Harrisville adopts housing affordability overlay, replacing cluster development ordinance

HARRISVILLE — The Harrisville City Council on Monday voted to adopt Ordinance 562, a housing affordability overlay designed to replace the city’s existing cluster development ordinance and steer how new single‑family developments achieve moderately priced homes. The council approved the ordinance by roll call after staff and council negotiated changes including a minimum 15‑foot front setback and a reduced share of target‑priced homes.

City staff presented the ordinance as a tool to meet new state moderate‑income housing requirements under recent legislation and to provide developers clearer, uniform design standards. Sarah, the staff planner who presented the draft, said the overlay "repeal[s] and replace[s] the cluster subdivision ordinance" and is intended for new construction only, not to change existing homeowners’ property rights.

Key elements of the ordinance include a minimum project area of five acres, a target pricing requirement intended so that households at about 120% of the county median income can afford the homes, minimum lot sizes (staff recommended 4,000 square feet), and design standards for setbacks and garage placement. The council discussed limiting the number of owner‑restricted units to 50% of a development to balance feasibility for builders with a community mix of market‑rate and target‑priced homes.

The ordinance requires a 20‑year deed restriction on target‑priced homes that mandates owner occupancy for that period; staff said that restriction "would be 20 years, and that means owner occupied for that period of time for those target priced homes" and acknowledged enforcement questions remain because the state has not provided a uniform enforcement mechanism. The ordinance also includes a first right offer window for local and essential workers and first‑time homebuyers before units are offered more broadly.

Councilmembers pressed staff on technical items — including whether rear or alley garages and associated setback reductions would permit smaller front yards and how engineering constraints and site‑distance rules might reduce density parcel‑by‑parcel. Staff emphasized that overlay application would still require planning commission review and a development agreement and that the overlay does not automatically give developers the right to build without council approval.

The council adopted the ordinance with an amendment to set the minimum public‑street front setback to 15 feet (rather than the draft's 12 feet). The ordinance was approved by roll‑call vote; the mayor declared the motion carried.

The next steps: development proposals seeking the overlay will return to the planning commission and city council for site‑specific review and development agreements. Staff also said it will finalize ordinance language for consistent definitions and prepare implementation guidance concerning deed restrictions and enforcement.