O P I N I O N
THE SOAPBOX
Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.
This summer, Manchester residents have engaged in community conversations about what we want the future of our community to look like through a revision of our zoning code. Across wards, residents resoundingly voiced a desire for more affordable, accessible, livable, walkable, and vibrant housing for all neighbors.
As members of the Manchester Neighbors Welcome Coalition, we know that Manchester needs more homes at different prices and sizes for our current and future neighbors. Manchester is short 8,500 homes to meet today’s needs, to say nothing of the future. Rent for 2-bedroom apartments jumped over 20% last year. The average house costs over $180,000 more than four years ago.
We all know Manchester is suffering from a housing shortage – we see friends and family moving away due to high housing costs, young people struggling to find an attainable home where they grew up, people with disabilities attempting to find accessible units, and seniors stuck in bad living situations for lack of downsizing options. Our organizations work to address the multifaceted ways Manchester and the surrounding communities experience housing challenges; we build housing, we advocate for people experiencing housing instability, and today, we are asking Manchester to adopt a stronger zoning code to allow more homes to be built in more places. Increasing universal design in Manchester’s housing will ensure all residents, regardless of ability, have access to safe, accessible, and inclusive living environments meeting their diverse needs. By allowing more homes to be built, prices will come down and choices will go up.
The proposed zoning code takes some steps in the right direction, but it can and should do more to address Manchester’s housing needs. We have a choice. Will Manchester return to being a community where people of all income levels can find a home within their budgets? Or will we allow ourselves to become a playground for the wealthy where no workers can afford to live? Our zoning code is how we will decide.
Here are our recommendations to achieve more affordable and accessible homes, and more livable, walkable, vibrant neighborhoods:
First, allow more home types in more places. The revised map improves upon the status quo by allowing more home types alongside commercial or retail spaces – things like coffee shops, restaurants, small businesses, and innovation. But the plan could do more – we ask that the new zoning ordinance allow at least one additional type of housing in each zone over what is proposed.
Second, create parking flexibility for property owners citywide. We recognize and appreciate that the proposal calls for downtown to stop building new surface parking lots, which are dangerous for pedestrians and an eye sore. We want the plan to go further and repeal parking mandates altogether. The decision of how much parking to build should be left to the property owner who best understands the use of the property, and can take into consideration factors like access to transit, biking, walking, plentiful street parking, or the potential for shared parking arrangements. Current parking mandates developed by Manchester city government are not evidence based or site specific, but instead are arbitrarily set based on broad, generally outdated assumptions. The government does not know a property’s parking needs better than that property’s owner. It should stop pretending it does. There are modern, cost-neutral tools to manage parking demand far better than mandates, and Manchester should start using them.
Lastly, we want to align the rules for accessory dwelling units with best practices. We were excited to see that the new draft allows for accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in every residential zone, but the details include provisions that reduce and prevent ADUs from being built. Instead of reinventing the wheel, Manchester should look to AARP which responded to the demand for ADUs from its senior citizen members and people living with disabilities by creating a model code for ADUs that has proven effective. Manchester should incorporate it, and build on it by allowing up to two ADUs per lot in most zones.
These common sense changes in line with national knowledge, research, and best practices will meaningfully increase the supply of homes in Manchester. Together, these three changes will go a long way towards meeting Manchester’s housing needs, and will increase opportunities for accessible, livable, walkable, vibrant Manchester neighborhoods.
Our zoning code maps out the future. Manchester needs to be a place where any worker or retiree can find a home within their budget – from the young person just starting their career, to people with disabilities, to teachers and firefighters working as public servants in our community, to elders who want to safely age in place or downsize without moving away. We urge the Steering Committee to help Manchester meet the needs of current and future residents by allowing more homes.
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