01:00 AM EDT on Tuesday, July 5, 2005

Communities that didn't complete their affordable-housing plans on time are getting a 90-day extension.

Instead of June 30, they now have until Sept. 30 to win state approval of the plans, which are supposed to boost affordable-housing production while giving communities more control over how it looks and where it is built.

The extension means that for-profit developers who have been waiting more than a year to file applications under the state's fast-track affordable-housing law will have to wait another three months.

Twenty-nine communities were supposed to have state-approved plans by June 30 but as of yesterday, just 14 had met the goal, said Derry Riding, a state planner.

Communities that have state-approved plans can limit the number of units in fast-track, for-profit affordable-housing proposals to 1 percent of the existing housing stock. Communities that don't have state-approved plans by Sept. 30 won't have that option.

The towns with approved plans are Bristol, Burrillville, Cumberland, Johnston, Lincoln, Little Compton, Middletown, New Shoreham, North Kingstown, North Smithfield, Portsmouth, Smithfield, South Kingstown and Westerly, Riding said.

Governor Carcieri signed the bill that grants the extension on Thursday. The bill was sponsored Rep. Brian Patrick Kennedy, D-Hopkinton, and Sen. John J. Tassoni, D-Smithfield.