Housing Committee Meeting Minutes

Housing Committee Meeting

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Zoom Meeting at 7:00 PM

Committee Members Attending:

Barbara Freeman (Chair), Richard Wright, Joanne Lord, Christopher Hernick, Nicole Gage, Tom Krebs, Matt Mynczywor, Christopher Millette, Denise Mitchell, Alicia Morse, Judy Hale, Stephanie Spaulding, Russell Smith and Kristen Schultz.

Donna Long, Recording Secretary

Public Attending

Bruce Healey, Planning Board Chair

1. Review the “Vision” for Newbury from the Master Plan (MP) and the Goal of the Housing Committee

Ms. Freeman asked if everyone reviewed all of the documents that she suggested at the last meeting. Most everyone had read the documents prior to the meeting and were familiar with theMaster Plan Vision and the Plan's “Action Areas” for “Housing and Demographics” (DH1, 2 and 3).

2. Discuss and Finalize Value Statement 

Ms. Freeman went over the proposed Newbury Housing Committee Values that she had sent out from the discussion at the September meeting (attached). The committee made further revisions. It was decided to include the following sentences asthe Value Statement:

• We believe that everyone deserves a home.

• We believe that we should provide the opportunity to develop workforce housing within the Town of Newbury per the State of NH requirements.

• We believe in providing opportunity for housing diversity in Newbury which includes residential opportunities for different age groups, races and ethnic groups, veterans, family types, retired and working people and people with differing abilities.

• Finally, we believe in a transparent process for determining any changes to our regulations.  

3. Review Definition of Workforce Housing

Ms. Freeman mentioned that we had already discussed this topic when going over the Value Statement. She had included a definition of this according to the NH Housing Finance Agency and it reads as follows: 

The term workforce housing means permanent housing, intended as a primary year-round residence that is available to households regardless of age and is best provided near places of employment.

Workforce housing can include, but is not limited to, subsidized and affordable housing, as well as market-rate and mixed-income housing. It refers to a broad range of places to live for both owners and renters, meeting the needs of families and individuals that represent the majority of New Hampshire’s diverse workforce. Workforce housing includes a variety of housing types suitable for households with different needs and income levels.  The types of housing include starter homes, townhouses, condominiums, apartments and accessory dwelling units. New Hampshire RSA 674:58-:61, the state’s workforce housing law, defines income and affordability ranges.

4. Definition of Affordable Housing

Ms. Freeman stated that she sent this definition out to the entire committee in a prior email. Both the definitions for Workforce Housing and Affordable Housing can be found here: https://www.nhhfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NH_Workforce_Housing_La... here: https://www.nhhfa.org/housing-challenges-solutions/workforce-housing/

Ms. Freeman will put these definitions into one document for a working reference by the next meeting.

5. Review of State Requirements to Provide Workforce Housing

Ms. Freeman asked if everyone had read the state requirements for force housing that she sent out. She explained that the RSA (state law) requiring the opportunity to build work force housing in town ordinances has been in the laws for at least 10 years. She noted that when she was the Chair of the Planning Board several years ago when the Board developed Cluster Housing regulations to see if they could be used to provide Work Force Housing. However, the cluster housing ordinance as Newbury approved it only provides a 10% density bonus if affordable housing is part of the development project.  That means that instead of a 2-acre lot for building, a resident only needs 1.8 acres.  She said that is not adequate to encourage the development of affordable housing, as 1.8 is not much differentthan 2 acres. She thinks that one of the things the Housing Committee should look at is changing the regulations for cluster housing. Mr. Healey agreed and said they need to look at additional incentives. 

Nicole Gage will look into legal restrictions on Work Force Housing that might exist and report to the committee.  

6. Review Master Plan Section on Demographics and Housing

Ms. Freeman said one of the things they need to do with the consultant (Steve Whitman) is to take a look at the demographics. She said there seems to be an influx of people coming into Newbury and there is a lot of new buildings going up. There was some discussion on how they can get some numbers on the changing demographics. Ms. Freeman stated that Mr. Whitman will be doing that work and will attend our November meeting. 

7. Review Newbury Zoning Ordinances

Ms. Freeman asked what everyone found when reviewing the regulations. Some of the things that were brought up were:

- The topic of an accessory apartment and why it needs to go to zoning board. Mr. Healey explained you don’t need to go to the zoning board as long as you have followed the guidelines when establishing an accessory apartment.  You do have to have a building permit approved by the building inspector.

- Multifamily housing is permitted which is good.  There are building height restrictions based on the town's fire fightingequipment.

- The Cluster Housing ordinance does not help at all.

- Many of the ordinances were put in place so that building will not jeopardize the rural character of the town.

- There was a view that there were no Workforce Housing incentives other than the 10% density incentive. (Look at Accessory Apartments within the Residential District in this regard. 5.7.10- to be discussed at November's meeting)

- There was discussion regarding certain areas of the town including Blodgett’s Landing and South Newbury that might support additional density.

- The Committee requested a map that shows the developable land in Newbury with all development restriction and zoning overlaid.  Ms. Freeman said she will ask Mr. Whitman to put together that map.

The Committee will need to put together a comprehensive list of Regulatory restrictions that make the construction of more affordable housing difficult.

8. For Next Month (November 18)

-     Continue to review the zoning Regs., review the Newbury Subdivision Regulations and the Newbury Site Plan Review Regulations

-     Steve Whitman will present changes in our demographicsand residential units since 2017. and his Newbury housing needs assessment

-     Look at density and the impact of current regulations on the character of the town

-     Look at the town map with developable land overlaid by restrictions.

9. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Donna Long 

Recording Secretary