Rhode Island Village / Mixed-Use Mandate (2025 Craven/Bissaillon) (RI)

Tracked preemption from the Rhode Island overlay bundle.

Overview

Effective
2025-06-01
Sunset
Authority
state
Scope
state:RI

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

parcel.base_zone_category {commercial, mu, village}

Preempted fields

1 field on the base district schema is rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
base_districts[category=commercial].allowed_usesaddresidentialResidential use must be permitted in some or all commercial districts in every municipality

Citation

Authority source
2025 Shekarchi housing package (Craven/Bissaillon bills, amending §45-24)
§ 2025 RI housing package — village/mixed-use mandate
https://rhodeislandcurrent.com/2026/02/26/shekarchi-unveils-latest-package-of-bills-to-boost-housing-production/

Research notes

Layered onto the §45-22.2 comp-plan consistency mandate and the State Guide Plan's Growth Centers framework. Requires every RI municipality to allow residential use in at least some commercial districts — closes the prior pattern of fully-non-residential commercial zoning. Statute mapping is to-be-finalized as Public Laws of 2025 chapter assignments are confirmed.