The Swamp Stomp

Volume 15, Issue 19

Rhode Island has received support from both the construction industry and environmentalists over a new statewide regulation that would change the required distance for construction near wetlands. If approved, this new standard would permit construction much closer to wetlands in six Rhode Island communities, and gift the state rule over deciding on zoning exemptions.

Currently, a 50-foot no-build zone acts as the default benchmark for the state, but 24 communities use different buffer standards. Areas in Barrington, Burrillville, Charlestown, Middletown, North Smithfield, and Tiverton all have setbacks, the required distance between construction and wetlands, of up to 200 feet. This new proposed standard, however, would change the state setback to 100 feet from lakes and ponds, and 200 feet from rivers, streams, and reservoirs.

All coastal wetland permits would still be managed by the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), which already requires a 200-foot setback, but all other wetland permits would fall under state jurisdiction.

Both the construction industry and environmentalists agree that the proposed tradeoffs are worth the end result. The construction industry looks forward to having universal setbacks across the state, as well as having a single location, the Department of Environmental Management (DEM), to file permit paperwork and seek exemptions. Environmentalists, on the other hand, like that new water sources, such as streams, vernal pools, and areas near floodplains, would be designated as wetlands.

On March 25, 2015, during a Senate Committee on the Environmental and Agriculture hearing, Janet Coit, DEM director, claimed, “It increases protection and eliminates a municipal level of permitting process.”

The proposal is a result of five years of failed attempts by the Rhode Island Builders Association (RIBA) to establish universal setback standards and speed up the permitting process. Concerned about losing open space, diminishing water quality, and damaging vital ecosystems, environmentalists have opposed changes proposed in the past.

Despite this opposition, the “dry-lands bill” was passed in 2013 that created a study commission to develop changes to the standard. Negotiations between the construction industry, biologists, civil engineers, and state environmental agencies and municipalities then occurred for over a year. These efforts resulted in the new proposal that is agreed upon by all effect parties.

Tom Kutcher of Save the Bay served as one of the scientists on the task force. While he claims that the gold standard for wetlands buffers is about 500 feet, he acknowledges that the proposed legislation improves protection over the status quo.

“What’s in the bill falls short of full wetlands protection. It falls short of what the science says what should protect wetlands,” Kutcher said. “But we recognize that there is a compromise between entire wetlands protection and having something we could come to a consensus on.”

During the recent Senate meeting, construction advocates praised the new proposal as it will prevent what they perceived to be arbitrary rules and a general resistance to development that prevented permits from being attained.

Timothy Stasiunas of RIBA claimed, “This type of scenario has contributed to the lost decade . . . that has plagued our economy for years, if not decades.” He continued to claim that the new standards will lead the state out of recession.

The proposed legislation does not fully protect wetlands, but it is a compromise that will provide better protection than is currently being administered.