Narragansett council hears zoning updates to conform to 2024 state law; ADU, basement and FAR rules clarified

Planning staff and the planning board presented a package of zoning ordinance amendments on Feb. 18 designed to bring Narragansettlocal law into alignment with multiple 2024 changes made by the Rhode Island General Assembly.

Planning Director Jill Sabo and Planning Board Chairman Mark Brady told the Town Council the changes are largely ministerial updates required by state law but include local provisions that the town can set, most notably how accessory dwelling units (ADUs) will be regulated here.

Sabo said the state requires new definitions and sizing limits. "The studio/one-bedroom ADU shall be allowed at no greater than 900 square feet or 60% of the main dwelling, whichever is less," she said. "A two-bedroom ADU shall be no greater than 1,200 square feet or 60%, whichever is less. The ADU shall not contain more than two bedrooms and one additional off-street parking is required." She also said ADUs cannot be rented for fewer than 30 days under state law.

The planning board recommended adopting the state's new definitions for "basement" and related terms; Sabo explained the state removed basements from the floor-area-ratio (FAR) calculation and the town's ordinance needed matching language. "This is the state law," Sabo said when councilors asked whether the change was a local workaround.

Brady told the council he and the planning board had faced intense public criticism in recent weeks and emphasized that the board "does not make our own rules up; we follow the letter of state law." He said the board had also recommended removing an outdated local provision on "affordable accessory dwelling units" from the main table because the state now sets ADU parameters; the planning board left a reserved section in the ordinance so the town can later add municipal incentives.

Councilors pressed staff on whether the town could create incentives or subsidies to encourage truly affordable ADUs rather than market-rate ADUs. Councilor Durkin repeatedly raised the point that prior municipal rules had allowed affordable ADU incentives and that losing those local tools might make it harder to produce permanently affordable units. Sabo and Brady said the town must comply now with the state statute and that the planning board can draft municipal subsidy language for the council to consider later.

The package also incorporates state changes on manufactured-home definitions, how "legally created substandard lots of record" are handled, and language to allow variances and special-use permits to be applied for together without triggering the higher "use variance" standard.

The hearing generated detailed technical questions about the distinction between "basement" and "cellar/seller" definitions and when below-grade space counts toward FAR; Sabo said the changes were intended to reconcile state definitions while keeping town floodplain/FEMA rules intact.

At the end of the public hearing, Council President and members moved to continue the matter to a later date so staff and solicitors could provide follow-up clarifications on the basement/cellar wording and to give the planning board time to draft any proposed municipal incentives for affordable ADUs. The council voted to continue the hearing to April 21, 2025.

What happens next: the planning board will prepare any municipal-subsidy language and clarify the cellar/basement definitions for the council; the council will take the ordinance through subsequent readings as required by local process.