Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Growth And Sustainability topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning Board reviews Growth & Sustainability report, flags traffic and impact-fee issues
Summary
A Feb. 18 presentation of Windham's Growth & Sustainability report showed a 0.8% growth rate and said recent population increases stem largely from people moving into existing housing. Board members discussed traffic impacts, watershed reports, TIFF/overlay districts and possible changes to impact fees; residents urged protecting natural resources.
Payal Ballaya presented the Planning Board’s Growth & Sustainability report on Feb. 18, telling members the town’s annual growth rate is about 0.8% and that much of recent population increase has come from people moving into existing homes rather than construction of large numbers of new units.
Ballaya highlighted traffic-volume data as the most tangible local impact and said Rockingham Planning Commission criteria and state-level pushes for affordable housing were part of the context. She noted watershed-protection work tied to the Volunteer Lake Assessment Program and said relevant reports can be found on the DES website.
Board members discussed possible tools including TIFF districts, a Village Center District overlay and restructuring impact fees and the capital-improvement program. Mr. Hohenberger emphasized that impact fees may be used only for new growth, not routine maintenance, and the board agreed it may invite the new police chief to discuss facility and staffing needs.
During public comment Vanessa Nysten urged protecting natural resources and resisting large commercial development. Richard Amare and others suggested adding report information to the master plan and exploring "smart zoning." Mark Kovacs questioned whether traffic-control issues are a state responsibility and suggested the board track move-in data to better estimate school impacts; Wayne Morris said some prior watershed plans were disrupted by COVID and offered to share more water-quality data.
The board noted the report's citations could be expanded and asked staff for additional dwelling-type and move-in data to inform future impact-fee and zoning discussions. No formal policy was adopted during the presentation.
