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tustetanated Nashua |

Learn More

Read about the Imagine
Nashua vision and core values
on page 28.

Learn about priority areas for
targeted redevelopment and
actions for improvement on
page 60.

https://imagine.nashuanh.gov

At the core of Nashua are its people and this master plan aims to enrich
the quality of life for those who live, work, and visit the city through

thoughtful and strategic planning.

Many of the land use policies and
strategies outlined in this plan

will require zoning or regulatory
modifications. While, on its own,
this plan cannot enact these
changes, it does provide a
framework for what those changes
should be and the intent behind
them. Moreover, while this plan
does discuss a wide range of policy
and citywide objectives, at its core
this citywide plan is focused on
land use. Land use, via land use
regulation and a corresponding
zoning ordinance, is the primary
tool available to city planners to
achieve most of the goals set out
here. In that sense, the goals and
recommendations that are land-
use-focused can be seen as more
primary, with additional goals and
recommendations that fit into that
larger framework.

The Gate City

Nashua sits at a unique position,
geographically and economically
and it is not for no reason that
Nashua calls itself the “Gate City.”
While on the one hand, Nashua is
closely integrated into the New
Hampshire region and economy
and has strong ties to Manchester
to the north and other nearby
cities and towns, Nashua also
draws much of its employment
and commuting base from the
metropolitan Boston region to the
south. No mere sleeper commuter
suburb, Nashua also boasts a
robust economic base for its size,

and this combination of city unto
itself alongside a community
straddling the New Hampshire and
Massachusetts border is a quality
that Imagine Nashua’s planning
team expects must deeply inform
municipal policy going forward.

Balanced Approach
to Development

The future of growth and
redevelopment in the city

can be a contested topic for
residents, businesses, and other
stakeholders alike, but across
varying perspectives and opinions,
the Imagine Nashua planning
process provided a platform for
communities to come together
and form a shared understanding
of place, and a vision for future
policy objectives to effectively
advance equitable and sustainable
development in the city.

Imagine Nashua aims to take a
balanced approach to growth
and redevelopment, by directing
strategic land-use planning in
neighborhoods and districts

that will see the most positive
economic and community impact
while preserving those areas that
are already established or have
stable patterns of development.

The master plan takes a closer look
at eight priority redevelopment
areas identified by the City, and
provides near-term and long-term
actions for physical, economic,

environmental improvements and
community benefits. The visions
for these areas are a central
component of this plan, and
incorporate all topic elements:
land use, housing, economic
development, mobility and transit,
open space and the environment,
and arts and culture.

It is critical that while Nashua
plans for what future development
can look like in the next 20 years,
that the benefits of growth and
change are felt by all members

of the community. This means

that Imagine Nashua policy
recommendations must be
equitable, prioritizing eliminating
barriers to access to resources
and opportunities that community
members need to improve the
quality of their situation. Goals and
actions of this plan must strive to
make Nashua resilient, building
capacity within individuals,
communities, institutions,
businesses and systems to survive,
adapt and grow from the shocks
and stresses they experience.
Finally, any future plan, goal

or action for Nashua must be
committed to adapt to and mitigate
the effects of climate change
through promoting sustainable
development patterns.

Comprehensive Master Plan

Imagine Nashua Plan Topic Areas:

Land Use and Development

Existing conditions and the proposed location, extent,
and intensity of future land use, compatible with
Nashua’s character.

Mobility

Framework for providing adequate local
transportation needs in coordination with regional
and state transportation plans.

Housing

Assessment of local housing conditions and future
needs and recommendations for new housing policies
and programs.

Economic Development

Proposing action to support Nashua’s economic
goals, given its economic strengths and weaknesses
in the region.

Open Space and Environment

Identifying and continuing to protect critical natural
areas and preserve and expanding access to open
space and recreational resources.

Arts and Culture
Leverage arts and culture industries to provide direct
economic benefit to the community and enhance

Nashua’s role as an arts and culture destination.

tustetanated Nashua |

2000 Master Plan Successes

Conserving Natural Resources
and Open Space was a high
priority of the last Master Plan:
in 1999 the City had 230 acres
of conserved land, and as of
2017 we have 1297 acres of
permanently conserved land!

Encouraging and promoting
sidewalks, trails, and bicycle
lanes was a high priority of

the last Master Plan. Since
then, the City has added over
4 miles of conservation trails,
the Nashua River Rail Trail, the

Heritage Rail Trail East, and is
in the process of adding the
Heritage Rail Trail West, the
downtown Riverwalk, and new
and extended bicycle lanes,
and sidewalks.

Learn More

For a synopsis of past and
current citywide and topic-
area planning efforts, see
pages 184-185.

https://imagine.nashuanh.gov

The Master Plan is both the framework used to inform and guide future
policy decisions in the city, and the tool for evaluating how we reach

our goals and visions.

Building upon Past
Efforts and Current
Momentum

Since adoption of the city’s
previous master plan over 20
years ago, Nashua has been
growing and diversifying. The

City has worked diligently to
accommodate new residents and
businesses, while ensuring that
Nashua can be livable for future
generations to come. The 2017
Downtown Riverfront Master

Plan and ongoing Livable Nashua
efforts are testament to the city’s
commitment to creating a more
sustainable, resilient, and livable
community for Nashua residents
by advocating for and promoting
environmental stewardship,

and the protection of natural
resources. The city’s recent Bike
and Pedestrian Study and Housing
Study showcase significant efforts
towards enhancing quality of

life for residents and workers by
providing access to good housing,
transportation options, jobs, and
opportunities in the city.

Building upon these efforts

and more, the Imagine Nashua
planning process presented a
critical opportunity for the city to
take stock of its overarching visions
and goals, past successes, and
progress to date, and strategize
ways in which the city can respond
to current and future challenges
and opportunities ahead. Imagine
Nashua seeks to leverage Nashua’s
unique location geographically

and economically in the region,
and push for citizen-centered
achievable outcomes which ensure
that the benefits of future growth
and development are felt by all
Nashua residents and workers. The
master plan is both the framework
used to inform and guide future
policy decisions in the city, and the
tool for evaluating how we reach
our goals and visions.

butcrsbt Nashua | https://imagine.nashuanh.gov

Ae el ies

As our community was managing the COVID-19
crisis and the long-term effects on our residents and
businesses, we felt it was extremely important not
to delay this process. What better way to emerge
from acrisis than hearing from our community and

setting forth a plan to come back with goals that
improve the overall quality of life for all residents
and ensure a more resilient community into the
future.

Imagine Nashua provided the
platform to engage in an inclusive
citywide discussion on how to
manage and plan for equitable
and sustainable growth and
redevelopment in the city. Through
multiple outreach efforts, the
planning team heard the concerns
of Nashua residents around
density, redevelopment, home
prices, climate change, carbon
emissions, the commuter rail,
traffic, walkability, and many other
cross-cutting issues, which we
will focus on through the rest of
this plan. This plan is for all those
who live, work, and visit Nashua
today and tomorrow. We aspire

to make Nashua a vibrant and
livable community for not only
those who reside and look for
opportunities here today, but for
future generations to come.

Need for Growth
and Densification

Planning for and managing growth
is the central component of the
Imagine Nashua Plan, as the City
continues to expand its fiscal
health and provide opportunities,
resources, and amenities to its
residents. Nashuans love their city
for its small town feel and sense
of community, and the access
they have to a variety of open
Spaces and natural resources.
Nashua as a city, is also growing
in both its resident population and

employment base and in order

to accommodate this growth,

while continuing to protect and
maintain established and natural
areas, requires critical reshaping of
current land use code and zoning
regulations that potentially act

as a barrier to more sustainable
development.

Meeting Housing
Needs for

a Changing
Population

Nashua is experiencing a rapid
aging of its resident population.
Findings from the 2020 Housing
Study show that much of Nashua’s
housing growth and demand is
being fueled by residents aged
55 and older and are driving
demand for smaller units that
can comfortably housing single-
and two-person households. In
addition, Nashua’s proximity to
more expensive housing markets
in Massachusetts has also made
the city desirable for young
professionals, young families,
and retirees. Planning for more
affordable housing and a mix of
housing choices for these two
growing age cohorts—millennials
and empty nesters, is essential
to the Imagine Nashua housing
strategy and requires creating
more variety and density of
housing types to accommodate
future generations.

Comprehensive Master Plan

Why densification is
Tare

While these generational shifts
and trends are not unique to
Nashua or even New England,
the competitive advantages
the planning teams sees for
Nashua across all of the topic
areas remain valuable only if
Nashua continues to provide
for its population both now and
into the future. Densification
will enable Nashua to grow ina
more sustainable way by:

Connecting jobs and
opportunities with people
and homes

Concentrating
development efforts,
infrastructure investment,
and avoiding urban sprawl
Promoting walkability,
reducing traffic congestion
autombolile use, and GHG
emissions

Preserving open space and
natural resources

Housing Opportunity

If the City is looking to create
more housing opportunities
to accommodate future
population and employment
growth, multi-family and
mixed-use development
utilizes less land area per
unit than any other housing

typology.

butcrsbt Nashua | https://imagine.nashuanh.gov

As we plan redevelopment in the city, we must be cognizant of how
new growth impacts different groups in the city and ensure access to
opportunities for all residents to succeed.

Total Population Change 1970-2030

Nashua has seen a steady rise in population since 1970 with an
increase of nearly 30,000 new residents. Nashua can expect this growth
to continue through the year 2030 adding another 8,000 residents.

110,000

100,000

90,000

86,605 86,494 86,766
80,000
79,662

70,000
67,865
60,000

55,820
50,000 :

40,000
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2013 2018 2025 2030

Source: NHGIS, ACS 2013, 2018, EMSI, RKG Associates

Change in Age Structure 2011-2019

Residents in Nashua are aging in place; the fastest growing age cohort
in the city are residents 55 years and older. Nashua will need to
consider the types of shifts in policy, housing and job creation, unit size,
and approaches to public space that will best meet the needs of this
changing population.

40%

m L L
0% EH L_]

-20% a

-40%

Under18 18-24yrs 25-34yrs 35-44yrs 45-54yrs 55-64yrs 65+yrs

Source: NHGIS, ACS 2011, 2019

Doing Our Part to
Address Climate
Change

Nashua must do its part to combat
climate change as a member of

a regional and global community
dedicated to making the world

a more sustainable and better
place to live. As we write this plan,
the City of Nashua has already

set several larger resilience and
sustainability goals and has
undertaken many actions and
initiatives to advance these goals.
In 2017, Nashua’s Environment
and Energy Committee, EEC, was
formed after Mayor Jim Donchess
pledged allegiance to the Mayor
National Climate Action Agenda,
in which he and 273 other mayors
across the country agreed to
uphold the values and goals of the
Paris Climate Agreement.

The EEC set sustainability-
focused recommendations,
including goals to cut municipal
greenhouse gas emissions by 25
percent by 2025 and to power
municipal buildings with 100
percent clean energy sources by
2025. Since then, the City has
invested in solar panels on its fire
and transit facilities totalling 230
kW of solar generation capacity,
and the City’s two hydroelectric
facilities produced 20,297 MWhrs
of power in 2019. The city used
260,000 kWh of electricity in 2020
that was generated from solar
power.

Embracing
Inclusivity and
Diversity

Nashua’s population is diversifying
and with it comes income disparity.
Findings from the 2020 Nashua
Housing Study showed that

White and Asian households in
Nashua have significantly higher
household incomes than Black,
Hispanic and Latino households.
This greatly impacts their ability to
pay rents and mortgages, contain
cost burdening as prices escalate,
and find affordable housing
options in the city. It may also be
impacting their ability to enter the
homeownership market over time
as prices continue to rise. While
Nashua remains largely white, the
shift over the past few years is
indicative of a larger trend that is
expected to continue.

Alongside the generational
shifts, Nashua will need to consider
the types of shifts in policy,
housing and job creation, unit size,
and approaches to public space
that will best meet the needs of its
changing population. As we plan
redevelopment in the city, we must
be cognizant of how new growth
impacts different groups in the city
and ensure access to opportunities
for all residents to succeed.

Comprehensive Master Plan

Nashua’s Energy and
Environment Committee

The Environment and Energy
Committee’s purpose is

to further sustainability

and livability in Nashua by
promoting environmental
stewardship and renewable
energy, encouraging

energy conservation and
energy efficiency, reducing
environmental impacts and
encouraging green initiatives
both within the municipality
and beyond to reach
businesses and residents.
The Committee is encouraged
to recommend municipal
energy and energy efficiency
projects that would result in
cost savings for the City. The
Committee will advise the
Mayor and Board of Aldermen
on environmental and energy
Sle locse

Imagine VEGA

Population by Race and Ethnicity

90%

https://imagine.nashuanh.gov

The need for growth and densification directly relates to all three
values of equity, resilience and climate protection. Increasing market
supply of housing is a major strategy for curbing the rise in housing
prices and for increasing options for different household types, a more
diverse housing stock is a large component of social resilience, and
multifamily units lead to much lower carbon emissions per household.

@ 2013 2018

80% 79%
73%
70%
60% —=
50%
40%
30% —
20%
10% 13%
10% “ 7%, 8% }__
2% 2% a 2%3%
0% = =
Hispanic or Two or Asian Black or White
Latino more races African American

Nashua’s Climate Goals

“es = Y

100% renewable energy Invest in renewable
by 2050 energy resources

SD :

a a
Reduce municipal Purchase alternative fuel
emissions 20% by 2025 public transit vehicles

Source: https://www.livablenashua.org/

Nashua’s population is
diversifying. The number of
Black, Asian, and Hispanic/
Latino residents increased
between 2013 and 2018
but White and Asian
households continue to
earn 2.5+ times the income
as Black and Hispanic/
Latino households. This has
impacts on affordability,
ability to pay for housing,
and concentrations of lower
income households in
certain parts of the city.

Source: ACS 2013, 2018, RKG
Associates

Hire an energy manager

vy

ONO

Implement a bikeshare
program in the city

Measuring and
Defining Success

Looking at these issues, it becomes
clearer how equity, resilience, and
climate protection cut across all of
the plan’s topic areas, and are even
interwoven within each other. The
need for growth and densification,
for example, directly relates to all
three lenses—increasing market
supply of housing is a major
strategy for curbing the rise in
housing prices and for increasing
options for different household
types, a more diverse housing
stock is a large component of
social resilience, and multifamily
units lead to much lower carbon
emissions per household.

For this reason, this plan
includes, beyond goals and
recommendations for each
topic area, a shorter set of “top
goals,” which tend to cut across
these lenses. While the full set of
topics and recommendations are
important for all city departments
to help implement over the next
decades, this plan feels that
the top goals are the particular
priorities that will get the most
policy bang for the literal and
proverbial buck.

These top goals, then, need to be
measurable and implementable.
Each top goal has an additional set
of metrics and targets that can be
used to see progress over time.
While these metrics cannot fully
encompass what it means for one
of these goals to be achieved, they
still serve as markers of progress.
In addition to being tied to

top goals, the larger set of
recommendation prioritizations
is the biggest way to implement
the ideas in this plan. Each
recommendation is marked as
near-, mid-, or long-term. In
addition to seeing outcomes

via the metrics, seeing different
recommendations and their
timeframes is a secondary way

to measure progress and success
with this plan.

Comprehensive Master Plan

A living document

Imagine Nashua is intended
to bea “living” document
allowing for periodic

review, reconsideration and
adjustment, and recognizes
that modification of goals and/
or actions may be required to
reflect changing conditions
and ongoing concerns in the
city. The success of this master
plan should not be measured
by an ideal end-state, but
instead by how well we follow
through with actions and
recommendations suggested
in this plan.