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Sen. Murphy urges state limits on minimum lot sizes as housing remedy; opponents warn of lost local control
Summary
Senator Keith Murphy presented SB 84 to the House Committee on Housing, saying statewide limits on minimum lot sizes in served areas would boost housing supply and lower prices, while municipal officials and planning board members warned the bill would remove local control and strain infrastructure.
Senator Keith Murphy, prime sponsor of SB 84, told the House Committee on Housing on April 15 that the bill would target outlier municipal lot‑size rules that drive up the cost to buy and build homes. “For any lot that has public water and sewer, the town can't require more than a half acre of land,” Murphy said, adding the bill would require a one‑half‑acre maximum where water and sewer exist, one acre where only water exists, and a two‑acre cap on at least 50.1% of residentially zoned land in each municipality.
“There's a lot of great housing legislation that's been put in this year so far. This bill, in my opinion, will do more to bring down the cost of housing in our state than any other single bill we will deal with,” Murphy said.
The sponsor distributed data he said show 176 of New Hampshire's 234 towns would be…
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