By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

As the greater Boston area population continues to expand, land throughout southern New Hampshire is being absorbed at an unprecedented rate, forever altering the rural character of many of the state's once prototypical New England towns.

The light cast by such phenomenal growth tends to shine on town planning officials, those often charged with the task of maintaining the historic character of a town while also broadening its tax base to minimize ever-growing property taxes.

Tensions arising from growthrelated issues can run high.

During a recent break in a Bedford Planning Board meeting, Bedford Town Planner Karen White was accosted in the hallway, spit on and called a disgrace to her profession. Yet 15 years ago, White and other Bedford planners embraced a zoning model that planners throughout the southern portion of the state are now hoping to emulate – performance zoning.

White was one of several local planning experts who attended a roundtable discussion on performance zoning, hosted by the Southern New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission, which helps coordinate planning initiatives for 13 area municipalities including Bedford, Goffstown, New Boston, Weare, Hooksett, Auburn and Candia.

A different concept in zoning

"Performance zoning has been around since the early '80s," said David Preece, executive director of the commission. "It's coming alive again in New Hampshire because all over we're seeing increased traffic and energy demands."

The guiding concept behind performance zoning is, naturally, performance. Residential, commercial and industrial properties aren't discriminated against coming in to a given performance zone, but their performance – defined by criteria such as lighting, noise, vibration, noxious odor, traffic impact and hazardous materials – mustn't exceed the limitations defined by the given ordinance.

Performance zoning ordinances can also account for aesthetics.

"Good landscaping makes good neighbors," said White.

Preece said performance zoning, when done properly, can manage growth to make it more sustainable while also reducing energy demands.

"If you're able to locate housing along with retail and commercial, and you can mitigate all the negative impacts, you've got a much better environment," said Preece. "You can create an environment where people can walk to the store or walk to work."

Preece described the environment created by traditional zoning as "sterile," as different zones like local commercial, industrial, single-family residential or multifamily residential are segregated from one another.

"Performance zoning allows for a much greater diversity of land uses," he said.

How it's worked in Bedford White said Bedford introduced performance along Route 3 after a recommendation found in the 1990 Master Plan that the town's six different zoning types along the Merrimack River be turned into one performance zone.

"The ordinance is hard to wade through for the first time," said White, adding that it took planners nine months just to draft the ordinance.

White also warned that the cohabitation of commercial, industrial and residential can cause some unexpected problems.

She cited a Route 3 bottlemaking factory that for a time was powered by generators after a dispute with PSNH. Vibrations from the generators, she said, could be clearly felt by residents of a nearby condominium complex.

White also said it's critical for municipalities considering performance zones not to frighten away developers who may be wary of strict performance standards.

"The big things that attract businesses are utilities, roads, and someone in the office who can sit down and talk to them," she said. "What businesses want more than anything is to know what to expect."

Hooksett takes a look

Hooksett Town Planner Charles Watson said he and other Hooksett planning experts have met with Bedford planners, hoping to learn from some of their experiences with performance zoning.

Watson said the Hooksett Planning Board is currently drafting some performance standards that could take effect in six areas throughout the town, one of the fastest growing in all of New Hampshire.

Watson identified Route 3, the River Road and Hackett Hill area off I-93, and the Village area as three potential targets of performance zoning.

"We would like to see the village as a good mixed-use area," he said, adding that there would likely be some tight constraints on what nonresidential developers could do there.

Goffstown considers a change Goffstown planners, like many throughout the state, are hoping performance-like zoning regulations can help maintain some of the town's older residential structures.

Last year, Goffstown planners proposed a zoning change that would have allowed more commercial uses in the Village area.

That proposal was rejected as fears surfaced that many of the area's historic residences would be demolished in favor of new developments.

The problem, Goffstown's Planning and Economic Development Director Stephen Griffin said, is that many of the area's large residences can create an economic burden on residential owners.

"If I own a 6,000-square-foot wood frame house built in 1870, just imagine what it would cost to paint alone," he said. "If you can't respect the economic forces at all, then there's no way to maintain something like that."

"At the same time," he continued, "you don't want to let someone just go in there with a bulldozer."

With that dilemma in mind, Griffin said Goffstown planners have devised a new zoning proposal that would allow RSBO, or residential small business offices, in portions of the overwhelmingly residential Village area. Griffin said the change is inspired by the numbers of people who have come before the zoning board in recent years asking for variances that would allow small business in their homes.

Griffin said such developments would not only save many of the older residences, but strict limitations on impacts such as parking, lighting and signs would apply.

Bow has a blend

Bow Community Development Director Bill Klubben described the town's economic development district – which covers more than 1,000 acres, more than half of which is currently unused – as a "blend of old-style district zoning and performance zoning."

The zone, approved by voters in 2001 features performance features like variable standards.

For example, said Klubben, "Instead of having a specific height limit or a specific setback, the setback is a ratio of the height."

Also, said Klubben, if developers exceed some standards – such as parking, screening or buffering – in a positive way, they can get a reprieve for other standards.

Such tradeoffs begin during the site plan review.

"There's a great deal of horse trading that goes on site by site," said Klubben.

Bow's business development district differs from a typical performance zone in that the ordinance clearly spells out allowed land uses, prohibiting things like outdoor industrial storage.

No simple standard

Indeed, no two New Hampshire towns zone the same way.

"There's no uniformity between the regulations," said Klubben. "You could go over to Concord, or Pembroke, or Dunbarton, and we all have a different set of rules."

Those rules can cause problems both for developers, who must learn new standards for each town, and for town employees, who must continually enforce them. Performance zones especially, with multitudes of land uses and variable standards, require manpower to maintain.

And manpower is the primary lack of many planning and/or land use departments throughout New Hampshire.

"There's no money coming from the state and there's no money coming back from the federal government," said Preece.

"So if a community really wants to have a quality of life, they probably need to have at least a full-time planner and someone in the building department who can enforce these things."