The Rhode Island league of Women Voters believes that the State of Rhode Island should establish a broad overall land use plan including general land use goals, policies to accompany these goals, identification of critical areas and activities, and regulations for specific land uses. The state should be the primary governmental unit for identification and regulation of critical areas and activities. To the extent that these areas and activities cross state boundaries, regional planning and regional controls are advisable. The decision malting process should include ample local input. Incentives to encourage local communities to follow the broad guidelines of the plan are necessary, and penalties may be needed in case of noncompliance. State government should help localities develop and exercise local land use management functions. Local communities should have the power to use innovative land use planning and regulatory techniques. The state should compensate localities that suffer revenue losses from state override of local land uses. Impact statements for development involving critical areas and activities should be required; the scope of these statements should be in relation to the size of the project. Impact statements should be made public early enough to avoid costly investment and in time to allow decision changes. We support the exploration of alternative taxing methods, as land use decisions made on "best use of land" criteria will be hard to make under the present property tax system. Citizen input in land use planning is a major concern. Provisions for public participation throughout the planning process should be mandatory. Training in basic land use planning should be required for local zoning, permit and planning boards. Definition of Terms A. Critical Areas: fragile or historic lands where development could result in irreversible damage (such as shorelines, including those of rivers, or lakes; wetlands; Indian burial grounds); renewable resource lands, where development could result in the loss of productivity (such as watershed, forest lands, agricultural lands); natural hazard lands, where development could endanger life and property (i.e. flood plains).

B. Critical Activities: activities in areas impacted by public investment where siting results in secondary land use demand (11ighways, water and sewer, utilities, etc.); in large scale private development which may have a substantial impact upon the environmental, social and economic environment (industrial parks, shopping centers, apartment complexes, etc.); land developments by public bodies (1ow and moderate income housing, recreation, open spaces, etc.).

C. Resources Available to Management: increased state financial and technical aid, and data information. Public Involvement: could include: individual comments, attendance at public meetings or hearings, citizen action, lobbying, citizen advisory committees and appellate boards.