Newport Comprehensive Land Use Plan - Existing Conditions | Page 29

3 Land Use
The City of Newport encompasses 11.48 square miles. This includes approximately 3.54 square
miles of inland water, which represents nearly one-third of Newport’s incorporated area. The
remaining two-thirds of Newport’s jurisdictional area, only 8 square miles, represent land
available for some form of land use.
The city’s relatively small area supports a resident population of roughly 25,000, but also
3 ½ million tourists. In that the majority of the city’s revenues are derived from property taxes,
the fact that roughly 26% of the city’s property (by value) is tax exempt means that Newport is at
a significant disadvantage with respect to the burden it must impose on the remaining taxable
properties within the City. This burden undermines the city’s ability to implement the initiatives
it needs to carry out in order to broaden and diversify its tax base, protect its residents and their
quality of life and to retain and expand existing commerce.
Specifically, according to the Office of the Tax Assessor, 420 tax exempt parcels account for a
total value of $1.88 billion worth of tax-exempt land in Newport. These properties are owned
by the city, state, federal government, and exempt institutions and include cemeteries,
churches, the library, schools, the hospital, ex-charter, and charitable land holdings. With a total
property value in the city of $7.12 billion, fully 26% of the city’s property value is tax exempt.
Given this financial burden, the city’s small land area and coupled with the fact that most of
Newport’s land use patterns are well established and cannot as a practical matter, change in any
substantive way, Newport must be creative, aggressive and focused in order to succeed.
This chapter describes Newport’s existing land use, land use patterns and intended future land
use adjustments necessary to accomplish the goals and policies included in this plan.

3.1 Existing Conditions
Land Use

Newport’s land use
development patterns have
As the City is 90% built out, future land
long been established.
developments will primarily be in
Having mostly developed
redevelopment projects and infill
prior to the inception of
development.
zoning and the invention of
the automobile, Newport’s
core matured into a compact city with dense neighborhoods and comparatively narrow streets.
The exception to this is the city’s south end, where soils and other constraints have greatly
limited development and the “mansion” area, where large tracts with grand “cottages” are the
primary form and type of land use.

Draft Existing Conditions (March 2016)

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