MIDDLETOWN -- Looking to encourage the creation of affordable housing, the town is streamlining the permitting process for housing developers who include low-to moderate-income housing in their development plans.
Approved by the Town Council in the first of two public hearings last night, the ordinance amendment allows developers whose plans include at least 25 percent affordable housing to apply for a comprehensive permit from the Planning Board that would encompass all necessary reviews from local boards.
Nonprofit and for-profit developers satisfying the affordable housing requirement may apply for the permit under the amendment, said Town Planner Ronald Wolanski.
Normally, development projects require months of meetings with a number of officials groups that may include the Planning Board, the Zoning Board, the Conservation Commission, or the Roads and Utilities Commission, depending on the project.
"It's all happening in one location instead of going to the different boards," he said.
The streamlined review process was adopted by the state in its Low and Moderate Income Housing Act, but municipalities have to approve the amendments specific to their zoning ordinances and development plans.
Anything requiring a zoning amendment would still require approval from the Town Council after public hearings, Wolanski said.
As required under the state's affordable housing act, municipalities must have 10 percent of their housing meet the state's definition of "affordable" -- subsidized and income restricted -- in 20 years time.
With an 8.9 percent affordable housing rate, the town has one of the highest rates in the state, and is 62 units shy of the state mandate, officials said.
Future affordable housing projects include a former hotel on West Main Road being renovated into 10 special needs units, building eight units on Sunset Long Road, and developing 45 to 50 units as part of the Anchorage housing development project.
In other business, the town submitted a list of legislative concerns to the town's General Assembly delegation for review.
The 21-item list, which includes matters affecting municipalities statewide as well as those specific to Middletown, was given to state Representatives Bruce J. Long, R-Middletown, and J. Russell Jackson, D-Middletown and Newport, as well as state Senator June R. Gibbs, R-Middletown, in a workshop meeting last night.
"We're going to address as much as we can," Long said.
Proposals include a recalculation of trash tipping fees for municipalities based on recycling rates, revising the state's allowable soil arsenic levels to bring them into conformity with permissible levels in Massachusetts and Connecticut, securing reimbursement for police expenses incurred after the Navy backed out of policing the Anchorage property, establishing a capital reserve fund for the town sewer fund, and criminalizing drivers' refusals to take chemical breath tests.
Legislative items submitted by the School Committee include developing a funding formula to determine school aid, defining the scope of management rights in bargaining, and establishing a state financed career technical facility in southern Rhode Island.
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