hb 1344

CHAPTER 236

HB 1344-LOCAL - FINAL VERSION

AN ACT establishing a village plan alternative subdivision in zoning and land use planning laws.

SPONSORS: Rep. Mirski, Graf 12

This bill establishes the village plan alternative subdivision in zoning and land use planning. Village plan alternative subdivision grants a developer or owner of land the option to develop a limited portion of the property in an expedited manner and without certain dimensional requirements while keeping the major portion of the property in agriculture, forestry, conservation, or public use.

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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

AN ACT establishing a village plan alternative subdivision in zoning and land use planning laws.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

236:1 New Subparagraph; Innovative Land Use Controls; Village Plan Alternative Added. Amend RSA 674:21, I by inserting after subparagraph (m) the following new subparagraph:

236:2 New Paragraph; Village Plan Alternative Defined. Amend RSA 674:21 by inserting after paragraph V the following new paragraph:

VI.(a) In this section, "village plan alternative" means an optional land use control and subdivision regulation to provide a means of promoting a more efficient and cost effective method of land development. The village plan alternative's purpose is to encourage the preservation of open space wherever possible. The village plan alternative subdivision is meant to encourage beneficial consolidation of land development to permit the efficient layout of less costly to maintain roads, utilities, and other public and private infrastructures; to improve the ability of political subdivisions to provide more rapid and efficient delivery of public safety and school transportation services as community growth occurs; and finally, to provide owners of private property with a method for realizing the inherent development value of their real property in a manner conducive to the creation of substantial benefit to the environment and to the political subdivision's property tax base.

(b) An owner of record wishing to utilize the village plan alternative in the subdivision and development of a parcel of land, by locating the entire density permitted by the existing land use regulations of the political subdivision within which the property is located, on 20 percent or less of the entire parcel available for development, shall provide to the political subdivision within which the property is located, as a condition of approval, a recorded easement reserving the remaining land area of the entire, original lot, solely for agriculture, forestry, and conservation, or for public recreation. The recorded easement shall limit any new construction on the remainder lot to structures associated with farming operations, forest management operations, and conservation uses. Public recreational uses shall be subject to the written approval of those abutters whose property lies within the village plan alternative subdivision portion of the project at the time when such a public use is proposed.

(c) The village plan alternative shall permit the developer or owner to have an expedited subdivision application and approval process wherever land use and subdivision regulations may apply. The submission and approval procedure for a village plan alternative subdivision shall be the same as that for a conventional subdivision. Existing zoning and subdivision regulations relating to emergency access, fire prevention, and public health and safety concerns including any setback requirement for wells, septic systems, or wetland requirement imposed by the department of environmental services shall apply to the developed portion of a village plan alternative subdivision, but lot size regulations and dimensional requirements having to do with frontage and setbacks measured from all new property lot lines, and lot size regulations, as well as density regulations, shall not apply. The total density of development within a village plan alternate subdivision shall not exceed the total potential development density permitted a conventional subdivision of the entire original lot unless provisions contained within the political subdivision's land use regulations provide a basis for increasing the permitted density of development within a village plan alternative subdivision. In no case shall a political subdivision impose lesser density requirements upon a village plan alternative subdivision than the density requirements imposed on a conventional subdivision.

(d) Within a village plan alternative subdivision, the exterior wall construction of buildings shall meet or exceed the requirements for fire-rated construction described by the fire prevention and building codes being enforced by the state of New Hampshire at the date and time the property owner of record files a formal application for subdivision approval with the political subdivision having jurisdiction of the project. Exterior walls and openings of new buildings shall also conform to fire protective provisions of all other building codes in force in the political subdivision. Wherever building code or fire prevention code requirements for exterior wall construction appear to be in conflict, the more stringent building or fire prevention code requirements shall apply.

(e) If the total area of a proposed village plan alternative subdivision including all roadways and improvements does not exceed 20 percent of the total land area of the undeveloped lot, and if the proposed subdivision incorporates the total sum of all proposed development as permitted by local regulation on the undeveloped lot, all existing and future dimensional requirements imposed by local regulation, including lot size, shall not apply to the development.

236:3 Development Restrictions Enforceable; Village Plan Development Added. Amend RSA 674:21-a to read as follows:

674:21-a Development Restrictions Enforceable. Any open space designation or other development restriction which is part of a cluster development, planned unit development, village plan alternative subdivision, or other proposal approved under innovative land use controls, or which is lawfully imposed by a local land use board as a condition of subdivision, site plan, variance, or other type of approval, and which has been filed in the records of the local land use board in accordance with its established procedure, shall be deemed to create a conservation restriction as defined in RSA 477:45, I, which shall run with the land, and shall be enforceable by the municipality, or by the owner of any property which would be specially damaged by the violation of such restriction, regardless of whether any deed or other instrument conveying such restriction has been executed or recorded. For purposes of this section, an applicant's statement of intent to restrict development, submitted with or contained in an application which is subsequently approved, shall be deemed a condition of the approval.

236:4 New Subparagraph; Subdivision Regulations; Village Plan Alternative Development Added. Amend RSA 674:36, II by inserting after subparagraph (k) the following new subparagraph:

(l) Provide for efficient and compact subdivision development which promotes retention and public usage of open space and wildlife habitat, by allowing for village plan alternative subdivision as defined in RSA 674:21, VI.