Zoning restrictions are impeding an affordable housing proposal in Peterborough’s rural district, prompting town officials to re-examine the ordinance.
Howard Shafman, co-owner of local developer Shatos Realty, consulted with the planning board on Monday in hopes of building income-restricted duplex homes at 795 Dublin Road that he said could help address Peterborough’s affordable housing shortage.
Despite overwhelming support from board members, their hands are tied. Chair Carl Staley said Shatos Realty cannot build dense housing on the property because it doesn’t meet the minimum lot size.
Since the property sits in the rural district and not a mixed-use one like West Peterborough, Shafman would need 10 acres to allow for open-space residential development. The land he’s looking at is 4.72 acres.
For comparison, in the rural district, one single-family home requires three acres.
“Another big mistake we’ve made in our zoning code,” Lisa Stone, a board member, said.
His proposal included 16 units split into eight tiny duplexes. He said he wants to rent them at an affordable price.
“It’s not a case where I’m going to try … to make them cheap, sell them and then someone else has problems,” Shafman said.
Potential workarounds
One alternative could be expanding the West Peterborough zone, which allows mixed-use development.
Another could be manufactured housing, which requires five acres — just 0.28 acres more than the lot size.
The problem is the Zoning Board of Adjustment cannot grant a variance for manufactured housing because the regulations are in a separate chapter from the zoning ordinances in the town code book.
While Shatos Realty did not originally apply to use manufactured housing, updating the code or moving the manufactured housing regulations under the zoning ordinance section of the town code book would allow the town to grant variances.
Danica Miller, Peterborough’s director of planning and building, noted other towns have manufactured housing regulations in their zoning ordinances.
“The preliminary hearing that we heard is a perfect example of they’re just under the five-acre minimum. They would otherwise, in my opinion, have a good reason to ask for a variance to use it,” Miller said.
The state defines manufactured homes as “any structure transportable in one or more sections and designed to be used as a dwelling, with or without a permanent foundation, when connected to required utilities, which include plumbing, heating, and electrical heating systems contained therein,” according to Miller.
Bonnie Tucker, representative of the select board, recommended that Shatos Realty work closely with the town to change the zoning, which Shafman said he’d do happily.
“I think it’s important to note that the planning board is very supportive of your idea,” Tucker said. “Legally, we can’t support it at this point based on the situation, the location, the zoning it’s in and the requirements. So, if you did want to pursue something that would enable that, we could help you.”
The board will begin preparing amendments to the zoning ordinance this month and will look into the manufactured housing issue, along with other updates to the frontage definition and floodplain ordinance.
To allow Shatos Realty to build, the board could also expand the mixed-use West Peterborough zone to provide flexibility.
If the board makes any amendments to the ordinance or attempts to change the West Peterborough border, the decision will be put to a vote by the residents at the town meeting.