Zoning board grants underground‑utilities variance and asks City Council to review development‑standards ordinance

The Newport Zoning Board unanimously approved a variance that waives the ordinance requirement to place upgraded electrical service underground for 7–9 Dearborn Street, finding the cost and practical difficulty of trenching under the street and sidewalk created an unnecessary hardship for the owners.

Attorney Jay Russell Jackson and applicant representatives explained crews would have had to trench across Dearborn Street, rip up sidewalks and risk encountering other utilities, producing substantial cost and practical barriers. Staff and the board agreed the undergrounding requirement can impose significant expense on small infill projects; the petitioner’s request was granted subject to the usual condition that the work be started and substantially completed within 12 months and public‑notice invoices be paid before recording.

Separately, board members directed staff to send a formal memo to the Newport City Council asking the council to review Chapter 17.1 of the zoning code (development standards) to consider whether the undergrounding requirement should be modified or made more flexible in certain circumstances. The motion to send the memo carried unanimously; board members said the change could help avoid repetitive variance petitions for small‑scale upgrades where burying utilities is impractical or disproportionately costly.

The board indicated it expects to return similar undergrounding variance petitions in coming months and wanted council guidance on whether the code’s requirement needs refinement.