If you’re like most people, land use zoning isn’t something you think about until maybe you’re contemplating adding an in-law apartment (which may not be such a good idea for a variety of reasons), or your neighbor is trying to get approval for a three-story Las Vegas-style hot tub overlooking your deck. But zoning is important, and it’s changing in a fundamental way.
The long-standing thrust of zoning laws has been to keep similar land uses together and different land uses apart to avoid conflicts. For example, residential uses were assigned to a residential zone in one part of the community, retail uses to another and industrial uses to yet another.
Over time that segregation has led to what many see as a boring landscape of “little boxes on the hillside” and a dependence on the automobile for just about everything. If you want to get a local view of burdensome regulations, take a look at your community’s zoning ordinance. Professional planners have become development control officers, leaving little time for planning the future of their communities.
New Zones
Lately, this philosophy of isolating similar land uses is being turned on its head in several communities in New England and, more recently, NH. The new philosophy is that in some areas of a community, a mix of land uses on the same parcel is actually beneficial and preferred. It is a return to the pre-zoning historic pattern of land use in NH’s towns, in which stores, residences, agriculture and mill buildings co-existed in a symbiotic relationship within walking distance of each other.
For communities adopting the mixed use concept, it’s happening under the moniker of “new urbanism,” which relates to some of the current demographic shifts. Many of our downsizing baby boomers and start-up millennials (our two biggest demographic bulges) don’t want the four-bedroom colonial sitting on an acre or more in the middle of nowhere, or shopping in a giant enclosed mall. Instead, they are seeking a more exciting diversity of restaurants, theaters, retail, residential options and employment opportunities all within walking distance in a planned, pedestrian-friendly outdoor setting.
Called “lifestyle centers,” these new developments combine residential, entertainment, retail and restaurant uses on a single site, and early indications are that they are popular with residents, shoppers and town governments.
In NH, Salem has revised its zoning ordinance to encourage mixed use redevelopment of the Rockingham Park racetrack site, adjacent to the Mall at Rockingham Park. The Salem Planning Board has begun reviewing a proposal with a mix of residential, entertainment, office and retail uses. Bedford is seeing this concept emerge on the site of the former Wayfarer Inn and Macy’s department store. Dover has approved a comparable mixed use development on Dover Point Road.
These centers are viewed favorably by their host communities because they impose few demands on municipal services while paying property taxes in the $3 million to $4 million range annually.
Hopefully the success of these new concepts will encourage more NH communities to supplement the isolating outcome of traditional zoning with a more flexible concept that allows for a symbiotic and contemporary mix of land uses favored by both residents and municipal government. These new developments must meet performance standards such as parking, wetlands and overall density, but both the developer and the planning board have the flexibility to work together and achieve a more vibrant development outside the strict dictates of conventional zoning.
More NH communities should adapt their zoning ordinances to accommodate this mixed use concept. Thus far, it seems to work best when next to major transportation corridors, like interstate highways. It should be applied to larger sites, generally 25 acres or more, to avoid piecemeal development.
Communities should also spell out development standards in a functional way, (without going overboard with details) such as requiring developments to provide enough parking and pay for any offsite impacts on roads, sewer, water and other municipal services. Including affordable workforce housing might be a carrot for the community to consider. And boards should reserve broad approval/disapproval powers including design review.
Doing this right means more tax revenue without imposing a major service burden on the community, more local jobs and a variety of needed housing in an
attractive setting.
Russ Thibeault is the president of Laconia-Based Applied Economic Research, which provides economic and real estate consulting services to public and private clients. He can be reached at russ@aernh.com.
Current Issue - May 2024