board finds it meets specific conditions.
Article 5 performance standards at Sections 502, 505, 508, 513 and 517 are also on the list, along with Article 7 procedures — Section 702 on general procedures, Section 703 on special use permits and Section 704 on development plan review.
Under the ordinance, "secondary dwelling development" is defined as a multi-family land use in which two unattached dwelling units sit on a single lot. That is a different animal from an accessory dwelling unit, the smaller unit state law permits by right in certain circumstances, and the two should not be read as interchangeable.
How the island got here
The General Assembly passed a package of housing and land-use bills in 2023, with most provisions taking effect Jan. 1, 2024. Among them, H6086 rewrote notice and advertising requirements for public hearings on permit applications and on the adoption or amendment of zoning ordinances, and H6059 changed the standards for special use permits and variances. Further amendments followed in the 2024 and 2025 sessions. H 5794Baa/S1086Aaa, effective June 27, 2025, altered planning board powers and duties, subdivision and land development review, certification of completeness, public notice, appeals and administrative approvals, according to RIHousing's municipal compliance guidance.
Every Rhode Island municipality has to reconcile its local code with those statutes. New Shoreham started in 2024. A Planning Board agenda for April 10, 2024 lists amendments to the zoning ordinance and the land development and subdivision regulations for compliance with state law, with the engineering and planning firm Weston & Sampson assisting and the board tasked with finding the changes consistent with the town's comprehensive plan.
The Block Island Times reported in October 2024 that the town's land use attorney, Kerin Browning, had prepared an 18-page summary of the state legislative changes, and that many of them concern the powers and duties of the Planning and Zoning boards.
The comprehensive plan the amendments must square with is the 2016 update, adopted by the Town Council in November 2016 and approved by the state in March 2017.
What this does and does not do
Rewriting a definition or a permit standard does not build anything. Applications still go before the Planning Board or Zoning Board, and on an island of roughly 1,410 year-round residents across 9.73 square miles, wastewater and water capacity remain separate constraints on what any approval can support. The town's own ordinance ties household occupancy limits to the design capacity of household sewage systems.
Whether New Shoreham's proposed standards simply meet the state minimums or go further in places is not spelled out in the notice.
The full list of proposed amendments is posted on the town website. Residents who want to weigh in should watch the Town Council and Planning Board agendas on ClerkBase for a hearing date, since the notice period and advertising rules the state changed in 2024 govern how much warning the public gets.