President Donald Trump recently took to his Twitter page to announce that there would be “no politics” involved in the review process for the Pebble Mine. But is that true? Today’s blog post will take a look at the Clean Water Act’s Section 404 permit process for the mine, and how the agencies and political interests have reacted to the…
In Rhode Island, each municipality has its own planning board and zoning board to hear and decide upon land use and zoning applications. The zoning boards create zoning ordinances for each city or town, which divide the town into zones based on the uses allowed in each zone. Below, we’ll look at special-use permit applications and explain why a zoning…
In Rhode Island, the Department of Environmental Management oversees the Freshwater Wetlands Program, which aims to protect the state’s freshwater wetlands from overdevelopment, and maintain existing habitat as well as the natural benefits that wetlands provide. In Massachusetts, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) oversees a similar program, which we will highlight in today’s blog post. The Massachusetts Freshwater Wetlands…
Rhode Island has always been a farming state; although many people do not associate it with farming and agricultural work, the state is home to approximately 1,243 farms covering over 69,000 acres, or 10% of the land in the state. In addition to manufacturing, tourism, and health services, agriculture makes up a large part of the state’s economy. When one…
In the latest solar farm land dispute heard by the R.I. Superior Court, Freepoint Solar, LLC (“Freepoint”) appealed a decision of the Town of Richmond Zoning Board of Review (“the ZBR”). The ZBR denied Freepoint a special use permit for construction of a solar farm on property in the town’s R-3 residential zoning district. Today, we’ll explain why the Superior…
Our blog post today will explain what the Right to Farm Act is in RI and how it may be useful in land zoning disputes related to farming activities. For example, we will be discussing an upcoming North Smithfield Zoning Board hearing. The Upcoming Zoning Board Issue Frank Jacques operates a composting business at his Buxton Hollow Farm in North…
What is Zoning Law? Zoning law encompasses all of the regulations, or ordinances, that make up a given city or town’s rules for development in that municipality. These rules regulate the types of structures people and businesses can build, where each can be built, and the restrictions on how they are built. A seasoned legal team can work to help…
The Content of Land Zoning Codes/Ordinances Land zoning codes, also referred to as zoning ordinances or zoning codes of ordinances, contain two elements. First, they contain the language of the various rules a municipality creates to define what uses are allowed within each assigned zoning district. Here are the Town of West Greenwich’s land zoning codes, for example. Second, they…
Today we’ll celebrate the fact that May is National Preservation Month and discuss historic preservation and how zoning maps can allow municipalities and citizens alike to preserve the local history. This celebration was established by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1973 and aims to “[instill] national and community pride, [promote] heritage tourism, and [show] the social and economic…
Today, our blog will talk about various nuisance claims, and give a recent example of one using Rhode Island’s environmental litigation against fossil fuel companies for the consequences of climate change. What Is a Nuisance (legally speaking) in Rhode Island? Under common law, there are two kinds of nuisance claims, though both were mostly related to property law historically. The…