SB174

A jerk senator pushing all these housing bills shoots off his mouth and says you are a QUIET SNOB. This short-time resident Senator shill for wealthy developers who want to carve up NH's neighborhoods, culture, and quality of life. His professional career in planning is dependent on hyperventilated schmoozing for campaign donations. "Joe Alexander, whose House district overlaps with Murphy’s Senate district, has also embraced the snob zoning argument." These two clowns are trying to give NH the bums rush with over 30 bills attacking our towns zoning and planning laws. Read how these jerks trash NH residents "New Hampshire Republicans’ Crusade Against Snob Zoning" https://www.governing.com/urban/new-hampshire-republicans-crusade-against-snob-zoning

school enrollment is what Sen Murphy goes on about saying zoning is discriminatory against families .... I've never sat on a zoning board but have attended more than I can count all over Coös and not Once has children/ schools come up at all .... .... in our towns we Want children -- Jefferson and Dalton elementaries got closed due to low population, we would love more families instead of all the short term rentals taking up the affordable houses .... .... if that's a problem downstate then the bill should focus on downstate .... .... I've also never hear a town up here deny a permit based on bedrooms, but if they ever did they'd have reasons based on Their town's needs and capacities .... Manchester can take care of Manchester .... .... a citizen spoke next she agreed about a need for 3 and 4 bedroom units, but not with the bill ..... septic designer/wetlands and zba experienced .... .... she had issue with the bill's wording plus about, of course, septic/sewer -- infrastructure is, of course, a concern to municipalities .... .... lobbyist Matt Mayberry spoke in favor of the bill citing "market forces" -- if he truly believed in market forces he wouldn't be pushing these bills .... ..... NHMA picked apart the bill verbiage and went to town on it, I can't do justice to everything Brody said, go watch the hearing .... .... .... way for Rep Gibbs to badger a speaker .... .... .... someone named Merriman (?) spoke to my soul -- about moving from a worse state and voting with her feet, that the bills can't be looked at as stand alone and we both object to them all, about the sewage in the Merrimack, that people already all have the right to vote on and change zoning at a local level, and that only those in favor are those who can make money from building .... .... .... as to Rep Gibbs speaking about the homeless, there is no evidence homelessness is caused by lack of housing (though though difficulty coming Out of homelessness is exacerbated by high rents) .... I worked for years at a major shelter in Massachusetts and I've BEEN homeless, so I don't say this out of lack of knowledge or an icy heart .... Rep Gibbs means well but she's not understanding what's really going on with these bills **** **** **** **** I'm not against 3 and 4 bedroom units by any stretch, plenty of families could use them (Berlin etc) .... but I suddenly have a vision of the future of some towns, especially college towns-- if this passes, And the driveway bill passes, And the bill about unrelated tenants passes I foresee 8 sanctioned adult roommates each with a car (and boyfriends/girlfriends/friends with cars) they have no place to park so clog the streets taking assigned spots for other tenants and impeding not just traffic but emergency vehicles and plows .... .... I'm old and frumpy now, but I was in my 20s once and had the 8 friends in a 4 bedroom down in Allston -- minimum of 20 people there each day never mind the party nights!, at least we had the green line

Municipalities often regulate the number of bedrooms per dwelling unit in dense zoning districts to ensure the infrastructure capacity exists to support the developments and housing in those zoning districts. Also, there is no definition of “bedroom” in the building or fire code in the bill. These requirements also limit the number of parking spaces required for the development, which might be necessary if there is limited land for parking. Finally, the bill unintentionally creates new definition of planning board and planning board authority, giving planning boards authority to review and approve building permits instead of select board or building official.

The intent of this bill seems to be to keep communities from restricting or requiring certain numbers of bedrooms, but as written it appears to ban proper design. For instance Department of Environmental Services Administrative Rule Env-Wq 1005 relative to septic systems sets lot sizes based on number of bedrooms as an indicator of septic flow, but under this bill planning boards would not be allowed to consider number of bedrooms in (for example) septic design, parking, sidewalks, or street width. In particular, it might drive up housing costs by banning smaller lots even for small houses or requiring sidewalks to be designed as if every house had six bedrooms. This bill needs to be killed, or at least amended so that while communities could not dictate number of bedrooms, they could require infrastructure design to be based on the number of bedrooms chosen by the developer.

I ask that you ITL this bill.

Please oppose SB174! The State has no right to tell the local community not to use the number of bedrooms per unit as a factor to approve or reject a site plan of building permit. If the STATE wants to take over the Planning and Zoning Board functions, then the STATE should dissolve all local Boards as such and take over. Otherwise keep out.!

Please ITL House Bill 174 which removes the right of Planning Boards to set restrictions based on the number of bedrooms in a residence.

This is a terrible idea. Localities need to know the number of bedrooms and likely occupancy (and be able to control occupancy) of buildings in order to be able to ensure adequate resources both for public safety and cost purposes. What resources? Road capacity (which is extremely important for public safety - ambulance, fire and police response times, water and sewer capacity - a major cost item for our localities, and in many areas, parking capacity. These sorts of decisions MUST be left to localities and specific projects need to be evaluated on their merits. This feels very 'developer led' - in Portsmouth developers, especially those from MA, are enriching themselves at the expense of residents & quality of life. LET LOCALITES DECIDE! GIVE US LOCAL CONTROL!

I OPPOSE this bill. Will these mandates actually encourage the building of affordable housing? How will the proposals be interpreted and implemented at the local level? Will costly lawsuits follow? Will the values and vision of voters in our local communities be disregarded? We have a process to amend zoning laws at the LOCAL LEVEL.

*Please stop trying to override local governance. *All of these matters should be decided locally. A development in a city of 100,000 people has very different consequences and implications than one in a town of 1,000 people. This bill is a sledgehammer "solution" with no nuance.

Oppose SB174: *There is no compelling reason for the legislature to override local control on the number of bedrooms allowed in a unit or development. Every development is unique. Local knows best. *Why does the bill assign the Planning Board authority over building permits here? That's the province of the Select Board or their authorized agent. *How can the bill assert authority over the number of parking spaces allowed for any given development since every project is unique? What if this limitation pushes parking to a congested area off-site? What if that blocks snow removal or other services?*The legislature should stop trying to micromanage with such a heavy hand. The towns and cities will be left having to clean up the predictable.negative consequences. Thank you, John Stadler

This bill does not address any problem that exists in Wolfeboro or similar towns and is an unwarranted intrusions into municipalities' zoning powers. New Hampshire is not a one size fits all state and blanket mandates like this can cause more problems than they solve.

SB174 The local control at the town planning boards should have the authority to decide number of bedrooms for a given unit or development. Each town’s water and septic needs vary depending on the lot details.

Position recorded without written comment.

Position recorded without written comment.

Position recorded without written comment.

Position recorded without written comment.

Position recorded without written comment.