Riverfront Overlay Zoning
Woonsocket, Lincoln

Riverfront overlay districts have been used by some Blackstone Valley communities as a tool for natural resource protection and community revitalization. An overlay is often used in lieu of a change to underlying zoning. By implementing an overlay district, communities can prevent property owners from expanding significantly beyond their present scale in order to encourage opportunities for new uses.

Woonsocket has a River Corridor Overlay District that applies to any proposed development within its bounds and empowers a review commission to assess the quality of the project’s site plan, architectural character, and impact with regard to the City’s long term planning goals. Presently undergoing a process to create a Riverfront Revitalization Plan, the overlay may be modified as part of its implementation.

Lincoln’s Blackstone and Moshassuck Overlay Districts offer an additional measure of review to projects located adjacent to the Blackstone and Moshassuck Rivers to protect against impacting these natural and scenic resources. Each district grants the Zoning Enforcement Officer additional authority to consider several guidelines for developments occurring in these areas. Attention is given to public access, riverbank protection, erosion and stormwater run-off, design and density of structures, and pollution.

Contacts:

Woonsocket Town Planner
401.767.9237

Lincoln Town Planner
401.333.8433

[ top, right photograph by R.Christopher Noonan, Preservation Services, Inc.]