Maximizing Land Use and Increasing Density

Land use and density have become a focus for the state of Rhode Island, along with cities like Providence who have made changes to zoning and proposed land use changes as part of their greater Comprehensive Plan. Providence conducted community surveys to take a reading on the public’s priorities. Building more affordable housing was the resounding top answer. They also found that the population increased more than 7% over the past decade, student and short term housing had an impact on the existing housing stock, and residential vacancy rates are the lowest in decades. Bottom line: we need more housing.

However, national headlines scream that Providence and RI have the lowest rate of home construction in the country. To make matters even more difficult, Zillow predicted Providence to be one of the hottest housing markets in the country for 2024!

Increasing development requires a fresh look at zoning, and Providence and the State of Rhode Island are starting to finally take a crack at it. At the state level, they removed dimensional requirements for substandard lots with RI Gen Laws 45-24-38. Effective this year, zoning relief for failure to meet minimum lot size requirements is not needed. Setbacks and frontage were to be reduced with this law as well, in an effort to make the most use of small, previously unusable lots. Quality housing can be designed on small lots, and we’ve done it! Check out this great example.

In Providence, though their proposed changes exist purely in their greater vision for the city, and zoning changes would have to follow suit, it shows their mindset is adapting to the worsening housing crisis and sets the tone for the city’s direction for the next decade. Their vision primarily is focused on increased density through changes to the zoning map: allowing for increased unit counts in neighborhoods where multifamily houses make sense (a lot of Providence), allowing ADUs, and updating zoning to allow the rebuilding of existing housing supply that wouldn’t currently conform to their zoning ordinance. You can see their proposed changes to land use here. Zoning officials have started to adapt to the current and future housing needs, however, by eliminating minimum lot size requirements in their own zoning ordinance for existing lots. Its a start.

Let’s continue to push for continued changes to zoning that allow for development of the housing we so desperately need.