The Department of Planning and Community Development coordinates with Town Departments, property owners and the public to define planning/community problems, resolve conflicts and craft ways to achieve common Town goals.
Grants Management
The Department of Planning and Community Development currently manages almost $2 million in grant funds for planning, environmental and community development activities. These funds include DEM grants for farm preservation to CDBG funds for streetscape improvement. Through the HUD-funded Community Development Block Grant program (administered by the RI Office of Housing and Community Development), the Department also oversees a number of programs that can help Warren residents, including The Home Repair Program. This program, funded at $60,000 for fiscal year 2010, helps income eligible homeowners in need of urgent home repairs.
Plan Development
The Department Develops and implements plans to improve the community, such as the Comprehensive Plan, the Hazard Mitigation Plan, the Waterfront Plan and neighborhood revitalization plans. Current plans in development in the 2010-2011 fiscal year:
- Warren Hazard Mitigation Plan: This plan, partially funded through a grant from FEMA, outlines hazards such as hurricanes, storm surges and floods that can impact Warren and devises actions to respond to those hazards.
- Metacom Avenue Corridor Plan: This plan assesses conditions along Warren's portion of the Metacom Avenue Corridor including including traffic, zoning, building standards and pedestrian accessibility.
- Comprehensive Community Plan: This plan is the overall guide for Town policies and actions and provides the vision for where the community would like to go in the next ten to twenty years.
Project Management
The Department of Planning and Community Development coordinates with other departments, state and federal agencies, residents and consultants (engineers, architects, etc.) to implement community improvement projects. The Department arranges community outreach efforts, locates funding sources and manages project grants.
Fair Housing Promotion and Education
By federal law, the Town of Warren, as a CDBG recipient, must certify that it will actively support fair housing through the distribution of written materials, outreach and education, events or other activities. What does Fair Housing mean? Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (Fair Housing Act), as amended, prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status (including children under the age of 18 living with parents or legal custodians, pregnant women, and people securing custody of children under the age of 18), and handicap (disability). To learn more about Fair Housing policies, visit the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's website at http://www.hud.gov/offices/fheo/FHLaws/.
Data Analysis and Mapping
The Department of Planning and Community Developement is responsible for analyzing data to guide policies, procedures and practices, including to land use and land subdivision and community development projects. Data can come through state sources, such as RIGIS (Rhode Island Geographic Information Systems), as well as the U.S. Census Bureau, RIEDC (Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation), HUD or other agencies that collect information.
The Department provides mapping for the Town, and maintains tax parcel maps and zoning maps. For more information on Maps that are available, please see the Document Library (Maps) section of the website. For more information, contact the Department at 245-2469.
Warren Town Hall: 514 Main Street, Warren, Rhode Island 02885
Town Clerk: 401-245-7340 / Town Treasurer's Office: 401-245-7341 / Tax Assessor: 245-7342 / Building-Zoning-Planning: 401-245-7343
Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Parking is located on Main Street and behind Town Hall.
