The Lyme Housing Survey seems written to discourage new development. Referring to the 2006 survey—now almost twenty years old—keeps us looking backward instead of forward. Some questions make options sound negative, as if new housing choices would be bad for Lyme. And many answers won’t even help the Planning Board decide what to change in the ordinance.
I did ask the Planning Board (where I am an alternate member) to consider other questions. (See my letter below.) Some of my requests made it into the survey. Here’s how I’m answering, and why:
Question 1. How do you feel about this rate of growth?
Answer 1: I chose a five-fold increase.
Why: The question makes normal growth sound extreme. There is a housing crisis in the Upper Valley. Businesses in Lyme have closed or cut hours because workers can’t find housing nearby. More housing would help our town.
Question 2: Should multi-unit dwellings be allowed as new construction?
Answer 2: Yes—to duplexes and to buildings with 3–6 or 7–15 units.
Why: Lyme is in flagrant violation of the NH workforce housing law (RSA 674:58). The Lyme Ordinance bans all new multi-unit buildings, even though state law requires every town to allow reasonable and realistic opportunities for workforce and multi-family housing. (See: https://www.nhhfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/NH_Workforce_Housing_Law_Summary.pdf)
Question 3: Do you think that Lyme needs more attainable and/or affordable housing?
Answer 3: Yes to both.
Why: Lyme and the Upper Valley lack affordable homes for workers who provide essential services. Businesses, builders, and tradespeople all struggle because housing nearby costs too much.
Question 4: Thoughts about more attainable/affordable housing
Answer 4: The ordinance only makes it practical to build large single-family homes. It should allow smaller, denser options.
Question 5: Rank the locations where it would be appropriate to locate new housing
Answer 5: (8 is most appropriate; 1 is least appropriate)
- 8 Lyme Common
- 8 Lyme Center
- 8 Lyme Commercial
- 8 Rural
- 1 East Lyme
- 1 Holts Ledge
- 1 Mountain and Forest
- 1 Nowhere
- (no answer) Wherever single-family homes are allowed
- Other: see Question 6
Why: Lyme should concentrate housing closer to its center.
Question 6: If you chose Other, please describe those good locations for housing
Answer 6: Along state highways such as Route 10, East Thetford Road, and Dorchester Road.
Why: Building near existing roads and developed areas reduces road-maintenance costs. It also limits sprawl – development that's far from central areas. Lyme already has a provision for treating properties on those roads specially – let's use it.
Question 7: What forms of housing should be located in the Commercial District?
Answer 7: All types
Why: Mixing housing with retail and offices makes for walkable neighborhoods and supports local business.
Question 8: Where would you consider an appropriate location for multi-unit housing in Lyme?
Answer 8: Same as Question 6.
Why: As the Planning Board learned in their forums last fall, multi-dwelling units make housing more affordable. Lyme should focus its development in areas that provide good access to roads and municipal services.
Question 9: Would you support “in-fill” in the Lyme Common district by allowing up to four dwelling units on a lot?
Answer 9: Yes.
Why: In-fill development is wonderful. But it's expensive to build, and it requires that lovely properties find a way to "squeeze in" another unit. That said, a four-plex (four units in a building) would hardly be noticeable in town (there are already several), and is a good step toward the missing middle type of housing.
Question 10: … do you feel the capacity of the Lyme school and the limited potential for expansion at the current site should be considered a limiting factor for housing development?
Answer 10: No.
Why: See Q11.
Question 11: Please feel free to explain your answer:
Answer 11: I said No because:
- Demographics show that school age population is decreasing nationwide. Young families are having fewer kids. In Lyme, the large spike in student population was 10 years ago: it has been declining by about one student per year ever since. By 2040, this trend could offset the growth in new housing.
- Smaller housing units add less to school enrollment than single-family homes. Yet those smaller homes increase the tax base, and improve town finances. See the NHHFA study.
Question 12: Which of the following housing initiatives are important to you?
Answer 12: I chose these:
- Creating housing at a mix of prices
- Encouraging more housing types across town
- Supporting mixed-use buildings with shops below and homes above
Why: The Master Plan already recommends diverse housing (see page 1-10). The other two choices are motivated by the desire to relax the constraints of the Ordinance. Most of the rest of those options will happen on their own if there is a wider diversity of housing options.
Questions 13 to 19: A little information about you.
Answer: You're on your own…
Question 20: Are there any other thoughts you wish to share with us?
Answer 20: Some of these questions are backward-looking. Some seem to imply that any development would be bad for Lyme. Finally, I wish the survey had asked questions about what the residents think about relaxing some of the strict constraints if helped improve housing options.
Back in August 2025, I sent this note to the Planning Board during the discussion about questions for the Housing Survey:
To the members of the Lyme Planning Board,
I have several reservations about the draft questions in the Housing Attitude Survey circulated in June 2025. In light of our professed goal of modifying the Master Plan to provide updated guidance for Housing, I think we should re-examine some of these questions. My concerns are:
- Many of the questions feel to me as if they are backward-looking. Citing the existing Master Plan or the 2006 Community Attitude Survey tilts the table toward "what was/what has been". Those references might feel as if we are "hinting at" our values instead of providing an opportunity for our neighbors to give us their thoughts today.
- Some of the other questions are interesting, but would not provide us with any guidance about how change the language of the Ordinance. (After all, that's the only thing we have control over.) For example, if we learned that 80% of the town was in favor of increasing the rate of home building by 5X, what specific language in the ordinance would we change?
- Other questions asked neighbors to provide very specific judgements (say, the percentages of development in various existing districts) that are difficult to make
- I followed with a request to base the questions on a professionally prepared survey from Sandwich, NH which was able to update their ordinance for more housing choices in a 12-month period.
[Feel free to share this post on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or email. Any opinions expressed here are solely my own, and not those of any public body, such as the Lyme Planning Board, Budget Committee, or Trustees of the Trust Funds where I volunteer. I would be interested to hear your thoughts – you can reach me at richb.lyme@gmail.com.]