Reflections on our Master Plan

Posted

To the Editor:

We completed our new town Master Plan a few months ago and the results are not very different than one would find in most suburban communities. We want to preserve the look and feel of our town, but we also want to fix a number of physical problems we have. We want to lower the cost of housing so young folk can live here and the elderly can remain in the same town where they lived their whole lives. These understandable goals have some built-in contradictions, however.

Most people think that preserving the look and feel of town means we should resist growth, resist new construction that will fill vacant lots, resist people adding additions to their homes. That kind of approach simply forces growth to occur elsewhere. It is the primary reason why urban sprawl continues to be a negative force impacting all of our rural neighboring communities and sometimes the reason why neighbors get pitted against neighbors. It also works against the goal of having more affordable housing to offer people. I do not mean just the classic “affordable” housing, I refer simply to apartments, small condos or small homes that, by the very nature of their size, will be more affordable to purchase than the current average home. Our town has precious few options with this regard.

To fix all the broken things in town, including preparation for the effects of climate change, we simply need more money than the small amount we get from property taxes. This is not enough for us to fix things quickly enough to be effective. Possible solutions for this include allowing more commercial development, controlled and done in a sustainable manner, to allow some increase in housing and to continue to control spending in some of the innovative ways Town Hall has been taking advantage of recently.

To provide more affordable housing beyond the classic big housing project approach, we don’t have enough room for that, we need more varied types of housing spread throughout the town. The simple idea of apartments could help quite a bit. Only 20 percent of our housing is apartments while the state average is 32 percent. New apartments could most easily occur within existing structures. This would allow us to preserve existing buildings and retain the current homeowner while allowing an additional household to live there. The housing study done two years ago recommended this be allowed throughout the town. Another option might be to allow new two- or three-unit buildings to be built or to incorporate these units into renovated existing buildings. Still another option might be to allow greater height and density in the downtown where apartments or condos could be built above street level businesses. This type of mixed-use building has met with success in many suburban communities. The design of any of these options would be tailored by carefully crafted new zoning laws. Changes to the zoning by-laws are currently being discussed with the Planning Board with the help of one of the top zoning attorneys in the state.

More and more cities and towns are gravitating towards allowing increased density mixed into their existing neighborhoods. In other words, they are encouraging in-law apartments or multiple units within buildings to be mixed into the fabric of their towns. This has been seen to be very successful in many communities, be they urban or suburban, the approach still works.

If we can define the kind of “look” we want to see in new construction in town and promote this through well-crafted examples and adopting carefully worded design criteria, we will very likely see sympathetic new development that will compliment our town and reinforce it’s general character, it’s “look and feel.” Currently we provide no guidance as to the architecture we want to see and there are many simple ways to accomplish this without mandating specific architectural styles or features.

More work needs to be done in studying the nature of our town, our downtown, as well as testing out new potential development in the commercial district. It is easy to be opposed to change, but the economic and housing needs of our town will not be resolved on their own. We need to embrace and manage future development to tailor it to compliment our town using proven creative new approaches.

Our Master Plan is being acted on and is proving a good roadmap for the future of our town. Ongoing public meetings are being held to revise our zoning bylaws and we have every reason to be hopeful that soon there may be places for our teachers, town employees and elderly to find affordable housing options. In the end, we will all get a chance to vote on the coming changes at a future Town Meeting. Contact Town Planner Sue Brown browns@manchester.ma.us for more information.

Gary Gilbert

Manchester, Member of the Master Planning Committee

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