Chester planners shuffle the deck

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

The Chester Planning Commission presented a fairly comprehensive amendment to the town’s zoning regulations to the Select Board on Nov. 15. The amendments are the commission’s response to Act 47 – the HOME (Housing Opportunities Made for Everyone) Act from the 2023 legislative session. The intent of the law is to make changes in zoning that will make it easier to build housing. The law:

• Creates greater housing density by requiring five units per acre for new housing where there’s town sewer and water.
• Reduces the minimum number of parking spaces per dwelling unit.
• Allows duplexes wherever single-family houses are allowed and multi-unit buildings in districts with water and sewer.
• Limits the ability of neighbors to object to development on the basis of “character of the area.”
• Mandates that if a development meets the requirements and standards of local bylaws it must be approved.

The Select Board was generally in favor of the changes, but asked the Commission to go back and look at a few details. It then recessed the hearing so it would not need a second hearing that would add time to the process.

Among the areas that the board asked the Commission to review were sideyard and backyard setbacks in areas that had been reduced to 5 feet from 15 feet. Board members are concerned with the Fire Department’s ability to fight fires in more closed areas.

So, at its meeting on Monday night, Planning Commission Chair Hugh Quinn said he had spoken with Fire Chief Matt Wilson, who said he would prefer the larger setback. Commission member Barre Pinske felt that was the wrong thing to do.

“Whatever the fire chief wants we end up doing,” Pinske protested and continued to challenge Wilson’s reasoning.

There was also some discussion of the 35-foot building height limitation that’s based on the height the Fire Department can reach with its ladders.

There was also discussion of the Select Board’s concern over whether a “building and construction trades” use in the Neighborhood District would mean heavy construction equipment waking neighbors early in the morning and whether leaving that out would disadvantage people who run electrical and plumbing businesses out of their homes. Commission members noted that the latter could work as a “home occupation” or a “home business.”

And there was a question of whether a “mixed use” designation should be extended out Route 11 west from the dental clinic and north on Route 103 from Church Street rather than making those areas part of the Neighborhood District. Quinn noted that could encourage sprawl.

Departing from the Select Board’s brief list of concerns, Quinn said he thought that they should present the uses being deleted from the current R-20 and R-40 districts, which are to be changed to make the Neighborhood District. That led to a wide-ranging discussion of uses and specific parcels, as commission members and two select board members hovered over a map. On Zoom, much of what was said was unintelligible.

The Select Board is likely to take up the Commission’s work at its Wednesday, Dec. 6 meeting.