DRAFT 2026 COVENTRY COMPREHENSIVE COMMUNITY PLAN UPDATE

The Town of Coventry is initiating the formal local adoption process for the DRAFT Comprehensive Community Plan in March 2026. This webpage will serve as the home for all relevant documents and updates. 

This DRAFT Plan is intended to replace the 1999 Comprehensive Plan, which expired in 2004, and provides a much-needed update to the Town’s policy structure moving forward. A copy of the 1999 Plan  is posted on the Planning Department webpage for historical background and comparison.

The DRAFT 2026 Comprehensive Plan includes elements focused on the following policy areas: land use, natural resources, open space and outdoor recreation, cultural and historical resources, housing, economic development, community services and facilities, energy and renewable energy, and natural hazards and climate change.

As historic background, a previous draft of the Comprehensive Plan Update was initially prepared by BETA Group and sent to Statewide Planning for advisory review in Fall of 2023. The State identified several deficiencies throughout the Plan, with a particular focus on the lack of affordable housing strategies. In 2024, Town staff and BETA drafted revisions to address deficiencies in an attempt fill in those gaps, however the DRAFT Plan still needed adequate "buy in" from local stakeholders on affordable housing strategies. 

In April 2025, Planning Staff convened an ad-hoc group of community stakeholders and housing policy experts to review the DRAFT Housing Chapter and offer comments. Staff also used existing technical assistance funds (at no cost to the Town) to support expert consultant review of the DRAFT Housing Chapter in June 2025 to target specific improvements. 

In November 2025, the Town successfully obtained additional free technical assistance through RI Housing’s Municipal Technical Assistance Program (MTAP) to fund a more significant re-write of the Housing Chapter to better address the strategic goals and objectives within this Chapter to protect community character and ensure viability moving forward. The Town's consultant for the re-writing of the Housing Chapter is Weston & Sampson. It is anticipated that the revised Housing Chapter will be finalized in October-December 2026.   

Despite the timeline above for revising the Housing Chapter, the Town is going to move forward with the local adoption of all elements of the DRAFT 2026 Comprehensive Plan Update beginning in April 2026. Both efforts will happen concurrently to achieve greater efficiency and document delivery. 

The Coventry Planning Commission held a Public Workshop to gather initial public feedback on the DRAFT Comprehensive Plan Update on April 9, 2026. The DRAFT Plan has been revised following the meeting, to reflect the Planning Commission’s desired changes and to incorporate comments from Town staff and members of the public. The revised documents are accessible via the links below.

The first Public Hearing by the Planning Commission on the DRAFT 2026 Plan will be held on April 29, 2026 at 6:30pm in the Town Council Chambers, 1670 Flat River Road. As an additional courtesy, the Town intends to make these meetings available for public participation using Zoom Video Conference technology to provide potential remote access to the deliberations of the Coventry Planning Commission. Zoom links for the meetings will be posted on the meeting agendas on the Town web calendar. 

Public feedback and comments from residents and interested stakeholders are welcome and encouraged throughout the process. Please email your comments to Doug McLean, Director of Planning and Development, at dmclean@coventryri.gov. Comments will be considered and provided to the Planning Commission as the first step in the formal adoption process.  Following the Planning Commission’s review and recommendation, the DRAFT 2026 Plan will be brought to the Town Council for formal adoption. It is anticipated the Town Council’s initial review will be scheduled for May to June 2026. 

Click links below for DRAFT 2026 Comprehensive Plan files (revised April 16, 2026):

Comprehensive Community Plan Volume 1

Comprehensive Community Plan Volume 2 - Pt 1

Comprehensive Community Plan Volume 2 - Pt 2