§ 45-24-37 - General provisions – Permitted uses.
SECTION 45-24-37
§ 45-24-37 General provisions –Permitted uses. – (a) The zoning ordinance provides a listing of all land uses and/or performancestandards for uses which are permitted within the zoning use districts of themunicipality.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, thefollowing uses are permitted uses within all residential zoning use districtsof a municipality and all industrial and commercial zoning use districts exceptwhere residential use is prohibited for public health or safety reasons:
(1) Households;
(2) Community residences;
(3) Family day care homes.
(c) Any time a building or other structure used forresidential purposes, or a portion of a building containing residential units,is rendered uninhabitable by virtue of a casualty such as fire or flood, theowner of the property is allowed to park, temporarily, mobile and manufacturedhome or homes, as the need may be, elsewhere upon the land, for use andoccupancy of the former occupants for a period of up to twelve (12) months, oruntil the building or structure is rehabilitated and otherwise made fit foroccupancy. The property owner, or a properly designated agent of the owner, isonly allowed to cause the mobile and manufactured home or homes to remaintemporarily upon the land by making timely application to the local buildingofficial for the purposes of obtaining the necessary permits to repair orrebuild the structure.
(d) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter,appropriate access for people with disabilities to residential structures isallowed as a reasonable accommodation for any person(s) residing, or intendingto reside, in the residential structure.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, anaccessory family dwelling unit in an owner-occupied, single-family residenceshall be permitted as a reasonable accommodation only for family members withdisabilities. The appearance of the structure shall remain that of asingle-family residence and there shall be an internal means of egress betweenthe principal unit and the accessory family dwelling unit. If possible, noadditional exterior entrances should be added. Where additional entrance isrequired, placement should generally be in the rear or side of the structure.When the structure is serviced by an individual sewage disposal system, theapplicant shall have the existing or any new system approved by the departmentof environmental management. The zoning enforcement officer shall require thata declaration of the accessory family dwelling unit for the family member ormembers and its restrictions be recorded in the land evidence records and filedwith the zoning enforcement officer and the building official. Once the familymember or members with disabilities no longer resides in the premises on apermanent basis, or the title is transferred, the property owner shall notifythe zoning official in writing, and the accessory family dwelling unit shall nolonger be permitted, unless there is a subsequent, valid application.
(f) When used in this section the terms "people withdisabilities" or "member or members with disabilities" means a person(s) whohas a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or moremajor life activities, as defined in § 34-37-3 of the general laws.