To the Editor,
HB 341 was recommended “Inexpedient to Legislate” (ITL) by a vote of 10-9.
Write to the full House asking them to vote YES on ITL of HB 341: nhhouse@leg.state.nh.us.
We’ve seen many similar bills that attempt to “urbanize” rural towns in New Hampshire by favoring high-density construction over single-family homes. These bills should be sent to the trash bin.
At HB 341’s hearing, two out-of-state lobbyists were allowed to testify in favor; one from Virginia, another from Portland, Oregon. They are indicative of the strong national push espousing the “new urbanist” scam, which is based on the idea people do not want to own their own homes and that parking is not needed as cars will just “go away.”
The full list of lobbyists is available on the State website.
There is no assurance that “urbanization” will result in affordable housing, or that people will cease using cars.
Homeowners, especially those who cherish the rural flavor of small-town New Hampshire, should be troubled by out-of-staters with an agenda attempting to influence what happens in N.H.
This is why it is important to write to the Committees as they examine the bills, and further, to write to the full House and Senate to ask them to vote to support or oppose those recommendations.
Peterborough, N.H. residents were smart. They are glad that the citizens petitioned, and then voted, to have an elected Planning Board. Every Planning Board should be elected. And lobbyists should be sent packing.
Jane Aitken
Bedford N.H.
Jane:
Good Lord…“High-density construction”…“New Urbanism.” Alarmed by your letter, we looked up HB 341, half expecting to find some diktat mandating a Statewide Housing Soviet, organized to strew concrete Brutalist tenements all across our bucolic landscape. It’s nothing of the sort. It’s a well-meaning effort to allow the creation or conversion of four-plexes. In other words, it appears to be an honest attempt to solve this state’s desperate housing shortage.
The Editor
I am the author of the HB 341; I’m also the duly elected chairman of the Peterborough planning board. This bill is an honest attempt to re-legalize forms of housing which are very common in our existing neighborhoods, in the hopes of starting to solve our housing issues.
Ivy Vann
This bill would ONLY apply to places which have BOTH municipal water and sewer… That is only about 5% of Bedford. It’s the 5% that is already zoned for more intense development anyways. I am really not sure what the perceived threat is here.