1. Lots shall front on an existing or proposed public street. All lots shall have a minimum frontage as shown in the appropriate zoning category in appendix B.

2. Lots shall not extend through a block to another existing of proposed residential street.

3. Except on those sides bordering a street, lots shall not interior angles greater that two hundred (200) degrees.

4. The proportion of lot depth to lot width shall not exceed the ration of 2.5 to 1.

5. All side lot lines shall be as near right angles to street right-of-way lines as practicable or radial in arrangement when the street right-of-way line is a curve.

(A) Public design and improvement standards for development are specified in Appendix C "Specifications For Construction Of Required Improvements To The Land", attached hereto and made apart hereof by reference.

(A) Any developer of and land development project or subdivision involving the construction of construction features or land improvements which are anticipated to be conveyed upon completion to the Town may (i) construction any and all public right-of-way and other improvement and convey such improvements after inspected and approved, after the expiration of a guarantee period involving a period of no less than six (6) months which will result in the Town's acceptance of such improvements upon final inspection and recommendation by the department of public works, and other town agencies, as appropriate; (ii) provide an improvement guarantee, or (3) a combination thereof.

Where improvements are construction without a financial guarantee, the work is to be completed prior to final approval. All construction shall be inspected and approved under the direction of the administrative officer with a worthiness period of no less than six (6) months intervening between the time the improvements are declared acceptable by the town and the improvements conveyed to the town. During all such period of time no sale, lease or other conveyance of land or negotiations to sell, lease of otherwise convey the property or any portion thereof, may be engaged in by the developer or subdivider. Similarly, the subdivider or developer, nor his agents, representatives or assignees, nor any other person, may not apply for any form of building permit; nor may the building official issue and such permits for improvements to the land beyond those required to construct and complete the public improvements thereupon which were approved by the planning board.

(B) Where the developer or subdivider wishes to construct the public improvements simultaneous with the sale, lease or conveyance, and/or negotiations to sell, lease or otherwise convey portions of the development or subdivision, an improvement guarantee must be posted with the administrative officer, as follows:

(1) The subdivider or developer must post a bond or bank certified check sufficient to cover the full cost of the improvements required by the planning board In compliance with these regulations and any additional required improvements to the land. The amount of such bond shall be approved by the planning board, upon the administrative officer in consultation with the department of public works and appropriate others; and shall be subject to the following conditions and requirements:

(a) Form of guarantee: The developer or subdivider shall submit to the administrative officer a performance bond or bank certified check payable to the Town of Cumberland, Rhode Island.

(b) Conditions:

(i) The town solicitor shall establish the reliability of the person, persons or bonding company or other financial institution finishing surety or sureties. Having firmly established the foregoing condition, it shall be unnecessary to re-establish the fact on subsequent surety or sureties furnished by the same person, persons on bonding company or other financial institution.

(ii) Acceptance of a performance bond or bank certified check by the administrative officer and the recording of such action in the minutes of the planning board meeting shall constitute a binding agreement between the principal, the surety and the Town of Cumberland, Rhode Island. Said bond or bank certified check shall be retained for safekeeping by the finance director of the Town of Cumberland.

(c) Duration and release of guarantee.

(1) The terms of duration of a performance bond or bank certified check shall begin with the date of acceptance by the planning board.

(ii) The performance bond or bank certified check shall be conditioned on the faithful completion or construction and installation of remaining improvements to the land within a period of one (1) year as certified by the town engineer. Any performance bond have not have an expiration date and shall only be returned after a one (1) year after completion of the improvements in order to ascertain the durability/acceptability of the improvements.

(iii) One (1) year after completion of all required improvements to the land, the subdivider or developer may apply to the planning board at a regularly scheduled meeting for release of the performance bond or bank certified check. This application shall be accompanied by a certificate from the town engineer that all improvements have been installed, constructed and completed with the specified time limit and in accordance with the specifications contained in these regulations. Said certificate will also contain a statement containing the condition of said improvements at that time.

(iv) Upon receipt of the application for the release of the bond or bank certified check with the accompanying certification by the town engineer, the planning board will review the subdivision and all relevant data. If the plat is found to be complete the board will forward a letter to the town council, containing a copy of the application for release of the performance bond or bank certified check and the certification by the town engineer, requesting the town council to release the bond or check and accept any public streets shown on the plat into the town functional highway system.

(d) Extension of time: If, due to circumstances beyond the control of the subdivider or developer, the construction of required improvements to the land cannot be completion in the prescribed time, the planning board may grant a one-time extension for a period not-to-exceed ninety (90) days. During such time, the guarantees shall remain in full force and effect.

(e) Default.

(i) Conditions of default. The town of Cumberland shall hold the subdivider or developer and surety in default of guarantee should the subdivider or developer:

(1) Fail to meet all specifications for construction of required improvements to the land;

(2) Fail to properly notify the town engineer of the beginning and completion of all phases of construction of required improvements to the land;

(3) Fail to protect existing improvements and/or properly repair such improvements should damage occur during construction of the subdivision or land development project;

(4) Fail to clean debris from the site and adjacent areas upon completion of construction within the project;

(5) Fail to complete required improvements to the land within the time prescribed in these regulations;

(6) Fail to correct improvement deficiencies evidence within one (1) year of completion of said improvements;

(7) Fail to provide the town engineer with "as-built" plans of the improvements.

(ii) Certificate of default.

(1) Should any of the conditions cited in (1) above occur, the town engineer shall certify in writing to the administrative officer that the subdivider or developer has not complied with the requirements of these regulations and the plans as approved by the planning board. The town engineer shall further the extent of non-compliance and the conditions thereof.

(2) The planning board shall submit in writing to the town council, its concurrence with or disapproval of the determination of the town engineer.

(iii) Execution of guarantee. The town council may under the provisions of G.L. council 45-23-46(I), execute only that portion of the guarantee which shall be necessary to correct any deficiency for which the subdivider or developer and surety are held in default.

(iv) Payment by surety. Upon certification to the surety by the town council that the subdivider has been held in default of guarantee, the surety shall promptly pay to the Town of Cumberland that portion of the guarantee which shall be necessary to correct the deficiency for which the subdivider or developer and surety are held in default. Should the Town hold a bank certified check from the subdivider or developer, the town council may ordered the bank certified check surrendered for payment of the portion necessary to cover the amount of the default applied to the correction thereof The remainder of the bank certified check thus surrendered shall be retained under a certificate of completion has been finally issued.

(C) Where a subdivider or developer has completed the construction and/or completion of the improvements as shown in Section 13(A) hereinabove and then wishes to proceed with the sale, lease or conveyance of property and/or the negotiation for sale, lease or other conveyance of the property during the guarantee period, the subdivider or development, may invoke the guarantee of improvements provisions of Section 13(B) above. Only upon action may building permits be applied for and issued for construction on such property as has been created or approved.

(D) Whenever a land development or subdivision shall be approved and authorized for construction, it shall be the responsibility of the land developer and/or his agents and assignees to ensure that there shall be minimal adverse impact upon the surrounding properties resulting from the construction of both public and non-public site improvements, including but not limited to, excavation, blasting, noise, dust and erosion control problems. The planning board or in its stead the administrative officer may order remedial action on the part of the property developer, his agents or assignees' and/or seek administrative, regulatory or judicial remedies necessary to require mitigation of such adverse impacts.

The planning board may require, as a condition of approval of a proposed land development or subdivision project, dedication of land to the public, public improvements, payment-in-lieu or construction, or payment to mitigate the impacts of a proposed project. In so doing the planning board shall consider the following:

(1) All required public improvements must reflect the character defined for that neighborhood or district by the Cumberland Comprehensive Community Plan 1991-2010.

(2) The need for all dedications of land to the public and for payment-in-lieu of such dedication must be clearly documented in the Cumberland Comprehensive Community Plan 1991-2010.

(3) No dedication of land to the public or payment-in-lieu of dedication may be required until the need for such are identified and documented by the Town, the land proposed for dedication is determined to be appropriate for the proposed use, and the formulas for calculating a payment-in-lieu of dedication have been established;

(4) All dedications, improvements, or payments-in-lieu thereof, for mitigation of identified negative impacts of proposed projects must meet the above standards. Furthermore, the significant negative impacts of the proposed development on the existing conditions must be clearly documented. The mitigation required as a condition of approval must be related to the significance of the identified impact; and

(5) All payments-in-lieu of dedication or construction to mitigate the impacts of the proposed development shall be kept in restricted accounts and shall only be spent on the mitigation of the identified impacts for which it is required.

(A) The planning board may provide for preliminary and final stages, and for the construction of major land developments and subdivisions, to be divided into reasonable phases.

(B) When considering a phase development project, the planning board shall consider the following:

(1) Approval of the entire site design first as a master plan. Thereafter the development plans may be submitted for preliminary and/or final review and/or approval of phase(s).

(2) Standards and guidelines for determining the physical limits of phases, complete schedules, and guarantees, for allowing progressional to additional phases, for allowing two (2) or more phases to proceed In review or construction simultaneously, for interim public improvements or construction conditions, for changes to master or preliminary plans shall be agreed to prior to any project moving through negotiations between the planning board and the development and/or subdivider as necessitated by local conditions.

(3) The master plan documents shall contain information on the physical limits of the phases, the schedule and sequence of public improvement installation, improvement guarantees, and the work and completion schedules for approvals and construction of the phases.

C) Vesting. The master plan shall remain vested as long as it can be proved, to the satisfaction of the planning board, that work is proceeding on either the approval stages or on the construction of the development as shown in the approved master plan documents. Vesting shall continue to all information shown on the approved master plan documents.

Land development projects filed under the provisions of these regulations shall be considered under the authority of Article 6-2 Planned Development District and Article 6-3) Agricultural Residential Cluster Development of the Cumberland Zoning Ordinance [June 29, 1994, As Amended]. Submissions shall comply with the provisions of these regulations.

The Cumberland Planning Board is empowered pursuant to Article 16 on the Home Rule Charter of the Town of Cumberland, Rhode Island, to develop, enact, amend, repeal or modify, rules and regulations for the review and approval of land development projects and subdivision projects within the Town of Cumberland. In addition, the planning board is designated by the Charter as the local authority charged with the control and approval of land development projects and subdivision projects pursuant to those regulations and acts.

(A) These regulations shall be adopted, repealed, or amended after a public hearing has been held upon the question before the planning board. The planning board shall first give notice of the public hearing by publication of notice in a newspaper of general circulation within the Town of Cumberland at least once each week for three (3) consecutive weeks prior to the date of the hearing, which may include the week in which the hearing is to held. At this hearing opportunity shall be given to all persons interested to be heard upon the matter of the proposed regulations. Written notice, which may be a copy of the newspaper notice, shall be mailed to the associate director of the division of planning of the Rhode Island Department of Administration at least two (2) weeks prior to the hearing. The newspaper notice shall be published as a display advertisement, using a type size at least as large as the normal type size used by the newspaper in its news articles, and shall.

(1) Specify the place of said hearing and the date and time of its commencement.

(2) Indicate that adoption, amendment or repeal of local regulations is under consideration;

(3) Contain a statement of the proposed amendments to the regulations that may be printed once in its entirety, or may summarize or describe the matter under consideration;

(4) Advise those interested where and when a copy of the matter under consideration may be obtained or examined and copied; and

(5) State that the proposal shown therein may be altered or amended prior to the close of the public hearing without further advertising, as a result of further study or because of the views expressed at the public hearing. Any such alterations or amendment must be presented for comment in the course of said hearing.

(B) Notice of the public hearing shall be sent by first class mail to the city or town planning boards of any municipality where there is a public or quasi-public water source, or private water source that is used or is suitable for use as a public water source, located within two thousand feet (2,000) of the Town of Cumberland.

(C) Notice of a public hearing shall be sent to the governing body of any state or municipal water department or agency, special water district, or private water company that has riparian rights to a surface water resource and/or surface watershed that is used or is suitable for use as a public water source located within either the Town of Cumberland or two thousand feet (2,000) feet of the Town, provided, however, that a map survey has been filed with the building official as specific in RIGL section 45-24-53(E).

(D) No defect in the form of any notice under this section shall render any regulations invalid, unless such defect is found to be intentional or misleading.

(E) The above requirements are to be construed as minimum requirements.

(A) Printed copies of these regulations shall be available to the general public and shall be revised to include all amendments. Any appendices shall also be available. A reasonable charge may be made for copies.

(B) Upon publication of these regulations and any amendments hereto, the Town shall send a copy to the Rhode Island department of administration's division of planning and the state law library.

(A) Local administration of these regulations shall be under the director of the administrative officer, who shall report to the planning board.

(B) The director of planning and community development for the Town of Cumberland, Rhode Island [also called the "town planner" shall oversee and coordinate the review, approval, recording and enforcement of the provisions of these regulations.

(C) The administrative officer shall be responsible for coordinating reviews of proposed land development projects and subdivisions with adjacent municipalities as is necessary to be consistent with applicable federal state and local laws and as directed by the planning board.

(D) Enforcement of the local regulations shall be under the direction of the administrative officer. The administrator officer shall be responsible for coordinating the enforcement efforts of the zoning enforcement officer, the building official, planning department staff, the town engineer, the department of planning works and other local officials responsible for the enforcement or carrying out of the discrete elements of the regulations.

The zoning board of review of the Town of Cumberland shall serve as the board of appeals to hear appeals of decisions of the planning board or the administrative officer on matters of review and approval of land development and subdivision projects.

A fee schedule is hereby established in Appendix D. attached hereto and made a part hereof by reference. The planning board may from time to time amend or otherwise alter such fee schedule by amendment to these regulations. The administrative office shall cause such fee schedule to be published and disseminated as appropriate.

(A) Any person, firm, corporation or association who is the owner of land within the Town of Cumberland, whether in a land development project or subdivision, who shall transfer, sell or negotiate to sell any land by reference to or exhibition of or by any use of plat of such land development or subdivision project before such plat has been approved by the administrative officer or planning board, as appropriate, or who shall transfer, sell or negotiate to sell any land in violation of this ordinance shall be subject to a fine of one hundred dollars ($100.00) for each lot transferred, sold or negotiated for sale in violation hereof and the description of such lots or property by metes and bounds in the instrument of transfer shall not exempt the transfer from the provision hereof.

The Town of Cumberland may petition may petition the superior court for the County of Providence to enjoin any transfer or sale as set forth in the preceding paragraph.

(B) Avoidance of unlawful sale. Recovery of Damages. Any sale of land subdivided in violation of the provisions of these regulations shall be violable at the option of the purchaser thereof and shall subject the seller thereof to the forfeiture of any and all consideration received of pledged therefor together with any damages sustained by such purchaser, who may maintain an action of the case, to recover any amount due him under the provisions of this section.

(A) All administrative, minor and major developments applications shall address each of the general purposes started in section 1 hereof. In approving such development projects, the planning board, or the board of appeals if on appeal, shall make positive findings of the following standards, as part of the proposed project record prior to such approval being granted:

(1) The proposed development is consistent with the Cumberland Comprehensive Community Plan 1991-2010 and/or has satisfactorily addressed the issues where there may be inconsistencies;

(2) The proposed development is in compliance with the standards and provisions of the Cumberland Zoning Ordinance;

(3) There will be no significant negative environmental impacts from the proposed development as shown on the final plan, with all required conditions of approval.

(4) Subdivisions, as proposed, will not result in the creation of individual lots with such physical constraints to development that building on those lots according to pertinent regulations and building standards would be impracticable. (see definition of Building lot). Lots with such physical constraints to development may be created only if identified as permanent open space or permanently reserved for a public purpose on the approval, recorded plans; and

(5) All purpose land developments and all subdivision lots shall have adequate and permanent physical access to a public street. Lot frontage on a public street without physical access shall not be considered compliance with this requirement.

(A) Zoning Board

(1) Where an applicant required both a variance from the zoning ordinance and planning board approval, the applicant shall first obtain an advisory recommendation from the planning board, as well as conditional planning board approval for the first approval stage for the proposed project, which may be simultaneous, then obtain conditional zoning board relief, then return to the planning board for subsequent required approval(s).

(2) Where an applicant required both a special-use permit under the zoning ordinance and planning board approval. the applicant shall first obtain an advisory recommendation from the planning board, as well as conditional planning board approval for the first approval stage for the proposed project, which may be simultaneous, then obtain a conditional special-use permit from the return to the planning board.

(B) Town Council. Where an applicant required both planning board approval and town council approval for a zoning ordinance or zoning map change, the applicant shall first obtain an advisory recommendation for the zone change from the planning board, as well as conditional planning board approval for the first approval stage for the proposed project, which may be simultaneous, then obtain a conditional zoning change from the council, and then return to the planning board.

(A) Waiver of development plan approval.

(1) The planning board may waive requirements for development plan approval where there is a change in use or occupancy and no extensive construction of improvements is sought. The waiver may be granted only by a decision by the planning board finding that the use will not affect existing drainage, circulation, relationship of buildings to each other, landscaping, buffering, lighting and other considerations of development plan approval, and that the existing facilities do not require upgrading or additional site improvements.

(2) The application for a waiver of development plan approval review shall include documentation, as required by the planning board, on prior use of the site, the proposed use, and its impact.

(B) Waiver and/or modification of requirements. The planning board shall have the power to grant waivers and/or modifications from the requirements for land development and subdivision approval as may be reasonable and within the general purposes and intents of the provisions of the regulations. The only grounds for such waivers and/or modifications shall be where the literal enforcement of on (1) or more provisions of the regulations is impracticable and will exact undue hardship because of peculiar conditions pertaining to the land in question or where such waiver and/or modification is in the bets interest of good planning practices and/or design as evidenced by consistency with the Cumberland Comprehensive Community Plan 1991-2010 and the Cumberland Zoning Ordinance.

(C) Whenever reinstatement of a development application occurs the original deadline for each step as outlined in these regulations shall apply to the stage of approval under reconsideration or modification.

(D) Decision. The planning board shall approve, approve with conditions, or deny the request for either a waiver or modification as described in subsection (A) and (B) above, according to the requirements of section 27 hereinbelow.