Developing on owned land

[Bradley Scruggs]

Hi to all! 

I am in the military stationed in Rhode Island. I am hoping to develop some land out here that I own because it seems that there is not enough housing for military and people in general that is affordable. 

I have been running into issues with the planning and zoning department about doing a build. However, I see builders all day long putting huge multi family complexes up, why can't the little guy take a piece of the cake?

Does anyone have any advice on getting around or having the town sign off? At the end of the day I would love to put 4 duplexes on the property but would be happy even with just 2 duplexes, the numbers work all day long regardless of build size and being conservative. 

Thanks for reading!

[Mike Wood]

@Bradley Scruggs If you provide more information about what you are trying to do, you will get better responses.  It is not clear to me what you are trying to do or what you asked the city to do.

1) Is the land one (1) single parcel?

2) What is the current zoning for the property?

3) What is the minimum lot size based on the zoning?

4) Is there direct road access to the land you want to develop?

In general, you can not build multiple buildings on property zoned as residential (1-4 units), which is why you may have been told hard no.  If you can figure out a way to subdivide the land (which if you have a mortgage, your lender may not allow), than you can build house on each subdivided parcel.