ADU rules in West Warwick

West Warwick allows a detached ADU by right only in the three statutory circumstances that Zoning Ordinance Sec. 5.2.1(a) copies from R.I. Gen. Laws 45-24-73(a): an owner-occupied property as a disability accommodation for family members, a residential lot of 20,000 sq ft or more, or a unit inside the existing footprint of an existing detached accessory structure (for example a garage conversion) that does not expand it. A new-build detached cottage on an ordinary lot does not qualify, and the residential districts (R-10, R-8, R-7.5, R-6) have minimum lot areas of only 6,000 to 10,000 sq ft, so most lots fall below the 20,000 sq ft gate. The Sec. 5.1 use table has no ADU row, so the ordinance names no separate path for ADUs outside the three circumstances. Rhode Island directory convention: 'conditional' because the only by-right path is the statutory one.

An attached or internal ADU is by right when it sits within the existing footprint of the house or an existing attached accessory structure without expanding it (basement, attic or attached-garage conversion), on any residential lot of 20,000 sq ft or more, or on an owner-occupied property as a disability accommodation for family members (Sec. 5.2.1(a), copying 45-24-73(a)). A footprint-expanding addition on a lot under 20,000 sq ft is outside those circumstances and the ordinance gives it no by-right path. Rhode Island directory convention: 'conditional' because expanding additions on ordinary lots are not by right.

West Warwick sets no maximum ADU size of its own. Sec. 5.2.1(b), headed 'Dimensional Requirements,' copies the statute's floor but words it as 'A studio or one bedroom ADU shall be at least nine hundred square feet (900 sq. ft), or sixty percent (60%) of the floor area of the principal dwelling, whichever is less,' and likewise 1,200 sq ft or 60 percent for a two-bedroom unit; in the statute (45-24-73(b)(1)) those figures are the minimum a town's maximum must allow, so the local text reads as a floor on unit size rather than a cap. Sec. 5.2.1(c)(10) allows up to two bedrooms. The Sec. 5.4 table applies principal-building yards to ADUs and a 20 ft height limit to accessory buildings, and Sec. 5.5.4 still sets a 400 sq ft minimum living area for an 'accessory family dwelling unit' (the pre-2022 term).

Owner occupancy appears only in the first by-right circumstance, an ADU 'on an owner-occupied property as a reasonable accommodation for family members with disabilities' (Sec. 5.2.1(a)(1), matching 45-24-73(a)(1)); ADUs on 20,000 sq ft lots or within an existing footprint carry no owner-occupancy condition. Ord. No. 2024-5 (6-18-2024) had limited Sec. 5.2(e) to 'an accessory dwelling unit in an owner-occupied residence'; Ord. No. 2024-18 (effective 11-4-2024) replaced that wording with the statute's. Sec. 5.2.1(c)(12) bars revoking a legal ADU on transfer of title or occupancy. The Sec. 5.1 preamble requires accessory uses to be under the 'same ownership' as the principal use, which bars separate sale but is not an occupancy rule.

Sec. 5.2.1(c)(8), listed under 'Prohibited Requirements,' reads 'There shall be at least one off-street parking space per bedroom of the ADU,' which inverts the statute's prohibition (45-24-73(b)(2)(viii): a town shall not 'require more than one off-street parking space per bedroom of the ADU') into a minimum; the result is one space per bedroom, which is also the most the statute allows. The Sec. 5.9.10.7 parking table still lists 'Accessory family dwelling unit 1/DU' (the pre-2022 term). How a studio (no bedroom) is counted is not stated.

An ADU meeting 45-24-31 and 45-24-73(a) 'shall be permitted through an administrative building permit process only' (Sec. 5.2(e), copying 45-24-37(e)), so the three by-right circumstances need only a building permit. The use table has no ADU row and no ADU-specific special use permit; Sec. 5.2.1(e) contemplates 'an application for an ADU that is not allowed by right,' and the only route the ordinance offers for an unlisted use is Sec. 11.1, under which the zoning enforcement officer may deem it similar to a special-use-permit use for a zoning board hearing (or a variance under Sec. 10). Sec. 5.2(e)'s first sentence cites 45-24-73 without the '(a)' the statute uses, which could be read to make any ADU meeting the uniform standards a permitted use; that reading is untested.

State law bars offering or renting any ADU for tourist or transient use or through a hosting platform (45-24-73(b)(8)), and West Warwick repeats it in Sec. 5.2.1(d). Sec. 3 defines 'tourist or transient use' as an occupancy period of less than 30 days or a unit offered for rental on a hosting platform, and the Sec. 5.1 use table marks that use 'X' (prohibited) in every residential district. Sec. 5.2.1(c)(1) bars restricting tenants by familial relationship or age, so long-term rental to anyone is allowed. The Code of Ordinances has no short-term rental licensing chapter (Municode search for 'short-term rental' returned no hits on 2026-10-15); the state DBR registration under 42-63.1-14 applies to rentals elsewhere on the property.