Planning board reviews development-regulation redlines; asks staff to tighten parking and bond language

Milford — At its March 4 work session the Milford Planning Board reviewed a redlined draft of the town’s development regulations prepared by planning staff and town counsel to reflect 2024 RSA land-use changes and internal updates.

Terry Dolan, Milford’s town planner, led the line-by-line review and told the board the edits range from citation and typographical fixes to substantive updates required by statute. The revisions staff highlighted included updated references to the town’s stormwater management ordinance, changes to thresholds used for stormwater and erosion-control triggers, and an update to the off-street parking table consistent with recent statutory guidance.

Key items discussed included:

- Off-street parking for multifamily units. The redline distinguishes smaller multifamily projects from larger ones: Dolan explained the proposed approach keeps a 2-space-per-unit standard for small projects and applies a 1.5-space-per-unit standard for multifamily developments of 10 units or more, aligning parking expectations with recent statutory guidance and planning practice.

- Alternative parking substitutions and leased private parking. Staff proposed allowing municipal off-street lots within 1,000 feet as a substitute (the existing ordinance used 500 feet) and added language permitting privately owned leased parking spaces to serve a project where appropriate. Several board members said the draft paragraph should be split so municipal substitutions are handled separately from privately leased parking; they asked that privately leased substitutions require an active, verifiable lease and that the board retain discretion to require an amended site plan if a leased arrangement ends.

- Performance securities. Staff noted a statewide RSA change last year that affects performance-bond practices; the proposed draft references the new statutory language and an option to require up to a 15% performance security. Board members asked staff to confirm whether the town is required to set 15% or may retain the prior 10% standard; staff said they will verify the statutory text and report back.

- Citation and threshold cleanups. The draft replaces references to an older 5,000-square-foot threshold with a 43,560-square-foot (one-acre) threshold in several checklist items and corrects multiple cross-references to town ordinances and state RSAs.

Board members and staff debated details of the new alternative-parking paragraph and a long statutory excerpt that staff included; several members asked Dolan to rework the paragraph into two distinct statements (municipal substitutions and privately leased spaces), add an explicit requirement that privately leased spaces be under an active lease, and add language spelling out the board’s authority to require amended site plans if substitute parking is lost.

Dolan said he would incorporate the board’s edits, check statutory citations, and return with a clean version. The board indicated the revised regulation package will need additional review and then public hearings before adoption.

Why it matters: The changes implement new state law and clarify local standards for parking, stormwater thresholds and performance securities. The parking and bond provisions can affect feasibility and costs for proposed housing and commercial projects in town.

Next steps: Staff will redraft the private-parking paragraph, verify RSA language about performance securities, fix remaining citation issues and bring the revised text back to the board for final review and public hearing scheduling.