880 R.I. Code R. 880-RICR-00-00-4.4

Current through November 21, 2024

Section 880-RICR-00-00-4.4 - Definitions

A. The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this package, shall have the meaning stated herein:

1. "Accessory use" means a use of land or a building, or portion thereof, customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use of the land or building. An accessory use shall not be permitted without the principal use.

2. "Act" means Quonset Development Corporation Act, R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-64.10-1 et seq.

3. "Airport" means Quonset State Airport located in the Town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island.

4. "Alteration" means an action that changes one (1) or more of the exterior architectural features of a structure or its appurtenances, including but not limited to the erection, construction, reconstruction, or removal of any structure or appurtenance.

5. "Applicant" means an owner or authorized agent of the owner submitting an application.

6. "Application" means the completed form or forms and all accompanying documents, exhibits and fees required of an applicant.

7. "Aviation facilities" means infrastructure including runways, taxiways, buildings, parking, hangar storage, terminals and navigational aids.

8. "Best management practices" or "BMPs" means as defined in 40 C.F.R. § 403.3 incorporated in § 4.3(A) of this Part.

9. "Biochemical oxygen demand" or "BOD" means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five (5) days at 20°C, expressed in milligrams per liter.

10. "Buffer" means land which is maintained in either a natural or landscaped state and is used to screen and/or mitigate the impacts of development on surrounding areas, properties or rights-of-way.

11. "Building" means any structure used or intended for supporting any use or occupancy. When any portion thereof is completely separated from every other portion thereof by a division wall without openings then each portion shall be deemed to be a separate building.

12. "Building drain" means that part of the lowest piping of a drainage which receives the discharge from soil and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the storm sewer.

13. "Building height" means the vertical distance from grade, as determined by the TRC, to the top of the highest point of the roof or structure. The distance may exclude spires, chimney, flag poles, solar panels and the like, except as may be required by the Federal Aviation Administration.

14. "Building sewer" means the extension from a building's sanitary sewer piping to the point of connection to the QDC sewer or another place of disposal.

15. "Certificate of approval" means a notice issued by the TRC to the applicant that the development meets the requirements of the regulations and that the applicant may proceed with the permitting process. Notice consists of stamped development plans signed by the Managing Director (or his or her designee).

16. "Client" means a developer who is or may be entering into an agreement with the QDC for development of a given parcel of land within the Park.

17. "Chemical oxygen demand" or "COD" means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the chemical oxidation of wastewater under standard laboratory procedures.

18. "Coastal features" means coastal features are defined in R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 46-23.

19. "Coastal zone" means the jurisdictional area of the Coastal Resources Management Council regulated by 650-RICR- 20-00-1.

20. "Conservation areas" means land that is undeveloped and is maintained in its natural state such as forest, salt marsh, tidal mud flat, wetlands, watersheds and water supply land.

21. "Construction activity" means land clearing and grubbing, grading, excavation, demolition and building of structures above or below ground.

22. "Development" means the construction, reconstruction, conversion, structural alteration, relocation, or enlargement of any structure; land disturbance; any change of use, alteration or extension of the use of land.

23. "Development plan review" means the process whereby authorized officials review the site plans, maps, engineered drawings and other documents of a proposed development to determine the compliance with the stated purposes and standards of these Regulations.

24. "Director" or "Managing director" means the managing director of the QDC or his/her designee.

25. "Discharge permit" means a permit issued by the EPA (or state under authority delegated pursuant to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, 33 U.S.C. § 1317) that authorizes the discharge of pollutants to waters of the United States, whether the permit is applicable on an individual, group or general area-wide basis.

26. "District" means land use district.

27. "Division of Planning" means that division created within the Department of Administration by R.I Gen. Laws § 42-11-10(b)(2).

28. "Education and training" means land uses intended for the training in general, technical or professional education.

29. "Effective date" means the date these Regulations become effective as set forth in R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-35-4(e)."

30. "FAA" means Federal Aviation Administration.

31. "Floatable oil" means oil, fat or grease in a physical state such that it will separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment in an approved pretreatment facility. A wastewater shall be considered free of floatable oil if it is properly pretreated and does not interfere with the collection system.

32. "Garbage" means solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking, dispensing, and sale of food.

33. "General manufacturing" means manufacturing, fabrication or processing; assembly or packaging; printing and publishing plant; millwork; and work with outside operations and storage.

34. "Gross floor area" means the total area of a building measured by taking the outside dimensions of the building at each level intended for occupancy or storage.

35. "Groundwater" means natural water that occurs below the surface of the earth, where it occupies space in soils or geologic strata and flows within aquifers below the water table.

36. "Hazardous materials" means any material, including any substance, waste, or combination thereof, which because of its quantity, concentration, physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may cause, or significantly contribute to, a substantial present or potential hazard to human health, safety, property or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed.

37. "Historic property" means:

a. any district, site, building, structure, or object listed in the State Register. Properties may be listed in the State Register through concurrent listing in the National Register of Historic Places or alternatively for the purpose of these regulations the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission may determine that properties meet the criteria for registration.

b. any building, site, object or artifact of historical, architectural, or archaeological interest listed in the catalog of state-owned historic properties; or c. any archaeological resource, including specimens, sites, and underwater resources subject to permits or advisories pursuant to the R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-45-1 et seq.

38. "Hotel" means a building, group of buildings or a portion thereof used or offered for residential occupancy for any period less than one month, with or without meals, and in which a building or portion thereof may be certain public rooms or halls for the service of food or drink.

39. "Illicit connection" means any drain or conveyance, whether on the surface or subsurface, which allows an illicit discharge to enter the storm drain system, including but not limited to any conveyance which allows non-stormwater discharge, including sewage, process wastewater and wash water to enter the storm drain system, and any connections to the storm drain system from floor drains and sinks not authorized by the appropriate permitting authority.

40. "Illicit discharge" means any unauthorized discharge to the stormwater collection system, including but not limited to, sewage, industrial wastewater, wash water, cooling water and stormwater.

41. "Improvements" means changes, alterations, or modifications made to land or structures.

42. "Industrial cooling water" means water used to reduce temperature in an industrial process.

43. "Industrial user" means a user who discharges or has the capacity to discharge industrial wastewater or industrial sewage directly or indirectly into the sewer.

44. "Industrial wastewater" means the liquid wastes resulting from industrial manufacturing, trade or business processes.

45. "Interference" means as defined in 40 C.F.R. § 403.3 incorporated in § 4.3(A) of this Part.

46. "Land" means surface of earth above sea level.

47. "Light manufacturing" means land uses limited to manufacturing of non-noxious products that can be shipped in trucks or containers and conducted entirely indoors. Buildings shall have minimal smokestacks, silos, cooling towers and such structures.

48. "Lot" means:

a. the basic development unit for determination of lot area, depth, and other dimensional regulations; or

b. a parcel of land whose boundaries have been established by some legal instrument such as a recorded deed or recorded map and which is recognized as a separate legal entity for purposes of transfer of title.

49. "Lot frontage" means that portion of a lot abutting a street. Nonconforming frontage shall not be added to meet the minimum frontage requirements.

50. "Marine business" means water dependent commercial activities related to marina and other vessel service activities.

51. "Marine construction support" means land-based construction activities that use the water as the primary means for moving the product from the land construction area to its permanent location.

52. "Marine industrial" means water dependent industries in direct support of seaport for facilitating waterborne cargo operations, fisheries development and marine construction activities.

53. "Marine structures" means structures to support the transfer of cargo and people from marine vessel to land areas such as piers, jetties, ramps, bulkheads or mooring structures.

54. "Master plan" means the most recently Amended and approved Quonset Business Park Master Land Use and Development Plan.

55. "Municipal separate storm sewer system" or "MS4" means any facility designed or used for collecting and/or conveying stormwater, including but not limited to any roads with drainage systems, highways, QDC streets, curbs, gutters, catch basins, piped storm drains, pumping facilities, structural stormwater controls, ditches, swales, natural and man-made, or altered drainage channels, reservoirs, and other drainage structures and which is:

a. owned and/or maintained by the Quonset Development Corporation,

b. not a combined sewer and,

c. not part of a publicly owned treatment works.

56. "Natural outlet" means any outlet into a natural watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or groundwater.

57. "New source" means as defined in 40 C.F.R. § 403.3 incorporated in § 4.3(A) of this Part.

58. "Non-stormwater discharge" means any discharge to the storm drain that is not composed entirely of stormwater.

59. "Open space" means any land that is primarily undeveloped, including public and semipublic open lands, and private development requiring little or no construction. The purpose of this designation is to provide for the conservation of land and other natural and scenic resources.

60. "Parks with facilities" means land that is primarily undeveloped whose purpose is to provide recreation and relaxation activities such as but not limited to beaches, playgrounds and picnic areas.

61. "Pass through" means as defined in 40 C.F.R. § 403.3 incorporated in § 4.3(A) of this Part.

62. "Performance standards" means a set of criteria or limits relating to elements which a particular use or process either must meet or may not exceed.

63. "Permit" means an authorization, license or equivalent control document issued by the QDC, unless otherwise identified.

64. "Permitted uses" means uses authorized by these regulations for a particular land use district.

65. "Person" means any individual, partnership, association, joint venture, corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, municipality, any political subdivision of a municipality, this state, any department or agency of the federal government, or any other legal entity.

66. "Personal convenience services" means property uses intended to provide personal services to occupants of the park such as, but not limited to, barber, beauty shops, cleaning, and tailoring.

67. "pH" means the logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.

68. "Pollutant" means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand and cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, agricultural or other pollution-causing agents.

69. "Pretreatment" means as defined in 40 C.F.R. § 403.3 incorporated in § 4.3(A) of this Part.

70. "Principal use" means the main or primary purpose for which a building, other structure and/or lot is designed, arranged, or intended, or for which they may be used, occupied or maintained under this chapter.

71. "Privately-owned wastewater treatment facilities" means pump stations, collection systems and/or wastewater treatment facilities privately owned by users, individuals, corporations, associations, or state or federal agencies, with said facilities ultimately being connected to Quonset's wastewater treatment or collection system whose wastewater design flows are in excess of 30,000 gallons per day.

72. "Professional and business services" means property uses intended to provide support services for primary economic development activities such as industrial and corporate offices including professional offices, such as, but not limited to medical, legal, engineering and accounting and business services, such as, but not limited to, photocopying, equipment repair, repair shops (computers, watches, etc.).

73. "Professional offices" means operations designed to attract and serve customers or clients on the premises with low-volume traffic such as lawyer, doctor, dentist, architect, engineer, realtor, accountant, travel agency, stock broker, insurance agency, computer processing services and the like.

74. "Properly shredded garbage" means the wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that have been shredded to such a degree that all particles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than one-half (1/2) inch (1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.

75. "Residential boundary" means building setback measurements taken from the proposed building foundation to the lot line of an approved residential parcel identified as such on Town Plat Maps and excluding open space, common areas, and undevelopable areas.

76. "Quonset Development Corporation" or "QDC" means a real estate development and management company organized as a subsidiary of the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-64.10-6.

77. "QDC sewers" means a sewer regulated, operated and maintained by QDC for the purpose of affording sewage collection service to its users.

78. "Recreation tourism" means property use intended to support recreational or tourism activities that use the water as a primary resource or amenity.

79. "Regulation" means a type of "delegated legislation" promulgated by a state, federal or local administrative agency given authority to do so by the appropriate legislature.

80. "Research and development" means a use for research, design, prototype development, and testing of new products or ideas.

81. "Restaurant" means a public eating place or food court that serves a substantial portion of its food for consumption at tables or counters located on the premises or a carryout retail service business which sells ready-to-eat foods primarily for consumption off the premises. A carryout restaurant does not include fast food restaurant that are designed for rapid food delivery to customers. All restaurants with drive-through service are considered fast food restaurants and are prohibited.

82. "Retail stores" means establishments engaged in; sales of food (excluding fish and shellfish) drugs, clothing, jewelry, stationery, or similar personal or specialty items, and the like.

83. "Rhode Island Commerce Corporation" or "RICC" means the parent corporation of the QDC, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 42-64.

84. "Road" means a public means of access in the Park via a State or Town right of way to abutting land. Certain roads may be gated for security purposes.

85. "Sanitary sewer" means a sewer that carries sewage and to which storm, surface and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.

86. "Sewage" means a combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, institutions, and industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface, and storm waters as may be present.

87. "Sewage treatment plant" means any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.

88. "Sewage works" means all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage.

89. "Sewer" means a pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.

90. "Shall" means mandatory; "May" means permissive.

91. "Shipping" means uses intended for the transportation and distribution of products and goods.

92. "Significant industrial user" means as defined in 40 C.F.R. § 403.3 incorporated in § 4.3(A) of this Part.

93. "Site control documentation" means a document defining the purchase and sales or lease agreement entered into between the QDC and the Client.

94. "Site plan" means the development plan for one or more lots on which is shown the existing and/or the proposed conditions of the lot.

95. "Site readiness program" means a program undertaken by the Quonset Development Corporation beginning in 2010 to design, pre-engineer, and pre-permit vacant available parcels in the Park.

96. "Slug" means any discharge of water, sewage or industrial waste that in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds a user's average discharge and adversely affects the sewer and/or the performance of the sewage treatment plant.

97. "Solar energy system" means a system of panels containing photovoltaic cells, either on a rooftop or on the ground, including all necessary appurtenances, that is intended to generate power for consumption on site, or for sale to the grid.

98. "Solid waste" means garbage, refuse and other discarded solid material generated by residential, institutional, commercial, industrial, and agricultural sources, but does not include solids or dissolved material in domestic sewage or sludge, nor does it include hazardous waste as defined in the Hazardous Waste Management Act, R. I. Gen. Laws Chapter 23-19.1.

99. "Storm drain" or "Storm sewer" means a conveyance that carries storm and surface waters and drainage, but excludes sewage and industrial waste, other than unpolluted cooling water.

100. "Storm drain system" means any infrastructure in which its sole purpose is to intercept, collect, retain or detain, and convey rainwater runoff to a point of discharge (i.e. outlet/outfall), including but not limited to: underground injection, state and federally regulated Wetlands, streams, brooks, river, tidal wetlands, Narragansett Bay.

101. "Stormwater" means any surface flow, runoff, and/or drainage consisting entirely of water from any form of natural precipitation and resulting from such precipitation.

102. "Structure" means a combination of materials to form a construction for use, occupancy, or ornamentation, whether installed on, above, or below, the surface of land or water.

103. "Subdivision" means the division, re-division, of a lot, tract or parcel of land into two (2) or more lots, tracts, or parcels. Any adjustment to existing lot lines of a recorded lot by any means shall be considered a subdivision. All re-subdivision activity shall be considered a subdivision. The division of property for purposes of financing constitutes a subdivision.

104. "Survey, Class I" means surveys of developed (or soon to be developed) commercial and residential property, performed to a high degree of positional accuracy. Most urban and suburban boundary surveys, large-scale construction projects, title surveys, and subdivision of land should be performed to this standard.

105. "Suspended solids" means solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in, water, sewage, or other liquids, and which are removable by laboratory filtering.

106. "The park" means Quonset Business Park.

107. "Technical review committee" or "TRC" means the committee described in §4.8.3(A)(1) of this Part.

108. "Temporary" means a time frame of 18 months or less as it applies to lighting, signage, and buildings

109. "Town" means the Town of North Kingstown.

110. "Toxic" means any substance listed as toxic under section 307(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq., or listed under the Hazardous Substances Right-to-Know Act, R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-21-1 et seq., or as may otherwise be designated by the Director from time to time.

111. "Toxic materials" means any substance or combination of substances which, because of quantity, concentration or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics, poses a significant present or potential hazard to water supplies or to human health.

112. "Undeveloped" means land that has not had improvements made either to the land or on the land.

113. "USEPA" means United States Environmental Protection Agency.

114. "Use" means the purpose or activity for which land or buildings are designed, arranged, or intended, or for which land or buildings are occupied or maintained.

115. "User" means, for the purpose of wastewater, the owner of any residential, commercial, or industrial property or any publicly owned building or nonprofit institution with a direct or indirect connection to the sewer.

116. "Variance" means permission from the TRC or the QDC Board to depart from the literal requirements of these Regulations as they relate to performance, utility and design standards.

117. "Waivers" means permission from the TRC to omit information that would otherwise be required in a Development Plan Review application.

118. "Warehousing" and "Wholesaling" means uses that include industrial; distribution center, sorting facilities, parcel delivery center; storage facilities, and the like.

119. "Wastewater" means any water or other liquid, other than uncontaminated stormwater, discharged from a facility.

120. "Watercourse" means a channel in which a flow of water occurs either continuously or intermittently.

121. "Waterfront uses" means uses intended for marine-related and marine-enhanced uses such as waterborne cargo operations, fisheries development, boat building, shipyards, ferry terminals, and marine construction activities; water dependent commercial activities related to marina and other vessel service activities; structures to support the transfer of cargo and people from marine vessel to land areas such as piers, bulkheads, or mooring structures; land based construction activities that use the water as the primary means for moving the product from the land construction area to its permanent location; uses in support of recreational or tourism activities that use the water as a primary resource or amenity such as sea plane operations; accessory marine supply retail, boat and marine equipment rentals; and accessory food service retail.

122. "Wetlands, freshwater" means as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws § 2-1-20. A marsh, swamp, bog, pond, river, river or stream flood plain or bank, area subject to flooding or storm flowage; emergent or sub-emergent plant community in any body of freshwater; or area within fifty (50) feet of the edge of a bog, marsh, swamp, or pond as defined in R.I. Gen. Laws § 2-1-20.

123. "Wholesale" means any sale for resale but not for direct consumption and not open to the general public.

124. "Wind energy system" or "WES" means a device that converts wind energy into electrical energy. A WES typically consists of a tower, nacelle body and a rotor with two or more blades. A WES includes all equipment, machinery, and structures utilized in connection with the conversion of wind to electricity, and includes, but is not limited to, transmission, storage, collection and supply equipment, substations, transformers, service and access roads, and wind monitoring and meteorological towers. A WES may be gear driven, employing one or more gears connecting a low-speed shaft to a high-speed shaft for the purpose of increasing rotational speeds at the generator over and above the rotational speed of the rotor, or may be direct drive, which does not alter shaft rotational speed from the rotor to the generator. WESs also include Alternative Design Wind Energy Systems, which shall include any WES other than one that is rotor driven. WESs include both free-standing and building mounted systems. WESs shall also include associated wind monitoring and/or meteorological towers.

125. "Wind monitoring" or "Meteorological tower" means a temporary tower equipped with devices to measure wind speeds and direction used to determine how much wind power a site can be expected to generate (referred to as "Met Tower").

126. "Yard, front" means yard extending across the full width of the lot, the depth of which shall be the least distance between the front lot line and the front of any building. Frontage on any public street is considered to be a front yard. A corner lot may have more than one front yard.

127. "Yard, rear" means a yard extending across the full width of the lot between the rear most main building and the rear lot line, the depth of which shall be the least distance between the rear lot line and the rear of any buildings.

128. "Yard, side" means a yard between the main building and the side lot line, extending from the front yard or the front lot line where no front yard is required, to the rear yard. The width of the required side yard shall be measured horizontally from the nearest point of the side lot line toward the nearest part of the main building.

880 R.I. Code R. 880-RICR-00-00-4.4

Amended effective 11/27/2018