A couple interesting items from the NH OSI (Office of Strategic Insights) late February issue of Planning News:

• “If we want $200,000 houses, we have to allow for higher densities,” says former mayor Ed Engler of Laconia NH in an article in the Laconia Daily Sun that explains how regulations were passed in the 1980’s to limit growth, including lot sizes of at least two acres. (For comparison, many readers have heard that Lyme requires “three acre” and “five acre” lot sizes, but may not know that a parcel must be that big after subtracting wetlands, steep slopes and agricultural soils. This often means a “buildable parcel” in Lyme is must be two to four times larger than the stated minimum.)
• I went to the first UVLSRPC (Lake Sunapee/Upper Valley Regional Planning Commission) public forum last month to talk about issues that exist on major transportation corridors in the Region. The inaugural session focused on Route 120 between Lebanon and Hanover. It was a well-run session, congenial, and gathered lots of good information from the attendees. I look forward to the upcoming forum to talk about Route 10 north of Hanover. For more information see the NHPR Story, Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Commission Taking Closer Look At Transportation Issues or the UVLSRPC Regional Corridor Traffic Survey

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.