Housing Committee Notes
Newbury Housing Committee 11/13/20
Review of the Town of Newbury Zoning Ordinances
(Revised 3/11/2020)
Introduction
The Newbury Housing Committee has been tasked with examining the Town's existing land use regulations and proposing changes to the regulations that will create opportunity to develop workforce housing within the Town of Newbury per the State of NH requirements as well as providing opportunity for housing diversity. By diversity we mean residential opportunities for different age groups, races and ethnic groups, veterans, family types, retired and working people and people with differing abilities.
The first task has been to review Newbury's Zoning Ordinances for existing opportunities and barriers for creating different housing types.
Analysis of Zoning Impacts on Housing Development
Issues:
Land is a major cost for developing housing and land is expensive in Newbury. Newbury's zoning does not encourage the efficient use of land and does not permit the kind of density that might help generate more affordable land use.
In general, Newbury zoning applies a 2-acre lot or greater restriction to the major area of the town. The exception being the Blodgett Landing Cottage District, the Mount Sunapee Recreation District, Recreational Camping Park and Cluster Development zones. Cluster Development is permitted to have smaller lot sizes but must still respect the same density requirements as the town's residential and commercial zones except where 60% of the development is designated as open space or 10% of the housing units are affordable as defined by the ordinances. In each of these cases, a 10% density incentive is given which translates to a 1.8-acre or 1.6-acre lot or greater depending on the density calculations.
The rural character and natural features of Newbury are extremely well protected. The determination of permitted density of a subdivision eliminates counting steep slopes,100-year flood plains, wetlands and surface waters completely from the land calculation and allows only 50% of the land of deer wintering areas in the calculation. Given how much of Newbury is steep slope, wetlands, water and deer yards, the land needed for a subdivision is considerably more than 2 acres per dwelling unit in many cases. This applies to the current Cluster Development regulations.
An Accessory Apartment is permitted on an existing lot if it is secondary to the primary housing unit occupied by the property owner. This does permit an additional housing unit to be built where there is an existing house, increasing the density. However the size of the housing unit is limited to 2 bedrooms and 1000 s.f. Newbury claims this as the Town's answer to workforce housing. Clearly this is not adequate as many working people have families that need more space and bedrooms than these accessory apartments can provide.
Opportunities:
Within the existing zoning regulations there is the opportunity to increase the density incentive in the Cluster Development regulations to allow far more dense development and a more efficient use of the land.
Higher densities are not necessarily appropriate for Newbury's uplands and back- country. Protection of natural and rural environment suggests that these areas should be protected. In addition, more dense development and more housing necessitates that emergency responders have good access to these areas and some of Newbury's back-country is difficult to get to quickly in bad weather.
The committee should look at areas of Newbury where higher density may be possible. Envision Newbury 2027 pinpointed three areas, but other areas might be possible. The next steps that we should take as a committee are a "look/see" of our town and a process to evaluate different housing types and alternatives. Where might village type settlement with walkable streets and a community feel fit with our land and with services? Where might multi-family housing fit if it does at all? Are there existing buildings that could be redeveloped?