Norwich
“My goal at the end of all this is to see if we can get some good agreement on this,” said Allen, a member of the commission who moderated the discussion at Tracy Hall.
Despite concern among some residents that re-upping the current Town Plan could pave the way for high-density developments such as those envisioned in a now-tabled zoning change, Allen said the Planning Commission is not in favor of what critics have labeled “mega-developments.”
The Town Plan, which expired in December, is a visionary document describing the community’s expectations for land use and development. The commission has been working to update the plan so that Norwich can remain eligible for certain state grants and other programs.
“Does anybody who lives here want something built here that doesn’t look like it belongs here?” Allen asked the more than 60 residents in attendance. “Is there anybody who lives here who doesn’t want to retain the rural character of Norwich?”
No hands went up, including among the Planning Commission members present. Yet there was disagreement — and plenty of it — all the same.
“I really love the rural character of this town, but to me the rural character of this town means the characters who live in this town,” resident Irv Thomae said, adding that he was “deeply concerned about affordability.”
Thomae told residents that he and others were “kidding ourselves” if they believed they could maintain their quality of life without allowing for some growth, and warned against “hysteria” over development.
Stuart Richards, a resident who said he would “take the blame” for the use of the term “mega-development,” has circulated a petition that, if formally submitted, could force a townwide vote on the Town Plan instead of the usual means of adoption through the Selectboard.
Richards, a former developer and former member of the town’s Planning Commission, said on Thursday night that affordable housing should be added in a way that didn’t change the feel of the town.
“I don’t think that there’s any — any — argument about the need for affordable housing,” he said.
Residents who offered comments were split between support for the current Town Plan and a desire to revise it to impose visionary limits on development, but many more spoke in favor of the Planning Commission’s work Thursday night than during a public hearing on the panel’s zoning plan in February.
The envisioned zoning change would have created a district along the Route 5 South and River Road corridor allowing densities of up to 8 units per acre, with requirements that new developments include affordable housing.
After the February hearing, the Planning Commission sidelined the zoning idea in favor of revisions to the Town Plan.
Clay Adams, a resident who serves as CEO and president of Mascoma Savings Bank, said on Thursday that he had spoken to many area business owners in his first six months as bank leader. Their responses were part of what led him to support the Town Plan, he said.
“The one comment, without fail, every single one of them makes is there is no affordable housing for their employees,” Adams said. “And they can’t find employees.”
Marcia Calloway, who lives near the envisioned high-density district, accused the commission members of failing to properly incorporate the participation of residents.
She and Richards have submitted Town Plan revisions to the Planning Commission that would have imposed limits on large developments and removed references to a Route 5 corridor. Although the panel incorporated some of their suggestions, they said, it hadn’t done enough to assuage their concerns.
“We are not against development,” Calloway said. “We are against mega-developments and we’re also against things being pushed forward without following (due process).”
Frank Manasek, a vocal critic on the town Listserv, echoed Calloway’s comments about process, but also criticized the Planning Commission for putting forward a Town Plan with population numbers, survey data and census data that hadn’t been updated since 2011, when it last was adopted.
“(Implementing a Town Plan) requires data and information that isn’t 5, 10 or 15 years or more out of date,” he said.
Peter Brink, husband of Planning Commission member Susan Brink, asked residents to approve the Town Plan now, thereby preserving Norwich’s eligibility for grants, and to discuss zoning policy when a zoning proposal is on the table.
“To throw what is a vigorous discussion about Route 5 South into the plan is not constructive,” he said. “Let’s not sabotage the whole town over that issue.”
Once the Planning Commission formally submits a Town Plan to the Selectboard, the town’s governing body will hold its own hearings and decide whether to approve the document.
Residents also may petition to bring the plan to the ballot.
Selectboard members on Wednesday considered calling a special Town Meeting where residents could vote on the Town Plan, but ended up postponing the discussion.
The Planning Commission’s next regularly scheduled meeting is July 27.
Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or at 603-727-3242.