WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Hartford and other Upper Valley communities have long struggled with a lack of available housing stock — a problem that has only grown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
But a recent effort from the town to consider rezoning properties around Hartford may pave the way for new housing developments.
“The pressure on the housing market is tight, abnormally tight,” Upper Valley Haven director Michael Redmond said on Friday.
He called the town’s push to establish mixed-use properties an “encouraging” sign of what may lie ahead.
The latest of those efforts came last week, when the Selectboard approved a proposal from the Planning Commission to re-zone two properties in the town for mixed-use. The rezoning will go into effect in April.
One property, which sits on Route 4 in Quechee near the intersection with Waterman Hill Road, is currently zoned for highway/commercial use.
The other, in White River Junction on Route 5 by the intersection with Route 4, is currently zoned for industrial/commercial use.
Following the rezoning, both properties will be able to accommodate one- and two-family homes, according to a copy of the proposal from the commission. They will also be able to be used for commercial businesses and multi-unit housing with approval from the town.
Matt Osborn, assistant zoning administrator for the Planning Commission, said Friday that the commission started looking at rezoning some properties after getting feedback from residents who asked for more mixed-use spaces. Some residents have even called the commission, asking whether they can get their own properties rezoned.
Selectboard chairman Dan Fraser said he doesn’t know of any projects planned for the sites they approved last week, but he hopes to have more housing availability in Hartford.
“It is important to have more housing, especially affordable house for workforce, students,” Fraser wrote in an email Friday. “Like I think all towns, Hartford doesn’t have enough housing — either for sale or for rent.”
That’s a problem Redmond said he’s watched growing around the Upper Valley in recent years. He attributes it to people moving to the area, largely because of its attractions and job offerings at places like Dartmouth College, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and specialty manufacturers based around Hartford.
But the problem has intensified in the past year, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to an influx of people moving to Vermont from out of state. Andrew Winter, Executive Director of Twin Pines Housing, a non-profit affordable housing organization in Hartford, said the pandemic also increased the cost of housing materials, discouraging many builders from taking on new projects.
Winter said residential vacancy rates are generally a good indicator of available housing stock. Ideally, the vacancy rate should be around 5% in a town, but in Hartford it’s about 1.5%.
Redmond said he’s seen the effects of the tight market in his own job at the Haven, which provides a shelter for people experiencing homelessness. In previous years, the average length of stay at the Haven was one month, but recently that’s tripled or quadrupled.
“It makes a lot of sense to think about rezoning,” Winter said, adding that he hopes Hartford continues to look at ways to rezone properties and encourage residential growth. Osborn said the commission is in the process of looking at more properties, including land around Sykes Mountain Avenue, to see if there are any areas that could be rezoned to allow mixed use.