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This is a New Hampshire Outlook Special Presentation: Considering Sprawl: Managing Growth in the Granite State. |
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Hello. I'm Allison McNair. Welcome. What will New Hampshire look like in five, ten or twenty years? How will it affect our quality of life? Concerned citizens around the state are asking themselves that question. They're concerned about Sprawl and how unmanaged growth will change New Hampshier forever. In the next hour we'll meet some of the people working now to make a difference in the future. |
| The Future Return to index of stories... |
Just about every survey confirms New Hampshire is the fastest growing state in New England. An estimated 15,000 new residents will move here every year for the next twenty years. So where will they live, work, play? And how will this affect our communities? And does it matter? Producer Chip Neal posed that question to Hancock resident and Director of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation Lew Feldstein. |
| Lew Feldstein Return to index of stories... |
We look at the problem of sprawl through the lens of Social Capital. Harvard Professor and author of "Bowling Alone", Robert Putnam, explains the theory of "Social Capital" and how it assigns value to our social relationships and connections. Then we travel to Hancock to visit with Lew Feldstein, Pres. Of the NH Charitable Foundation and an advocate for Social Capital in NH. He believes that sprawl is actually tearing apart the fabric of life in our communities. |
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Meredith Hatfied is Program Director of Livable New Hampshire, a project of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. Tell us about the project you've been working on the past few years. Is one of the issues about sprawl that we are building around the scale of the automobile rather than the human scale? |
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One of the touchpoints for people who might otherwise not care about Sprawl is traffic. It's an issue for commuters and visitors North or South. As Lisa Brown reports, the debate over some big projects is hitting close to home for just about everyone concerned about Sprawl. **Web Pointer **Web Pointer |
| Transportation Return to index of stories... |
Open with shot of traffic and mountain This is The Strip…about a two mile portion along route 16 in Conway.that on a busy winter weekend, or in the height of the summer tourist season can actually take an hour or two just to drive through…It's about to be widened…Ask anyone, even the new Governor, and you'll find out, its been a long time coming. Bite: Benson 11:31:50 I was 18 when this whole thing started…if we are going to get things done, we need to move forward. 11:32:06 A recent attempt by some business owners in Conway to stall a portion of the Conway by-passs has failed and now the project is back on track. To actually build a by-pass around Conway to move people to Gorham and Berlin and points beyond is a nine step process, one that was agreed on more than ten years ago. But not without a lot of pain. Bite: Carol Murray 11:37:08 The compromise with the nine phase approach came hard there was blood all over the valley. 11:37:18 Countless outlet malls, retail stores and other commercial ventures along this stretch of highway is part of the reason for traffic congestion along the Conway strip. Widening lanes, creating turning lanes and other improvements -DOT officials say will help the flow of traffic, but it won't change the landscape. The strip is what is called "In-fill" and when in-fill takes place too quickly, there's bound to be problems. Nats of traffic…. Bite Tom Iriving/Conway Town Planner 1:01:12 Conway is essentially a cluster of villages. It is not an urban core with suburban neighborhoods around it, It's a couple of urban cores with an umber of villages connected nd the sprawl that is coming out is essentially an inefficient design pattern. Hwere we have large lots spread out and infill in the areas in between these village clusters, That's what I would consider to be Conways concern with sprawl-that we are loosing the distinctiveness of the villages. 1:01:45 For the first time in more than twenty years, the town of Conway has drafted a new comprehensive master plan, one that will allow the Conways to maintain what rural character they have, while moving forward. It is a plan that considers the direct link between transportation and land use.. Bite Carol Murray Lisa tape 14:52 There's always been a disconnect. Land use at a local level and transportation at a state level. You can't disconnect them. They are so intrically wed-that by disconnecting them that is how we produced the Conways. By increasing our conversations with the regional planning agencies and with communities we are trying to highlight, ok. If you have a train if you have some sort of transportation system that provides mobility, than you have to think about the fact that you are going to be attracting sprawl and everybody's definition of sprawl is different,'15:29 Keeping the lanes of communication open, is key to accepting change says Murray who is no stranger to oppositon. Recent public hearings on a proposed widening of Interestate 93 between Manchester and Salem have been met with mixed emotion. While many commuters embrace the project, some residents along the corrider fear road improvements will have a negative secondary impact. Too much growth. Bite from Package Show tape OT-629 11/13/02 4:12 The 800 to 1000 schoolchildren that will move to Derry as a result of this project will require construction of one o more new schools along with associated staff and supplies. This is ong to be a direct cost to Derry." 4:23 While projections of how the region will grow as a consequence vary, people concerned about the expansion say they want the Department of Transportation to take a broader view. Carol Murray Lisa Tape 17:52 We try to do the outreach and talk about-if your going to have a good transportaton facilty you're going to bring peole here, and in reality even if the transportation facility isn't great, new Hampshire is a great place to be and people are coming. 18:07 Bite Tom Irving 1:06:34 my own philosophy.there's two particular agents at work here. One is the transportation system leads you to a new plae that you want to go.and then, everybody follows-induced development, the other is that you link two important locations and you have the infill. The infill is one thing that contributes to Conway's concern in regards to sprawl. But with respect to induced development, in respect to the new by-pass, you're going to find that its going to open up new areas perhaps not in Conway but certainly in the region." And that's exactly what the North Country and towns like Berlin and Gorham are hoping for. Paper Mill woes and a bad economy have left both communities economically crippled. Bite Bill Jackson Executive council tape 1 1:27:40 the Conway By-pass will have regional economic impact especially in the towns of berlin and Gorham. When people come to our area and ask what can we do to help, our answer is simply please let this project go through as planned. The actual by-pass around Conway is still a few years away from being built. In the meantime, the town is seeing some benefit from the nine step process. Step four, building the north south road-a road that parallels the "Route 16 strip", opened this fall, and many in town say they've seen improvements. Bite: Tom Iriving 1:15:33 I think the fundamental trend that you should see and I tink its already taking place is more public involvemnt. In the past you had a select few-people that were movers and shakers that really had a drive to come up with planning and support planning initiiatives. What we are findig now that plans for a community have to be of the community. In Conway specifically, the motto that we follow is that "It's your town, its your future-make it your plan." Whether this next phase of widening actually helps the traffic flow through Conway is the big unknown. What is known however, is that Conway and the people who live there have learned a lot from their growing pains. In Conway, I'm Lisa Brown for New Hampshire Outlook |
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Ansel Sanborn is the Administrator of Transportation Planning for the State Department of Transportation. We saw the angst over highway expansion. But as Commissioner Murray said, the DOT must work in concert with local communities. How does the DOT work with local communities? What other kinds of planning are in the works? Can you tell us about the Intelligent Travel System? What about the issue of access control? |
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Cliff Sinnott, Executive Director, Rockingham Planning Commission, you've been involved in the route 16 corridor study and others. |
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Part of the growing traffic problem in New Hampshire involves long commutes farther and farther away from home and work. Kipp Cooper works with Government Affairs at the New Hampshire Association of Realtors. Kipp is also a member of the Concord City Council. Kipp, government affairs. you're a lobbyist. How do we begin to tackle this issue? Dave Juvet is the Vice President for fiscal policy and economic development at the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire. What initiatives has the BIA supported? |
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Melissa Paly is a filmmaker who produced a documentary on the impact of sprawl in Northern New England. It was seen here on New Hampshire Public Television. Melissa, how has your project Livable Landscapes been received? |
| Intro Master Plans Return to index of stories... |
By its very nature, planning must begin and end at the local level. Producer Tai Freligh shows us how the town of Hampton is managing growth with a master plan. |
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This commission would be a mid-level entity with appointed officials from the Department of Resources and Economic Development, Department of Transportation, Office of State Planning, Regional Planning Commission and the local Chamber of Commerce.. This commission will be responsible for overseeing implementation of the plan, starting with short term goals and then moving on to the long term ones. SOT 12:37:11 The plan did have short term recommendations and a lot off them were just simple things; making it a better place, starting to work on zoning, maybe cleaning up some areas. But as far as the actual hardcore construction projects, I think we need to get some things in place before we make recommendation on what to do there. TRACK Having lived in Hampton since 1926, Diane has no plans on going anywhere. And as the town grows and expands, she'll be right there growing with it. SOT 14:51:10 I ain't about ready to move for nobody. It's a good place. We have our ups and downs, we sputter. But that's living. If we didn't sputter, and everybody was doing the same thing, everybody happy, it wouldn't be interesting. TRACK In Hampton, I'm Tai Freligh for NH Outlook. |
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Cliff Sinnott, Executive Director, Rockingham Planning Commission. There are nine regional planning commissions in the state. You represente 26 communities, some of the fastest growing cities and towns in the state. Are their master plans on a regional level. What about the planning toolkit? |
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One element that is often missing from a master plan is community health. According to New Hampshire Celebrates Wellness, a health advocacy group, 55% of New Hampshire's adults are overweight or obese, and obesity is increasing among our children as well. So, they are sponsoring a program to build opportunities for exercise and recreation back into the infrastructure of our communities. The program is called "Livable Walkable Communities" and producer Chip Neal went on a local audit. |
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There are other components to a healthy community as well. Kate Hartnett is promoting something called the "Minimum Impact Development Partnership." Tell us about that and the Jordan Institute. |
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Sprawl impacts many natural resources, including open space. But what if that space is used for agriculture? That's one of the questions we posed to New Hampshire Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Taylor. Taylor's a dairy farmer as well. Chip Neal takes us to Lebanon and Meriden for Taylor's perspective. |
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Steve Taylor speaks about the effects of sprawl on our agricultural heritage and on the character of New Hampshire in general. We spoke with him in Lebanon and at his dairy farm in Meriden He speaks from the perspective of a native of the Connecticut River Valley And as a dairy farmer there And he is NH's Commissioner of Agriculture He speaks about the value of NH's agriculture beyond the products it yields. It is an integral part of our tourism industry. And the loss of agricultural land to sprawl is a permanent loss of that land as agricultural land. He also talks about the fact that many dairy farmers are at or near retirement age and they are selling off their land to finance their retirement. |
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Sarah Thorne is the Senior Director of Research for the Society for Protection of NH Forests. It seems as though New Hampshire has an abundance of forests and open space. Why is everyone concerned about sprawl? Tell us about New Hampshire Everlasting. Tell us about conservation land. |
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Do you have a vision of what New Hampshire should look like in the next twenty years? Does your vision include traffic congestion, water shortages or miles and miles of housing developments? These are some of the questions we've been asking, and we want to hear from you. Please tap into our website at nhptv.org. Go to the Outlook page and click on the Sprawl icon. Along with a description of the topics you'll see covered here at New Hampshire Public Television, you can tap into our discussion forum, "what's on your mind." Start a conversation. or join one. We may use some of your comments or questions in upcoming discussions. |
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That's it for our program. We hope you've been inspired to join the conversation or hear what others have to say about the future of New Hampshire. Thank you all for joining us. Good bye. |
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Representative Lockwood is the prime sponsor of a bill that is intended to hire more planners by the state who can serve as a resource to people on local planning boards. Last year the legislature rewrote language in a statute that gives communities guidance on master plans. |
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So where does our new governor stand on sprawl and what role does the state government play? We recently asked Governor Benson for his perspective at the Statehouse. |
| Intro Benson Return to index of stories... |
So what role does or should the state government play in managing sprawl? We recently asked Governor Benson for his perspective. |
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The Office of State Planning is working on a "Smart Growth Kit," designed to help communities deal with sprawl. Joanne Cassulo, Program Manager of the Municipal and Regional Technical Assistance division, says one function of the kit is teaching by example. |