GLOCESTER 2040 Comprehensive Community Plan Amendment 21-01 Town Council Adoption – May 20, 2021 Effective Date – May 20, 2021 Amendment 20-01 Town Council and Planning Board Adoption – October 1, 2020 Effective Date – October 1, 2020 State Approval – December 28, 2020 Effective Date – May 3, 2018 State Approval – July 25, 2018 Town Council Adoption – April 19, 2018 Planning Board Adoption – February 12, 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PLANNING BOARD TOWN COUNCIL George R. Charette, Chair George O. Steere, Jr., President David Calderara, Vice-Chair Edward C. Burlingame, Vice President Michael DeGrange Patricia Henry Douglas Folcarelli William E. Reichert Lynne Furney Walter M.O. Steere, III Russell K. Gross Janine Pitocco TOWN PLANNER TOWN CLERK Karen G. Scott Jean M. Fecteau GIS ANALYST TOWN HISTORIAN Heidi Blank Edna M. Kent 2018 Plan language completed by Karen Scott, Town Planner. Mapping completed by Heidi Blank, GIS Analyst. Additional contributors include: Tim Ianacio, Former Town Planner for initial drafting efforts and Shamoon Planning LLC. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTERS 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………. 7 a. Development History b. The Statewide Setting c. Plan Background 2. A Twenty Year Vision for Glocester……………………………………….. 11 3. Goals, Policies, Actions & Implementation Program………………. 12 a. Land Use b. Natural, Historic and Cultural Resources c. Open Space and Recreational Resources d. Transportation e. Services and Facilities f. Economic Development g. Natural Hazards and Climate Change h. Housing 4. Demographic Profile……………………………………………………………… 27 5. Land Use……………………………………………………………………………….. 30 a. Existing Conditions b. Existing Zoning c. Land Capacity Analysis d. Future Land Use 6. Natural, Historic and Cultural Resources……………………………….. 40 a. Natural Resources i. Water Resources ii. Surface Water iii. Groundwater iv. Wetlands v. Floodplains vi. Habitat Assets vii. Shady Oak Brook Tree Farm viii. Threats to Natural Resources b. Historic and Cultural Resources i. National Register of Historic Places ii. Chepachet Village Historic District 2 iii. Archeological Resources iv. John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor v. Historical Cemeteries vi. Threats to Historic and Cultural Resources 7. Open Space and Recreational Resources…………………………………………. 53 a. Existing Resources b. Analysis of Need c. Suitability of and Access to Recreational Resources 8. Transportation………………………………………………………………………………… 58 a. Existing Transportation Network b. Public Transportation c. Future Transportation Needs 9. Services and Facilities……………………………………………………………………… 60 a. Educational Facilities b. Public Safety Facilities and Services i. Police ii. Office of Animal Control iii. Fire Districts iv. Emergency Management Agency c. Other Town Facilities and Services i. Town Hall ii. Libraries iii. Public Works iv. Stormwater v. Solid Waste vi. Senior Center vii. Human Services viii. Sewer ix. Water x. Energy 10. Economic Development………………………………………………………………….. 71 a. Existing Conditions b. Chepachet Village c. Agriculture d. Home Occupations e. Glocester Business Association 3 11. Natural Hazards and Climate Change………………………………………………. 81 a. Priority Natural Hazards and Climate Change Trends i. Hurricanes ii. Heavy Rains and Riverine Flooding iii. Nor’easters and Snowstorms iv. High Wind Events v. Significant Lightning Storms vi. Dam Breaches b. Vulnerability 12. Housing…………………………………………………………………………………………… 85 a. Existing Conditions b. Housing Affordability i. Mandated Low and Moderate Income Housing Threshold ii. Existing and Future Housing Need iii. Meeting the Mandated Low and Moderate Income Housing Threshold 13. Maps……………………………………………………………………………………….……… 98 4 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 – Population and Projections, 1960 – 2040 Table 2 – Population Race, 2015 Table 3 – Population Ethnicity, 2015 Table 4 – Educational Attainment, 2015 Table 5 – Household Income, 2015 Table 6 – Population Age, 2015 Table 7 – Existing Land Use, 2017 Table 8 – Existing Zoning Districts Table 9 – Land Capacity Analysis Table 10 – Future Land Use Map Inconsistencies Table 11 – Freshwater Quality Classifications Table 12 – Classification of Surface Waterbodies by River Basin Table 13 – National Register of Historic Places Table 14 – Recreational Resources by Use Type Table 15 – Recreational Resources by Ownership Table 16 – Town-Owned Recreational Sites Table 17 – Total School Enrollment Table 18 – Projected School Enrollment Table 19 – Transfer Station - Required Recycling Table 20 – Employment, 2016 Table 21 – Annual Average Labor Force Estimates, 2016 Table 22 – Resident Employment, 2016 Table 23 – Medial Household Income, 1990-2015 Table 24 – Farm Inventory Table 25 – Annual Construction, New Homes, 2006-2015 Table 26 – Median Home Sale Prices, 2000-2015 Table 27 – Median Rental Price, 2005-2014 Table 28 – Housing Price and Income, 2000-2015 Table 29 – Data Point Calculations for Assessing Progress toward the 10% Threshold Table 30 – Strategies for Meeting the 10% Mandated LMI Threshold, 2017-2040 5 LIST OF MAPS Map 1 – Existing Land Use Map 2 – Existing Zoning Map 3 – Future Land Use Map 4 – Land Use Inconsistencies Map 5 – Natural Resources Map 6 – Water Resources Map 7 – Watersheds Map 8 – Wetlands Map 9 - Flood Hazard Areas Map 10 – Habitat Assets Map 11 - Historic and Cultural Resources Map 12 – Recreation Resources Map 13 – Transportation Map 14 – Community Facilities Map 15 - Agriculture 6 INTRODUCTION A Comprehensive Plan is a document that sets the vision of the community by outlining long range goals and accompanying policies and actions to achieve them. In Rhode Island, Comprehensive Planning is governed by Chapter 45-22.2 (as amended) of the Rhode Island General Laws (RIGL), entitled the “Rhode Island Comprehensive Planning and Land Use Act” (the Act). The Act sets forth the following goals for the comprehensive planning system and process. The goals are intended to guide both State and municipal actions to fulfill the requirements of the Act. The goals are to: 1. To promote orderly growth and development that recognizes the natural characteristics of the land, its suitability for use, the availability of existing and proposed public and/or private services and facilities, and is consistent with available resources and the need to protect public health, including drinking water supply, drinking water safety, and environmental quality. 2. To promote an economic climate which increases quality job opportunities and the overall economic well-being of each municipality and the state. 3. To promote the production and rehabilitation of year-round housing and to preserve government subsidized housing for persons and families of low and moderate income in a manner that: considers local, regional, and statewide needs; that achieves a balance of housing choices for all income levels and age groups, recognizes the affordability of housing as the responsibility of each municipality and the state; takes into account growth management and the need to phase and pace development in areas of rapid growth; and facilitates economic growth in the state. 4. To promote the protection of the natural, historic and cultural resources of each municipality and the state. 5. To promote the preservation of the open space and recreational resources of each municipality and the state. 6. To provide for the use of performance-based standards for development and to encourage the use of innovative development regulations and techniques that promote the development of land suitable for development while protecting our natural, cultural, historical, and recreational resources, and achieving a balanced pattern of land uses. 7. To promote consistency of state actions and programs with municipal comprehensive plans, and provide for review procedures to ensure that state goals and policies are reflected in municipal comprehensive plans and state guide plans. 8. To ensure that adequate and uniform data are available to municipal and state government as the basis for comprehensive planning and land use regulation. 7 9. To ensure that municipal land use regulations and decisions are consistent with the comprehensive plan of the municipality, and to ensure state land use regulations and decisions are consistent with state guide plans. 10. To encourage the involvement of all citizens in the formulation, review, and adoption or amendment of the comprehensive plan. When the General Assembly adopted the Act in 1988, it created a reciprocal system, where State goals and policies are reflected in local plans and local plans have the ability to guide State actions. The Act requires that adopted comprehensive plans be submitted to the Rhode Island Division of Planning for review and that the Division of Planning review adopted comprehensive plans for consistency with the goals and intent of the Act and the State Guide Plan. The State Guide Plan is Rhode Island’s centralized and integrated long-range planning document. The State Guide Plan is not a single document but a collection of plans that have been adopted over many years. It comprises many separately published elements covering a range of topics. Prior to the Act, the State delegated land use authority to the municipalities but there was no formal connection between the State Guide Plan and municipal comprehensive plans. The reciprocal comprehensive planning system: • Maintains municipal discretion in land use decision-making; • Requires local comprehensive plans to meet certain minimum standards; • Requires zoning to conform to the