NHMA executive warns Bedford council of fast-moving zoning mandates, Right-to-Know changes and potential municipal funding cuts

Margaret Burns, executive director of the New Hampshire Municipal Association, briefed the Bedford Town Council on state legislative activity and urged local officials to speak with their representatives about several priority bills that NHMA’s membership is monitoring.

Burns said NHMA — a Concord-based, voluntary membership organization that provides legal services, training and advocacy to New Hampshire municipalities — is especially concerned this year about a wave of proposed statewide zoning mandates. She said roughly 50 zoning-related proposals were moving quickly through the legislature and that many were being placed on consent calendars, limiting floor debate. NHMA’s membership policy is to oppose zoning mandates and to preserve local zoning authority, Burns said.

‘‘If there was one area I would encourage municipalities and local officials to be vocal on, it would be the zoning mandates,” Burns said. She added that NHMA supports conducting a study of the state Zoning Act (House Bill 399) and recommended that any comprehensive study be completed before adopting legislation that alters local zoning authority.

Burns also highlighted other bills that NHMA is following: House Bill 66 (a proposed change to the Right-to-Know law that would…