Title 45
Towns and Cities

Chapter 53
Low and Moderate Income Housing

§ 45-53-7. Housing appeals board. [Expires January 1, 2024.]

(a)(1) Effective until January 1, 2024, there shall be within the state a housing appeals board consisting of nine (9) voting members and three (3) alternates as follows: one voting member who shall be from the Center for Justice Rhode Island; one voting member who shall be from Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE); and seven (7) voting members to be appointed by the governor, who shall include four (4) local officials, who shall not be from the same city or town; two (2) of whom shall be from a city or town with a population of less than twenty-five thousand (25,000); and two (2) of whom shall be from a city or town with a population of twenty-five thousand (25,000) or greater, and shall include one local zoning board member, one local planning board member, one city council member and one town council member, one of the local official members shall be designated by the governor as the alternative local official member who shall be a voting member of the board only in the event that one or more of the other three (3) local officials is unable to serve at a hearing; one affordable housing developer; one affordable housing advocate; one representative of the business community; and one attorney knowledgeable in land use regulation, who should be chairperson of the board. There shall be two (2) additional alternates appointed by the governor chosen from candidates submitted by realtors or developers doing business in the state and the alternates shall rotate service as a voting member at the discretion of the chairperson.

(2) Those members of the board as of July 2, 2004, who were appointed to the board by members of the general assembly shall cease to be members of the board on July 2, 2004, and the governor shall thereupon nominate four (4) new members each of whom shall serve for the balance of the current term of his or her predecessor.

(3) All other members of the commission as of July 2, 2004, shall continue to serve for the duration of their current terms.

(4) All gubernatorial appointments made under this section after July 2, 2004, shall be subject to the advice and consent of the senate.

(b)(1) All appointments are for two-year (2) terms; except as otherwise provided in subsection (a)(2) of this section, the terms of members appointed after December 31, 2004, shall be for three (3) years. Each member who is duly appointed or continued in office after January 1, 2005, shall hold office for the term for which the member is appointed and until the member’s successor shall have been appointed and qualified, or until the member’s earlier death, resignation, or removal. A member shall receive no compensation for his or her services, but shall be reimbursed by the state for all reasonable expenses actually and necessarily incurred in the performance of his or her official duties. The board shall hear all petitions for review filed under § 45-53-5, and shall conduct all hearings in accordance with the rules and regulations established by the chair. Rhode Island housing shall provide space, and clerical and other assistance, as the board may require.

(2) Provided, effective January 1, 2023, the Rhode Island housing resources commission (the “commission”) established pursuant to chapter 128 of title 42 shall provide all space, and clerical and other assistance, as the board may require. All duties and responsibilities of Rhode Island housing resources commission as to providing space, clerical and other assistance to the board pursuant to subsection (b)(1) of this section shall be transferred to the commission effective January 1, 2023.

(c) This section shall sunset on January 1, 2024.