Planning Commission Sets Two Dates for Public Discussion

MANCHESTER — The town’s Planning Commission will be hosting two meetings in September to discuss and review potential revisions to the town’s zoning districts and boundaries.

The first meeting will be held Monday, Sept 12, and will focus on the town’s downtown core and the industrial areas. A second meeting, planned for Sept. 26, will deal with the residential and rural areas of the town.

Both meetings are set to start at 7 p.m. at the Kilburn Meeting Room in the town hall.
The meetings are the next steps in a process launched last April when the commission held a “big picture” meeting with area residents to look at whether the current zoning district boundaries, first established in 1970 and modified only slightly since, still reflected current realities more than 45 years later.

That meeting was followed by three “walk and talk” tours that looked at the town’s agricultural, residential, industrial and downtown districts, with town officials and Brandy Sexton, a consultant hired by the town to assist in the process of reviewing the zoning boundaries, hearing the input from local townspeople.

Last Monday, Aug. 22, the planning commission heard from Sexton and Janet Hurley, the zoning administrator and planning director, about how they anticipated the review unfolding during the two meetings in September. Following an overview of the overall process, Sexton said she planned to devote about 15 minutes to each district area and invite comment from the audience.

The overarching goal of the project of the project is to simplify and streamline the town’s development review and permitting process, through eliminating the need for multiple overlay districts, incorporating clear and specific standards for development and expanding the use of administrative reviews for smaller projects so time consuming formal reviews by the Development Review Board wouldn’t be needed as often, according to a document distributed at the start of Monday’s meeting.

Several goals were also set forth for the downtown area, intended to encourage mixed use development such as residential housing on upper floors above the street level, and encouraging a diversity of businesses to the downtown area with an eye towards boosting the downtown nightlife.

Allowable residential density would be increased, and alterations proposed for building setbacks and maximum lot coverages.

Numerous other changes are proposed for all the districts, with changes to housing and encouragement for appropriate business development being consistent themes throughout the four page document which outlines the goals, boundaries and uses proposed for each district.

“This is an initial concept, not a final plan,” Sexton said near the start of the meeting, and public comments will be solicited to factor into the final version. That is slated to be ready by next May, in 2017, for final adoption.