HB480: relative to innovative land use controls.

CHAPTER 61

HB 480 – FINAL VERSION

30Mar2005… 0585h

2005 SESSION

05-0746

06/04

HOUSE BILL 480

AN ACT relative to innovative land use controls.

SPONSORS: Rep. Mirski, Graf 10

COMMITTEE: Municipal and County Government

ANALYSIS

This bill removes expedited approval for a village plan subdivision, and allows the approving authority to increase setbacks at existing property lines for a village plan.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

30Mar2005… 0585h

05-0746

06/04

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Five

AN ACT relative to innovative land use controls.

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

61:1 Innovative Land Use Controls; Village Plan Alternative. Amend RSA 674:21, VI(c) to read as follows:

(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.

(1) 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.

(2) 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.

61:2 Innovative Land Use Controls; Village Plan Alternative. RSA 674:21, VI(d) and (e) are repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

(d) 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 proposed village plan alternative subdivision.

(e) The approving authority may increase, at existing property lines, the setback to new construction within a village plan alternative subdivision by up to 2 times the distance required by current zoning or subdivision regulations, subject to the provisions of subparagraph (c).

(f) 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.

61:3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

(Approved: May 23, 2005)

(Effective Date: July 22, 2005)