Smart Growth audit underway

With a grant from the Samuel P. Pardoe Foundation the Lakes Region Planning Commission (LRPC) and New Hampshire Audubon Society are undertaking a "smart growth" audit for the city.

David Jeffers, regional planner at the LRPC, said that the audit will apply the 10 principles of "smart growth" prescribed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the provisions of the city's zoning ordinance, site plan regulations and Master Plan. The principles include: providing a diverse housing stock; designing walkable neighborhoods; encouraging participation by residents and stakeholders; fostering distinctive communities with a sense of place; ensuring the development process is fair and predictable; enabling a mix of land uses; preserving open spaces; offering choices of transportation; concentrating on existing communities; and promoting compact building design.

At the same time, Jeffers said, the Audubon Society will measure the city's land use regulations against two criteria for protecting wildlife habitat and natural resources, developed in collaboration with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.

"We will go through the various documents to identify the regulations and statements that are consistent with or contrary to the smart growth principles and Audubon will go through a similar exercise," Jeffers said. "There will be some overlap, but there will also be many areas where Audobon can provide a more detailed analysis." Once the audits are complete, Jeffers said that they would offer recommendations for resolving conflicts between the land use regulations and the smart growth principles.

Jeffers said that the LRPC has completed smart growth audits for the towns of Moultonborough and Barnstead and partnered with Audobon on projects in Bristol and Franklin. He anticipated that the process would take six months and a report would be issued in late December or early January.

Planning Director Shanna Saunders said that the audit would complement the revision of the zoning ordinance and site plan regulations, which is scheduled to begin during the current fiscal year. She said that the revision would draw on the report produced by the team from the EPA that visited the city in 2006 as well as the Master Plan. The 2009-2010 budget includes an appropriation of $30,000 to hire a consultant to assist with the revision, particularly with the development of ordinances to address architectural standards and delineate village districts.