CRMC 



Although CRMC possesses broad statutory authority in coastal areas, the 

 Council in practice interprets its authority over inland areas influencing 

 estuarine resources as limited, particularly where urban built-up areas are 

 concerned. Land use within the terrestrial portion of the estuarine 

 ecosystem is governed principally by municipalities, which retained control over 

 land use decisions at the time of the passage of the 1971 Rhode Island Coastal Management 

 Act The legislation represented a compromise in which CRMC was given exceptional and 

 virtually unequalled authority to carry out coastal environmental protection measures, with 

 the clear understanding that local representatives would dominate the Council, and that local 

 governments would continue to exercise primary land use control. 



CRMC is a legislatively created and autiiorized body, with Council members appointed 

 on a rotating basis by the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, and the Speaker of the 

 House. Membership on the Council includes local officials, state senators and 

 representatives, members of the general public from coastal communities, and state officials 

 serving ex officio. Voting Council members are heavily influenced by local concerns. 



Key municipal controls include zoning and subdivision regulations, and the application 

 of municipal tax policy to undeveloped and developing land. There is presently no 

 mechanism to require towns to incorporate coastal area management 

 principles into their zoning policy, or to notify CRMC when a zoning or 

 regulatory change is anticipated which would involve coastal resources. 

 Furthermore, towns have viewed recent court decisions as restricting their 

 authority to' take substantive action beyond minimum state provisions. 



Towns have no authority below mean high water and have no specifically delegated 

 authority to reject proposals due to adverse environmental impact. Better use of 

 available local controls could be made, however, if towns had access to 

 state opinion regarding project impacts prior to initiation of the local 

 review process. 



CRMC has attempted to rationalize state and local objectives via harbor 

 management and SAM planning. In the Red Book, for example, CRMC established 

 municipal harbor regulation whereby harbor management plans would go through a full 

 CouncU review under Category B procedures before promulgation. In the SAM plan for 

 Providence Harbor the Council set priorities for shoreline management in all of the Upper 

 Narragansett Bay communities and established four general goads for improving 

 Providence Harbor. In order to provide clear guidance with regard to plan implementation, 

 the Coastal Resources Center assisted the Council in articulating 11 specific policies for 

 waterfront use and recreation in the Upper Bay. Despite these policies and CRMCs assent 

 authority over municipal harbor plans, the primary control over the development of 

 waterfronts is municipal zoning, and CRMC water use classifications generally follow 

 municipal zoning patterns. 



In developed areas, in particular, CRMC has attempted to use SAM plans to address 

 controversial issues and issues of intense statewide interest while accommodating local 

 authority over land use. By working in the pro-active SAM plan preparation 

 process, CRMC can move toward coordination of long-term local and 

 statewide planning while making its comprehensive goals and objectives for the Upper 

 Bay more palatable to the affected communities. This approach diverges from that 

 utilized in special area planning in less developed regions, where a stated 



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