CLAREMONT — A report prepared by the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission on increasing and improving housing in the city contains several recommendations that are a sharp departure from current zoning regulations.
The Planning Board discussed the 48-page report on Thursday night with UVLSRPC Executive Director Steve Schneider and Olivia Uyizeye, an assistant planner with the regional planning commission, along with Claremont Planning and Development Director Nancy Merrill.
Schneider said the commission was charged with looking at the city’s master plan and developing recommendations that would “make the land-use regulations housing friendly” and create more housing for the community.
Among the issues addressed in the report, Schneider said, were “barriers to changing housing.
“Is the language (in the regulations) allowing for housing to be redeveloped,” Schneider said. “How can we make new housing and existing housing work better?”
The report has seven main categories, including minimum lot size, connection to municipal water and sewer, parking, building code, maintenance and enforcement and “middle housing.”
Parking requirements downtown, often cited as a major impediment to repurposing vacant buildings, should perhaps be eliminated with the developer deciding how many spaces are needed, the report suggested. It also noted that a parking study stated that downtown can “accommodate significant infill of new buildings and increasing occupancy of existing buildings without needing significant parking supplies.”
“At the end of the day, parking costs developers and if you do not need parking for a new development, let’s take a look at that,” Schneider said. “If parking exists, why ask a developer to create more parking? Parking is necessary but let the market determine that.”
Planning Board Chairman Richard Wahrlich was skeptical of the commission’s parking recommendations, a sentiment that was shared by several other board members.
“There is no question we need to get creative with parking, but I don’t think we can depend on the developer to do it,” Wahrlich said.
The board was more agreeable to a recommendation to extend the minimum allowable space between buildings and public lines for water and sewer for required connection. Increasing that distance from 200 to 300 feet would help to increase property values and encourage more development and hookups, according to the report.
Board member Allen Damren said it would be in the city’s best interests to accept the recommendation.
Any of the recommendations the board decides to adopt would then require the drafting and passing of a new ordinance.
The report also suggests a streamlining of building codes by having the zoning ordinance changed to be in line with the International Building Code, adopted by the city, instead of having different living area requirements in the current ordinance.
Another key element of the report is the recommendation to promote more “middle housing,” which refers to housing that is between single-unit and multi-unit homes. Examples include accessory dwelling units, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes.
“This type of home is critical for municipalities to provide adequate homes, increase density and provide more users for costly utilities like municipal water and sewer,” the report states.
Schneider said the recommendations are a way to encourage the city to be more “creative” and follow examples nationally of housing initiatives.
“Don’t be afraid to take a deeper look at these and begin to put together regulations,” Schneider said.
The report was paid for with a $25,000 grant.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@g mail.com.
