Do you want unelected bureaucrats making local housing, zoning, building, and land use decisions in your town? The NH Senate does. I’ve been told they just stuffed SB306 (their version of HB104 – the Housing Appeals Board bill) into the State budget.
Related: Proposed Housing Appeals Board Would Rob NH Residents of Local Control
When locals or their town representatives tell Developers to go pound sand, it’s not over. They could take their case to a Housing Appeals board in Concord. That board would have the power to overturn any local decision — a big screw-you from the State Capital.
The New Hampshire Municipal Association wants it. The Business Industry Association of New Hampshire supports it. Developers like Bill Greiner in Bedford are pushing for it.
Hard enough to get it added to the State budget.
As I noted in January regarding the House version, it would “give developers the ability to appeal local zoning decisions that unfairly restrict housing development without having to endure the time and expense of suing in Superior Court.”
Wouldn’t want to burden “developers” with the whims and distractions of locals.
High-Density housing, workforce housing, sustainable communities, even rack-em-and-stack-em.
Maybe you’ve heard that narrative out there that we have a housing shortage. An affordable housing shortage. Window dressing for what? A Housing appeals board. Gotta have one. They can’t force towns to let developers enrich themselves at the expense of the character of your local community without it.
This well-compensated board (they are full-time paid) will undoubtedly be comprised of people who support this sort of abuse of local control as well as any other forward progress in land use at the town level that locals are too short-sighted to embrace willingly.
A Board that,
“shall have the power and authority to hear and affirm, reverse or modify in whole or in part, appeals of final decisions of municipal boards, and committees regarding questions of housing and housing development. This includes but is not limited to: Planning Board decisions, zoning board decisions, decisions of historic and conservation commissions”.
You don’t need no stinkin’ local control Comrade!
Jane Aitken sums it up with this.
“…this overreaching provision would basically nullify the vote of the townspeople; taxpayers who have given their boards direction for what should happen in their own towns. Planning, zoning, historic, heritage, conservation, ALL commissions are affected in that SB 306 will allow developers to OVERRIDE those directions using this 3-member state ‘board of appeals’!
The House would have to approve the change. The governor would have to NOT veto the budget. And while, as I noted this morning, there are other things in the budget the Governor does not like, we’ve no reason to believe this won’t stay in it while topics like taxes and spending take all the headlines.
Save your town from the top down tyranny. Contact your senators and representatives (it’s a bi-partisan abuse). And let the governor know, you want SB306, and all of its tendrils pulled out of the budget. Defend Local Control. No Housing Appeals board.
It doesn’t belong there, and it doesn’t belong in New Hampshire.
H/T Jane Aitken
