‘It doesn’t have to be ugly’: Londonderry development regulations spark controversy

LONDONDERRY — People took to the halls of City Hall on May 20, hoping to voice their concerns to the Select Committee about changes to the city’s development regulations.

“There is so much in this 218-page book,” Brooke Cote said. “Send it all back. The Planning Commission should also be reviewed. If they were the ones who typed it and it took them years to put it together, it’s disgraceful.”

Cote said she has lived in Londonderry for eight years and is disappointed that the city has not taken care to take notice of the process, which has included nine meetings since 2018.

“Over the last four days, I have had to basically take time off work to review this 218-page document…” she said, expressing frustration with the language of the document and that it should be written “so everyone can understand it.”

“I shouldn’t have to sit down with a dictionary and look through it and try to reconcile this section with that section. In my opinion, the whole thing is definitely not worth 25 grand,” she said, referring to the consulting costs associated with preparing the document. . “I hope we have the receipts for it.”

“So many of these suggested rules and regulations will hurt so many people in different ways,” Emily Underwood said.

On May 13, the Londonderry Select Board held a special meeting to discuss the “uniform development regulations” proposed by the Planning Commission.

“What we did was try to get the best consensus from the people we heard from,” Planning Commission member Dick Dale said May 13, acknowledging the document may not be perfect.

“If you are not ready to make a decision or do not desire a change, you will need to do your due diligence and seek clarification from the Planning Commission regarding your intended language or submit your own proposals,” he said. he said. “We did it by consensus, the majority vote was seven to zero. You can send it back to the Planning Commission if you want, but we did our best.”

According to the PlaceSense website, the city has entered into an agreement with PlaceSense to comprehensively revise city regulations that include new zoning districts “to implement city plan principles and better reflect existing built form and site opportunities.”

However, concerns were raised on May 13 about proposed changes that would limit firewood processing, including delivery, to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week, but not on weekends.

Other objections included limiting the number of cars that could come to work from home every day (10) and the requirement that the car wash passage not face the road. There were also concerns about the regulations regarding short-term rentals and the requirement that Christmas illuminations cannot be displayed for longer than 45 days.

Many of the concerns expressed at the meetings were met with thunderous applause from the participants.

“You said you did your due diligence,” Trevor Dryden said on May 13. “Apparently, according to this room, due care was not taken.”

The May 20 meeting began with CEO Tom Cavanagh reading a letter of resignation from board member Melissa Brown, who was upset with the poor conduct of the May 13 meeting.

“On Monday, the tone changed and became deferential, snarky and personal, making me feel vulnerable and uncomfortable,” read Cavanagh, who got into a discussion with Brown and board member Martha Dale about how the board should proceed. “Meeting protocol was not followed, resulting in chaos in the meeting.”

Sharon Crosman, who has spent 30 of her 72 years in Londonderry on the Planning Commission, told Vermont News & Media on Thursday that she was surprised by the level of anger at both meetings, emphasizing that it was just a draft bylaw that was supposed to be in effect for 16 years. date.

“It doesn’t have to be ugly. We are still one community,” she said.

Crosman said the Planning Commission met monthly for six years, and most recently weekly, before presenting the project to the Select Committee.

“We think our job is done,” she said. “The Select Committee has full authority to make changes, to reject them, to accept them as they are…any of it, after going through the hearing process.”

Crosman said changing the bylaws was a “labor of love” that might not be well appreciated at first, and branded criticism of the consultant and the process itself “unacceptable”, but urged people to work with the Select Committee to change things, which they consider inappropriate.

“We can’t just send it back to the Planning Commission,” Cavanagh said May 20, stating that the board is now required to hold two public hearings on the project. “And then the Planning Commission has to see if it wants to bring something forward or if… as a board we can work to change that and come back with something that we think is more representative of the city.”

The board has scheduled the first public hearing for Monday, June 17, at 5 p.m

Dale said Thursday that he was not offended by the tone of the two hearings and that he expected there would be opposition to the proposed regulations. He said it was now up to the Select Committee to take those objections and make changes themselves or send them back to the Planning Commission for review.

“It’s easy to hold hearings and develop language to address these unintended consequences,” he said, adding that they worked with the Windham Regional Commission and a consultant who knows the changing landscape of state regulations and has worked with 18 other cities on their bylaws. .

Dale also noted that the Planning Commission held three informational meetings in October 2023 to answer questions about the draft bylaw and made changes after hearing from Select Committee members and other community members.

Heather Stephenson, who recently took over as chairwoman of the Planning Commission, said she joined it in the final phase of the six-year project development process.

“I hope this increased visibility and momentum will bring positive change that the community supports,” she said.

The Planning Commission report is available here as part of the Select Board package.

City residents can also collect petitions with signatures of at least 5%. voters, calling for a public vote on the adoption of the draft regulations.