R.I. Gen. Laws § 45-23-62: Procedure — Waivers — Modifications and reinstatement of plans.

(a) Waiver and/or modification of requirements. The planning board has the power to grant waivers and/or modifications from the requirements for land development and subdivision approval as may be reasonable and within the general purposes and intents of the provisions for local regulations. The only grounds for waivers and/or modifications are where the literal enforcement of one or more provisions of the regulations is impracticable and will exact undue hardship because of peculiar conditions pertaining to the land in question or where waiver and/or modification is in the best interest of good planning practice and/or design as evidenced by consistency with the municipality’s comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance.

(b) Local regulations shall include provisions for an applicant to seek reinstatement of development applications when the deadlines set in the local regulations and approval agreements for particular actions are exceeded and the development application or approval is therefore rendered invalid. Where an approval has expired, the local regulations shall specify the point in the review to which the application may be reinstated.

(c) Decision. The planning board shall approve, approve with conditions, or deny the request for either a waiver or modification as described in subsection (a) or (b) in this section, according to the requirements of § 45-23-63.