New Hampshire Town Votes to Cap Growth, but Significant Development Projected

 

A stream in Hooksett, N.H. There?EUR??,,????'???s room to grow but the city fathers want smarter land-use planning.

Hooksett, New Hampshire sounds like a small place, and is, compared to many urban environments, but relative to its sister cities, it is among the fastest-growing in the state. Its modest 13,270 population is expect to grow to 45,000 residents?EUR??,,????'??+about the size of Concord. The state projects185,000 people moving to the state?EUR??,,????'???s southeastern region over the next two decades, pushing its population over the one-million mark.

New England towns historically have had fairly densely populated town centers with plenty of unmolested land on the outskirts. The state?EUR??,,????'???s Department of Transportation is promoting this vision with its five-year, $3.5 million Community Technical Assistance program, launched in December 2005. It?EUR??,,????'???s goal is to educate local planners about effective land-use strategies, such as no more mini-mansions on four-acre lots, more clustering and less division between residential and commercial zones. With smarter land-use planning, as one regional planner said, the New Hampshire of tomorrow should look a lot like the New Hampshire of yesterday.