Rhode Island General Laws Title 45. Towns and Cities § 45-24.4-5. Procedure for designating special development districts

(a) A special development district may be established, designated, laid out, and defined by any city council only after a public hearing before the city council or a committee or commission authorized by the city council to investigate and make recommendations concerning the proposed special development district. All interested persons shall be given an opportunity to be heard at the hearing. Notice of the time, place, nature, and purpose of the public hearing shall be given to all owners of any real property within two hundred feet (200′) of the perimeter of the proposed special development district, by registered or certified mail at least seven (7) days before the date of the hearing, and by publication of notice in a newspaper of general circulation within the city at least once each week for three (3) successive weeks prior to the date of the hearing. The newspaper notice containing a description of the proposed special development district shall be inserted once in its entirety, and, thereafter, a weekly formal legal notice shall be inserted stating that a public hearing will be held specifying the time and place of the hearing. The subsequent formal notices shall include a reference to the original advertisement which gave full description.

(b) The boundaries of a special development district established, designated, laid out, and defined according to the provisions of this chapter, may be amended only in accordance with procedures established in this section.