The Newport City Council's first meeting of 2020 is tomorrow. Here are some of the items on the docket I think are important to highlight:
The Council has been concerned with floating liquor licenses and have asked those license holders to report on their plans and why the license has not had a permanent location. This concern stems in part from recent conversations on the current system of transfer and sales of licenses. Additionally, Rhode Island state law prohibits floating licenses.
There is a resolution requesting that our state legislators sponsor legislation to make civics lessons a requirement for graduation from RI public schools. Civics education has been a big topic of conversation nation wide, and last year a group of Rhode Island students actually sued the state for not providing them with civics education.
A recent Rhode Island Supreme Court decision found that our current hotel registration ordinance does not cover the short-term rental of houses, dwelling units, or condos. We will be voting on a set of amendments to our ordinance that will legally allow us to require registration of short-term rental units. I am and have been concerned with the prevalence of those rental units across Newport and am working with other Councilors on enacting proposals that would further regulate them beyond just registration.
The Council will be receiving a communication from the Superintendent with the schedule for Council approval of the RI Dept of Ed Stage 2 submission of the application for construction of a new high school building. The Stage 2 submission will be the final piece of the application that needs to be approved by RIDE before a public vote to fund the school can take place. The Stage 2 document will be on the Council docket on January 22 and February 12 for review and passage.
As a follow-up to an ongoing dispute regarding public right of way, we are receiving a communication from the attorney for The Reef Restaurant with a signed survey of Howard’s Wharf accurately depicting the public right of way on the wharf. With the corrected survey, we are able to ensure that public access to the waterfront is preserved.
As part of our effort to keep the zoning discussions related to the North End development at the forefront of the Council and the public’s mind, the City Planner has been giving regular reports to the Council on the status of the zoning updates. The zoning working group has been meeting weekly since the moratorium was passed. The December 19 meeting was attended by the Principal in Charge of NBBJ, the firm working on the North End Urban Plan. I want to make sure we will have the proposed zoning changes on our docket for passage prior to the completion of the moratorium and will be asking the Planner to provide a firm date for when we can expect to see those items on the docket.
You can find the full docket here. As always, you are invited to come hear the debate and voice your questions and concerns at the meeting.