This article has been submitted at the Request of the Windham Planning Board in an effort to educate the public on the zoning ordinance amendments that are being recommended by the Planning Board for 2013 Town Meeting.  A series of articles will be published each week leading up to Town Meeting on March 12^th.  Each article will provide a summary of one or more zoning amendments being proposed. 

By Kristi St. Laurent, Planning Board Member

AMENDMENT #7

Town Meeting is approaching, with voting on the Warrant and Budget scheduled for Tuesday, March 12^th at Windham High School.  The School Board and Selectmen items are discussed at Deliberative Sessions (February 8^th and 9^th respectively).  The Planning Board held workshops and public hearings to discuss and amend each item proposed.  The items passed to warrant are complete and can be viewed on the Town website www.windhamnewhampshire.com.  Near the top of the Planning Board page you can select 2013 Town Meeting Items to review them all. 

In order to help inform voters about the Planning Board items, members and staff will be compiling informational articles about each item for publication in the local papers over the next several weeks.  For further information, refer to the website above or call the Community Development Department at 432-3806.

Workforce Housing was passed by Windham voters last year, in accordance with NH RSA’s (statutes). Current zoning (Section 619.6.6) refers to the statute in the case in which an applicant wants to appeal the cost of complying with the Planning Board’s conditions of approval.  Per statute, the applicant has not less than 30 days to submit evidence on the cost of complying.  This year’s proposed amendment clarifies that the Planning Board is to set a time frame in which this evidence is to be submitted, as long as it is not less than thirty days, rather than leaving it open-ended.  A specific time frame was not suggested for the ordinance because larger projects or more conditions may require more time to respond, while smaller or less complicated approvals could be handled more quickly.