Under Construction

There is an undeniable charm and grace to the Classic New England village.  The tree lined main street with the Town Square or Green; the graceful houses representing the particular historical period during which the community first developed; architecture and details that just seem to work.  The compact village center inviting and fostering community surrounded by lower density neighborhoods and farms followed by a transition to undeveloped forests and hills.

  Compare that classic village with what we build today.  Sprawling land consuming developments.  Large lot subdivisions which are exercises in efficient geometric design.  Commercial and retail centers of flat roofs and concrete block walls; and acres of parking lots that sit unused  the vast majority of time.  Buildings are monuments to themselves with little thought given to streetscape and the surrounding community. 

We despair at the loss of New Hampshire's "Rural Character", and rail against development.  The truth of the matter is we have done it to ourselves.  We have adopted zoning ordinances and design review practices that discourage and/or prohibit innovative and historically appropriate projects.  Can you and your children afford to buy a home and live in your own community?  Does your Town permit or encourage mixed use, such as apartments over small retail spaces?  Does your community encourage and permit higher density development in and around the Town center or existing development nodes?  Or are your ordinances written in such a way that promotes new roads penetrating farther and farther into the forests every year?  Woodlands are destroyed and lost.  Viewsheds are disturbed forever by ridgeline development.  Wetlands are disturbed.  Stormwater management problems arise.  Town government expenses increase.  Your taxes go up!

There are solutions.  There are alternatives that shape growth in a manner that preserves and fosters the growth of our Rural Character.  Investigate some of the current planning concepts that are widely used elsewhere, but seldom used in New Hampshire.  Here are some suggested places to start:

Click HERE for Information on SMART GROWTH for NH

Click HERE for Information on Conservation Development (Randall Arendt):

A Timeless Way of Building (by Christopher Alexander et al. - A very important book): CLICK HERE

A Pattern Language (Christopher et al. - THE BOOK):

Click HERE for The Development Transect (so logical, no wonder it's ignored):

Click HERE for information on New Urbanism: