e Community Development 589-3095
City of Nashua Planning and Zoning 589-3090
: oad Building Safety 589-3080
Community Development Division Code Enforcement 589-3100
City Hall, 229 Main Street, PO Box 2019 Can Programs mission eeaatee
Nashua, New Hampshire 03061-2019 Transportation 880-0100
ww w.nashuanh.gov FAX 589-3119
Date: February 2, 2021
To: Lori Wilshire, Board of Aldermen President
Jim Donchess, Mayor
From: Sarah Marchant, Community Development Division Director
Re: Proposed clarification to Land Use Code 190-40 Conservation Subdivision
Within the City’s Land Use Code, under NRO 190, Article VI Supplemental Use Regulations, the
City adopted 190-40 Conservation Subdivisions as an “option [which] provides flexibility in site
design in order to allow developers to preserve common open space and natural resources.” The
code then goes on to detail the specific purposes of the section and how it implements the 2002
Master Plan, focused on protection of natural resources, reduction of infrastructure and flexibility of
design.
The design standards allow for flexibility of lot size, frontage and width to cluster development in a
smaller area in exchange for preserving the most open space and reducing infrastructure. However,
this section relies on the underlying zoning district to define the allowed uses and density (See 190-
AQ (C) 2) defined in Table 16-3. For example, a traditional subdivision of a 10 acre parcel in the R-
9 zoning district would allow a maximum of 40 new lots and require each new lot be at least 9,000
SF, spreading development out over the whole original 10 acre parcel. The same land under a
Conservation Subdivision would also be allowed a maximum of 40 units but would require much
smaller lot sizes to preserve more of the land in open space. The image below is an example from
§ 190-40.
Caneentional, lange-bot sulxday
Batt
In further reviewing the purpose statement of § 190-40, the ordinance is intended to provide
flexibility in dwelling unit form, ownership, and design, whilst providing development density
incentives that balance themselves with the protection of natural resources that underpin the
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