By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
NEWPORT, N.H. — The Newport Planning Board heard a presentation from the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission about housing analyses, through a study made possible from $7.9 million in funds through the Housing Opportunity Planning Grant.
Housing needs are a clear focus statewide, and this study was designed to gather data and for the commission to make recommendations based on it.
The funds came from Gov. Chris Sununu’s $100 million InvestNH Initiative, according to Housing Navigator/Associate Planner Renée Theall, who made the presentation at the July 24 planning board meeting. Initially, $5 million was put aside to provide municipalities with money to update land use regulations and site plans, and an additional $2.9 million was included in March. This is a grant the town applied for and received. The study is 100% paid for through these funds.
“This is a great opportunity,” Theall said. “It’s hard for towns to come up with money and staffing and volunteer hours. These grants have shown great success.”
She explained that money is allocated to provide grants to municipalities to analyze and update land use regulations to help increase housing development opportunities. The N.H. Department of Business and Economic Affairs has contracted with N.H. Housing to administer the program.
Theall said this two-phase study focused on needs analysis, developer outreach and local regulations for housing opportunity. The town, she said, needs more homes to safeguard the health and well-being of its population while protecting its ecology and rural nature.
“Growth; we want to do it smartly,” she said. “The team analyzed a lot of information.”
Aspects looked at included: total population, demographics, race and ethnicity, group quarters, communities of concerns, housing market trends, economics, employment, cost burdens, households and incomes, fair share housing targets and stakeholder input.
She told the board that the population of Newport increased 3.8% between 2000 and 2010, but then decreased 3.2% by 2020 so it basically evened out. By 2035 it is expected that levels will go back to 2010 statistics.
She said that due to age, by 2050 it will drop to pre-2000 levels. Newport is heavy in the 50-59 and 60-64-year-old age range. She said the younger demographic is small, and across the state a migration out of New Hampshire has been seen because people cannot find proper housing after graduation.
The study looked at a rental vacancy rate, and she said a “healthy one is 5%.” She said while Newport rental costs are reasonable, the town’s rental vacancy is not. Newport’s rental vacancy has been reported to be about 0% from 2020 and below 5% since 2011. She added that this is similar to surrounding communities.
Stakeholder input was gathered in November 2023 and January 2024, but only six of 66 Newport businesses that were contacted responded to the survey. These ranged from manufacturing industries to nonprofit. Of the four larger employers, 25-50% of their staff live in Newport. Additional comments received suggested a range of interest in playing a larger role in the housing discussion. This is where employer involvement in finding housing comes in, and an example would be to work with local officials to raise awareness of the shortage.
They also had developer conversations, and she said it is an essential resource to understand the mechanics of housing development, as well as being a partner in implementing solutions.
Through the report there were vital strategies that she presented that represented the cornerstones of the housing opportunity in Newport. One is to meet the needs for supply. The report found the current housing stock to be insufficient, especially at affordable prices for middle income households. Another is to meet the needs for quality. This involves decreasing the risk of current homes due to exposure to various hazards and substandard conditions. Encouraging missing middle housing types is another strategy, she said. Diversifying homes may mean dwellings with a shared wall, the study showed.
There were vital outcomes presented, as well. One is to further efficient procedures. Desired homes need standards that are achievable, specific and with incentives, the study showed.
Another outcome is to encourage local home creators. Resident developed homes like duplexes represent significant potential for short term impact on housing shortage, while being relatively low cost and having minimum natural resource impact. Promoting efficient land use is the third outcome.
She also gave a list of top recommendations to the board. First, they recommend to reassess zoning districts for balanced land use and optimize infrastructure functioning. Also recommended is the transformation of the remaining R-1 district (single family detached homes) to a Rural Residential (RR) district that includes portions of the previous R district for low-density housing options. It was also suggested to modify the Rural (R) district to the Rural Natural Resource (RN) district for remote housing on larger parcels.
Another recommendation is to allow two family housing by right in the same districts where single family housing is allowed.
Also recommended is removing accessory dwelling units (ADU) from special exemption in all relevant districts and instead make them permitted by right. A suggestion was allowing a large living area space of up to 1,200-square-feet and subsidiary in size to the main building.
The fourth recommendation was to allow manufactured homes in the R-1 and R-2 (General Residential) districts, as well as the proposed RR district.
The next recommendation was to allow, by right, small multi-family housing in districts with water and sewer service.
It was also recommended to define and allow “cottage courts” by special exception. These are small housing structures, detached, surrounding a courtyard type area.
The seventh recommendation was to combine the cluster subdivision and planned residential development into a single type of subdivision with incentives that provide developer flexibility in outcomes, and higher overall open space requirement.
The study also led to recommending the adoption of an open space overlay for lots without access to public water and infrastructure.
Reducing lot coverage in rural areas and increasing the downtown district were also recommended.
The complete report can be found here: uvlsrpc.org/files/9717/2124/1907/Newport_HOP_Final_Report.pdf
