Lancaster Main Street Revival

MOULTONBOROUGH — Join the Moultonborough Heritage Commission on Monday, Oct. 21 for “Lancaster Main Street Revival,” a presentation and discussion of community planning with Lancaster Town Planner Ben Gaetjens-Oleson. This program is free and open to the public, and will take place at 7 p.m. at the Moultonborough Public Library. 

This presentation will discuss Lancaster’s ongoing downtown revitalization. Starting in 2011, events on Main Street spurred Lancaster to examine its existing regulations. A proposal for a 9,000-square-foot Family Dollar necessitated demolition of two historic homes, and fires left unsightly vacant lots. The town commissioned a Land Use Regulation and Policy Audit to assess the implications of existing planning and land use regulations, and to identify inconsistencies between master plan goals and town regulations.

Following the audit, Lancaster conducted a series of public meetings for residents and stakeholders, held a community charrette, and made other outreach efforts to develop its Form Based Codes for downtown, approved in 2014. Lancaster has successfully used RSA 79-E, the Community Revitalization Tax Relief Incentive Program, to encourage investment, rehabilitation and active re-use of character-defining historic buildings in its downtown. This includes the Parker J. Noyes Building, which was added to the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance’s Seven to Save most endangered properties list in 2017, the same year as Moultonborough’s Taylor House.

Lancaster’s 2011 master plan noted how the community’s historic character was threatened by commercial development, and sought ways to plan for redevelopment to retain the character, balanced with the need for downtown economic development.

This is the third of the Moultonborough Heritage Commission’s Community Landmark Series talks focusing on Community Planning, Downtowns and Economic Development Initiatives this year.