Charlestown

• Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental (lease ≥ 1 year) of ADU explicitly permitted under Section 218-53 for both family and market-rate ADUs (subject to lot-size minimum for non-family).
• Short-term rental: no RIGL § 45-24-73 and Charlestown Section 218-53 explicitly prohibit ADU offering for tourist or transient use or through any hosting platform. This is enforced at building-permit and certificate-of-occupancy stage.
• Office rental: with-restrictions Detached office rental requires home-occupation permit under Chapter 218; not a permitted ADU use.
• Home office: yes Home occupation permitted with restrictions on signage and customer traffic.
• Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist studio is a permitted accessory use.
• Agriculture: yes Charlestown is rural coastal RI — Right-to-Farm protections apply; many parcels are zoned R-3A (3-acre minimum) with substantial agricultural use.
• Relative support: yes Family-occupancy ADU explicitly permitted on any residential lot under Section 218-53 (no minimum 20,000 sqft for family-occupancy track).

Staff: Joseph L. Warner Jr., CBO, CFM (Charlestown Building/Zoning Official and Floodplain Manager) jwarner@charlestownri.gov

• Water: Private wells dominant in Charlestown; Kenyon Pond and the Salt Pond Critical Resource Area drive heightened private-well water-quality monitoring. RIDOH Private Well Program oversight. · 30d connect · $13,000
• Sewer: Private on-site septic (ISDS / OWTS) — RIDEM permitting required, with Salt Pond Critical Resource Area triggering enhanced nitrogen-removal denitrifying-system requirements (e.g., FAST, AdvanTex, or Norweco Singulair systems) · 75d connect · $28,000
• Electric: Rhode Island Energy (formerly National Grid) · 14d connect · $1,800
• Gas: Propane dominant (no natural-gas mains in most of Charlestown); typical providers include Suburban Propane, AmeriGas, Eastern Propane · 21d connect · $1,500

Realistic total: best 9mo · typical 14mo · worst 21mo

State ADU loans:

• RIHousing ADU financing
• Rhode Island Executive Office of Housing

RIGL § 45-24-73 voids HOA / condo restrictions on ADUs that conflict with statute minimums. Charlestown HOA penetration is moderate concentrated in shoreline / pond-front developments and a handful of inland subdivisions; rural inland parcels typically have no HOA encumbrance.

• flood-zone
  Substantial portions of coastal Charlestown sit in FEMA SFHA (Ninigret Pond, Quonochontaug Pond, Charlestown Town Beach barrier beach, Pawcatuck River headwaters). Building/Zoning Official Joseph Warner is also Floodplain Manager. Elevation certificates and flood-resistant construction required for SFHA parcels; V-Zone and Coastal A-Zone parcels carry the most stringent requirements.
• coastal-zone
  Charlestown's coastline is heavily CRMC-regulated. Ninigret Pond and Quonochontaug Pond are NRHP-eligible coastal lagoons with barrier-beach systems. CRMC Assent required for any parcel within the coastal zone before building permit issuance.
• tribal-jurisdiction
  ~1,800 acres of southern Charlestown form the federally recognized Narragansett Indian Tribe reservation (recognized 1983). Tribal land is governed by tribal authority, not Charlestown town zoning; ADU applications on tribal land must go through tribal channels, not the Charlestown Building Office.
• salt-pond-critical-resource
  Salt Pond Region Critical Resource Area (RIDEM) imposes heightened OWTS nitrogen-removal standards on private septic systems within the watershed, materially increasing septic-upgrade cost for new ADU bedrooms.
• wetland-setback
  Kenyon Pond, Pasquiset Pond, and freshwater wetlands trigger RIDEM setbacks (typically 100-200 ft).