Title 45
Towns and Cities

Chapter 33.2
Municipal Tax Increment Financing Act

§ 45-33.2-4. Adoption of project plan.

The legislative body of any city or town may adopt a project plan if a finding is made to the effect that:

(1) With respect to any portion of the project: (i) providing municipal or other public facilities or land therefor, under the definition of “project” under § 45-33.2-3(3)(i) or (ii); or (ii) constituting a project under § 45-33.2-3(3), that the facilities, programs and other assistance are needed and that the financing of that portion of the project in accordance with the plan is in the public interest; or

(2) With respect to any portion of the project providing land for housing for persons or families of low income, that there is not within the city or town an adequate supply of low rent housing for persons or families of low income generally, or for veterans, or for persons who are elderly or disabled, as the case may be, available for rents they can afford to pay, that the rents which those persons or families can afford to pay would not warrant private enterprise providing housing for them, and that the financing of that portion of the project in accordance with the plan is in the public interest; or

(3) With respect to any portion of the project providing financing under § 45-33.2-5(13), but only to the extent not described in subdivision (1), that unemployment or the threat of unemployment exists in the city or town or that security against future unemployment is required, that the project is needed, that it will provide employment or security against loss of employment, including the approximate number of new jobs that should be created or preserved, construction and nonconstruction, their approximate wage rates, what types of fringe benefits such as healthcare or retirement benefits there will be, and the projected increase in personal income taxes to the state of Rhode Island, all having a reasonable relationship to the probable cost of acquiring, establishing, improving, or rehabilitating the facilities in which the employment is to be provided or maintained, and that the financing of that portion of the project in accordance with the plan is in the public interest; or

(4) With respect to any portion of the project providing land for industrial or commercial development or revitalization, but only to the extent not described in subdivision (1):

(i) That the requirements of subdivision (3) are satisfied; or

(ii) That the requirements of subdivision (5) are satisfied; or

(5) With respect to any other portion of the project:

(i) That it is located in a “blighted and substandard area” as that term is defined in § 45-31-8(3), or that the project is needed to arrest blight or decay in the city or town and to prevent the area from becoming a blighted and substandard area;

(ii) That the project area would not by private enterprise alone, and without either governmental subsidy or the exercise of governmental powers, be developed or revitalized in a manner so as to prevent, arrest, or alleviate the spread of blight or decay;

(iii) That the plan will afford maximum opportunity to privately financed development or revitalization consistent with the sound needs of the city or town as a whole;

(iv) That the financing of that portion of the project in accordance with the plan is in the public interest; and

(v) Approximately how many new jobs, construction and nonconstruction, the plan will create, their approximate wage rates, whether the expected new jobs will provide fringe benefits such as healthcare and retirement benefits, and the projected impact of personal income taxes to the state of Rhode Island.

(6) No project shall be undertaken pursuant to this chapter until a project plan has been adopted as provided in this section.

(7) A city or town may amend a project plan by submitting the full project plan, as amended, to its legislative body, which must then make a finding with respect to the amended project plan which is identical to the required finding for the original adoption of the project plan; provided, that no amendment is violative of or inconsistent with any prior security arrangement entered into pursuant to the original project plan.