After considering revisions addressing its concerns over proposed updates to the Zoning Ordinance related to housing opportunities in Londonderry, the Town Council adopted the amendment with a 3-0 vote.
Councilors Joe Green and Jim Butler were not present for the vote due to work obligations.
Among the proposed changes, which are the result of six months of discussions among the Planning Board, town staff, consultant Jonathan Edwards and the public, are removing the phasing limitations and lowering the minimum required workforce housing units from 75 percent to 50 percent for workforce housing projects; the addition of “Small Workforce Housing,” “Dwelling, Multi-fam ily Workforce,” “Affordable Elderly” and “Live-Work” categories; and an amendment allowing accessory dwelling units in residential areas.
In the first public hearing for the proposed amendments, Councilors’ primary concern with the changes related to permitting up to four workforce housing units on any residential, one-acre lot.
The purpose of the amendment is to discourage large-scale, workforce housing apartment complexes in residential neighborhoods, while meeting the State Workforce Housing Law requiring the Town provide “reasonable and realistic opportunities for the development of workforce housing” throughout all areas of the Town.
However, Councilors expressed fear the amendment would have the unintended consequence of construction that doesn’t fit the rural character of Londonderry’s residential neighborhoods.
May said Town staff and Edwards’ solution is to allow four units on a minimum 2.4-acre lot; but to limit density to a maximum two buildings per lot, which will preserve the rural character of the Town while satisfying the statute.
“We are looking to replicate the typical New England housing with a larger farmhouse and separate barn. This could include reconstructed houses, or the conversions of existing lots,” May said. “Parking and all construction has to happen behind the façade, so there are no changes from the street. The development must be to the scale and fit the architectural character of the neighborhood it’s in. And any new structures would need to go in the rear, as well.”
Small workforce housing developments in residential areas would also be subject to Planning Board oversight, requiring a Conditional Use Permit (CUP).
“If a development doesn’t meet the criteria of a CUP, it wouldn’t be permitted in that location,” May said.
“We feel confident these changes protect the character of the neighborhoods and that we’ve addressed the Council’s concern, while still meeting the State’s requirements for providing workforce housing,” Geographic Information System Manager John Vogl said.
May additionally noted the amended ordinance shifts the responsibility for reporting compliance with workforce housing to the homeowner.
“Workforce Housing brings along the requirement of certification and reporting. There is a series of very strict guidelines you have to follow in terms of who purchases or rents, and you have to maintain that over a 40-year period once you begin,” she said. “This is something most people are not going to want to get into. One town that is nearby with a similar ordinance has yet to exercise in their equivalent a Small Workforce Housing project in an AR-I zone.”
Still, Councilor Tom Dolan said the Town should accept the changes with its “eyes wide open.
“We may have costs associated with enforcement, and having to take people to court,” he said.
“That exists today, probably at a higher degree without this change,” May said. “It’s not just responsibility for code enforcement, but also our department and the Town Manager, too. This change takes all the certification responsibility off our shoulders. We have one complete (workforce housing) project and one more in the pipeline, and we will see more. But we will have less liability with this change.”