WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A zoning amendment that would allow for mixed-use commercial and residential development on a 32-acre stretch of land across from the VA Medical Center received unanimous approval from the Hartford Selectboard on Tuesday night following a public hearing that featured resounding support for the change from local housing stakeholders and employers.
In remarks preceding the public-comment portion of the meeting, Hartford Planning Commission Chairman John Reid, whose committee approved the zoning amendment in a similar public hearing held on Sept. 8, said the change would help provide alternative housing solutions to the town.
“We recognize we’re in the midst of a housing crisis,” Reid said. “This amendment is another step in increasing our housing supply.”
Representatives from Vital Communities, Upper Valley Haven and Twin Pines Housing, all local housing and advocacy nonprofits, expressed their support for the zoning amendment, which would see a 32-acre, 13-parcel section of Hartford that sits across from the VA and is already home to several hotels and businesses rezoned as “General Commercial/Residential” to accommodate multi-unit residential development and other commercial/residential mixed-uses. Its current zoning designation, “Industrial Commercial Two,” only allows for light industrial and commercial use.
Twin Pines Housing Executive Director Andrew Winter spoke in support of the amendment at the hearing and said his organization was looking into buying one of the five hotels already located in the zone and converting it into multi-family housing. Winter said the new district “brings a lot of benefits” to locals looking for housing because of its proximity to downtown, access to sewer and water and because it’s right across from VA, a major employer for the town.
The need for housing, specifically housing for prospective employees at the VA or at Mascoma Savings Bank, which has two locations in White River Junction, was a consistent talking point of community stakeholders who spoke during the public hearing.
Mascoma Savings Bank President Clay Adams, who is also on the Vital Communities Corporate Council, said he supported the amendment because of its potential to increase workforce housing, something he said the council has been working on over the past five years and something he said he always hears from local small business owners is their “greatest barrier” when trying to find new employees.
The supply of new homes in the Upper Valley is not yet meeting demand, Adams said, citing data from a Keys to the Valley study published last year on the Upper Valley’s housing shortage, which found that “approximately 10,000 new homes of all kinds will be needed by 2030 to meet increased demand for homes in the greater Upper Valley region.”
Adams, citing data from Vital Communities, said about 600 new residential units were built in 2021. That, he said, was an improvement from the 450 new residential units built in 2020 but was still short of what is needed in the region.
VA Public Information Officer Katherine Tang spoke at the hearing and asked the town to consider flexible and affordable housing when considering new development proposals. She said the VA employs around 1,200 people at its White River Junction location and also supports 300 veteran residents who prefer to live as close to the hospital as possible.
Tang said over the last two years, the VA has lost out on countless fully qualified candidates for critical positions because they couldn’t find a place in town.
“Veteran care is our priority,” Tang said. “They served our country and we want to serve them, but we can only serve them if we have people willing to work for us, and they can’t work for us if they don’t live here.”
Public support for the amendment was not unanimous. Craig Whitten, who identified himself as a resident of Hartford, asked the Selectboard to vote “no” during a separate public comment period earlier in the meeting. Whitten said he didn’t want White River Junction to become like neighboring West Lebanon and called it “overdeveloped.”
“Everywhere in the country looks like West Lebanon,” Whitten said. “Vermont doesn’t have a lot of places like that and that’s a good thing, and I want to keep it that way.”
Whitten also speculated whether “homeless camps” would begin popping up in the area across from the hospital and suggested it would be a “nightmare” if that were to happen. Town Planner Matt Osborn later clarified that a shelter for the unhomed was not a permitted use within the district and that any proposal for one would have to go before the planning commission for approval after Selectboard member Lannie Collins asked about it.
Collins also asked about whether the wetlands in the area posed a limitation for development. Osborn said there were “several acres” of wetlands within the district and that because the State of Vermont oversees all wetlands areas in the state, it would result in “limited-development opportunities” in those spaces.
The zoning amendment goes into effect on Oct. 25, 21 days after the Selectboard’s adoption of the measure. Over email, Osborn said the next deadline for development applications to the Planning Commission and Zoning Board is Oct. 17.
Ray Couture can be reached at 1994rbc@gmail.com.