H5703, known as the “slopes bill," prohibits
cities and towns from excluding sloped land when calculating
a buildable lot. Some municipalities, particularly those with rural
areas, relied on the calculation to maximize open space to protect water
quality and wetlands, opponents of the bill said. A single-state standard also
potentially impedes state and community efforts to implement long-term plans to
manage growth with concepts like village centers and transportation-oriented
development.
But developers say
it’s unfair to exclude slopes, which can't be built on, from calculating
residential lot sizes. “Slope is the most misunderstood thing I’ve seen in a
while,” said Robert Baldwin, a home builder from Lincoln and past president of
the Rhode Island Builders Association.
Baldwin said he’s had to turn down offers to invest in subdivision projects in large open areas because local slope ordinances significantly shrank the number of lots.
The bill is opposed by
environmental groups, land trusts and municipalities, which see the legislation
as imposing a statewide standard on communities with diverse land
issues. Similar legislation that allowed slopes and wetlands to be including in
calculating lot sizes stalled in committee during the last two years.
"It's an
erroneous assumption that these bills are going to help the Rhode Island
economy. It’s not true," said Paul Roselli of the Burrilleville Land Trust
after the hearing. Roselli testifies regularly on behalf of 15 municipalities
and more than 20 other land trusts and environmental groups at the hearings.
The following
municipalities subtract slope when determining land for
development: Charlestown, Coventry, Cranston, Cumberland, Glocester,
Hopkinton, Johnston, Lincoln, North Kingstown, North Smithfield,
Richmond, Tiverton, Warren, West Greenwich and Westerly.
Roselli said the
legislation is intended to appease a few influential developers. Builders, he
said, that prospered during the last economic upturn despite the slope and
wetland restrictions imposed by municipalities. "They were around during
the boom times, and the 15 towns are pretty towns they are desirable places to
live where the water quality is good and the sense of place is still
intact."
Several Rhode Island
builders groups advocated for the slopes bill, as well as separate legislation
allowing wetlands in calculating lot sizes. "We're not trying to hurt the
environment," John Marcantonio, director of the Rhode Island Builders
Association, said after the hearing.
