Title 45
Towns and Cities

Chapter 24
Zoning Ordinances

§ 45-24-38. General provisions — Substandard lots of record.

(a) Any city or town adopting or amending a zoning ordinance under this chapter shall regulate the development of any single substandard lot of record or contiguous lots of record at the effective date of adoption or amendment of the zoning ordinance.

(b) Notwithstanding the failure of that lot or those lots to meet the dimensional and/or quantitative requirements, and/or road frontage or other access requirements, applicable in the district as stated in the ordinance, a substandard lot of record shall not be required to seek any zoning relief based solely on the failure to meet minimum requirements for lot size, lot frontage, lot width, or lot depth of the district in which such lot is located. For any structure proposed under this section on a substandard lot of record, the following dimensional regulations shall apply:

(1) Minimum building setbacks, lot frontage, and lot width requirements for a lot that is nonconforming in area shall be reduced by the same proportion that the area of such substandard lot meets the minimum lot area of the district in which the lot is located. By way of example, if the lot area of a substandard lot only meets forty percent (40%) of the minimum lot area required in the district in which it is located, the setbacks, lot frontage, and lot width shall each be reduced to forty percent (40%) of the requirements for those dimensional standards in the same district. However, to the extent the city or town has a zoning district in which the lot would be conforming as to size, the city or town may require compliance with the building setback, lot frontage, and lot width requirements for said zoning district if such requirement is in the local zoning ordinance.

(2) Maximum lot building coverage for lots that are nonconforming in area shall be increased by the inverse proportion that the area of such substandard lot meets the minimum area requirements in the district in which the lot is located. By way of example, if the lot area of a substandard lot only meets forty percent (40%) of the required minimum lot area, the maximum lot building coverage is allowed to increase by sixty percent (60%) over the maximum permitted lot building coverage in that district.

All proposals exceeding such reduced requirement shall proceed with a modification request under § 45-24-46 or a dimensional variance request under § 45-24-41, whichever is applicable.

(c) Except as set forth otherwise in this chapter and in chapter 23 of this title, provisions may be made for the merger of contiguous unimproved, or improved and unimproved, substandard lots of record in the same ownership to create dimensionally conforming lots or to reduce the extent of dimensional nonconformance. The ordinance shall specify the standards, on a district by district basis, which determine the mergers. The standards shall include, but are not to be limited to, the availability of infrastructure, the character of the neighborhood, and the consistency with the comprehensive plan. The merger of lots shall not be required when the substandard lot of record has an area equal to or greater than the area of fifty percent (50%) of the lots within two hundred feet (200′) of the subject lot, as confirmed by a compilation plan signed by a professional land surveyor as such term is defined by the rules and regulations for professional land surveying.