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Council rejects second-reading zoning change to ease downtown building-footprint limits after public concern
Summary
City Council did not pass the second reading of proposed zoning amendments that would have allowed 10,000 sq. ft. additions to existing building footprints in CD‑4/CD‑5 without conditional-use review; councilors and public raised concerns about scale, neighborhood impacts and the number of parcels affected.
The City Council on Sept. 24 declined to advance zoning amendments intended to ease what staff described as a mismatch between existing contiguous downtown building patterns and the city’s current building-footprint definition.
Peter Stith, Portsmouth planning manager, presented proposed amendments that would allow up to 10,000 square feet of addition to existing building footprints in Character District 4 (CD‑4) and Character District 5 (CD‑5) without requiring a conditional-use permit (CUP), provided additions met entrance-spacing and façade-modulation standards and avoided privately owned public spaces. Stith told the council staff had identified roughly 28 contiguous “footprints” affecting…
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