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Council advances ADU ordinance to comply with state law, debates parking and enforcement
Summary
The council held a lengthy public hearing on a state‑required accessory dwelling unit (ADU) ordinance, reviewed staff recommendations to cap ADU sizes and not require extra parking, and debated potential parking impacts and enforcement against short‑term‑rental misuse.
The council held a detailed hearing on an ordinance to implement the state’s new ADU requirements and moved the measure forward after debate over parking requirements and enforcement.
Nick Armore, the city zoning officer, summarized the state law and the staff recommendation: municipalities must allow ADUs in certain situations and the city proposes limiting new construction ADUs to lots of at least 20,000 square feet and capping ADU sizes at 900 square feet for studios/one‑bedroom units and 1,200 square feet for two‑bedroom units (or 60% of the principal building). "The state of Rhode Island did pass, in a state law that requires municipalities to allow accessory dwelling units," Armore said as he walked councilors through allowable municipal discretion.
Staff and the planning board recommended not requiring additional parking for ADUs to avoid creating an implementation barrier; they proposed that if existing parking spaces are removed by a conversion, those spaces must be replaced. Some councilors warned that waiving new parking requirements could worsen congestion in neighborhoods and urged the council to weigh residents’ concerns; others warned that stricter requirements might gut the policy’s intent and leave the city subject to the more permissive state rules.
Councilors also asked how the city will enforce a statutory prohibition on using ADUs as short‑term rentals; Armore pointed to a recently implemented enforcement system that better pinpoints addresses advertising on platforms and can be used to cite violators. The council did not adopt final zoning text at this meeting but advanced the ordinance as the city’s local implementation of the state law.
