Authorizes the town of Johnston, if an aggregate of two hundred fifty (250) or more units should be proposed in comprehensive permit project(s), to enact an emergency moratorium until the permit requirement of § 45-53-4 are amended.

Plain-English Summary

This bill would give the town of Johnston, Rhode Island a special legal tool to temporarily pause certain housing development projects under specific circumstances. Under current state law, developers can apply for a "comprehensive permit" to build affordable housing projects, which streamlines the approval process and limits what towns can do to block those projects. This bill would allow Johnston to declare an emergency moratorium — essentially a temporary freeze — on those comprehensive permit projects if the total number of proposed housing units across such applications reaches 250 or more.

The moratorium would remain in effect until the state updates the rules governing how these comprehensive permits work. In other words, Johnston could hit the "pause button" on large-scale affordable housing development under this process while waiting for state lawmakers to potentially change the underlying requirements.

This bill primarily affects housing developers who want to build affordable or mixed-income housing in Johnston using the comprehensive permit process, as well as current and potential future residents who might benefit from or be impacted by that new housing. It gives the town government more local control over the pace of this type of development, at least temporarily. The bill has been introduced and sent to the House Municipal Government & Housing Committee, where it will be reviewed before any further action is taken.