LEBANON — A group of around 20 people gathered last week to talk about how advocates for land conservation might work together with developers as the city creates a new housing plan.
Toward the beginning of the meeting, Donald Lacey, who sits on the Lebanon Conservation Commission, expressed a worry about the discussion becoming “the conservationists versus the housing folks. We gotta figure out how to talk to each other and work together as partners rather than adversaries.”
It was just what Steve Whitman, a consultant from Plymouth, N.H.-based Resilience Planning & Design who facilitated the meeting at City Hall, wanted to hear. Even just the “intent to work together” between conservationists and housing people would make the initial public discussion a success. he said.
The intent of the meeting was “to get out to different populations of people that might not be getting pulled into conversations about housing,” said Whitman. “And that you can understand maybe what the city’s up against, (and) we can understand what you see as goals.” he
The discussion will inform larger policy, especially the city’s new Housing Plan, which is supported by a $100,000 grant from New Hampshire Housing.
“All of this will end up informing a new housing chapter for the master plan that will actually help guide policy and non-regulatory initiatives for the coming decade,” Whitman said.
Thursday’s meeting centered on affordable housing availability, wildlife conservation and strategies to develop new housing.
To start the meeting, Zak Brohinsky, the other consultant with Resilience Planning & Design, noted that middle-income households are increasingly struggling to find housing options in Lebanon, alongside the limited access of lower-income households — while new housing skews towards higher-income households.
State Rep. Susan Almy, D-Lebanon, then raised concerns about wetland and wildlife conservation. “When you’ve got new housing going up next to wildlife areas, there can be a lot of unfortunate interactions, at least unfortunate for the wildlife,” Almy said.
Others mentioned Jackson Conservation Area as an example of housing advocates and conservationists working together in the city’s recent history.
Jackson Conservation is a nature area on the eastern edge of downtown Lebanon, which serves as outdoor recreation area for the urban core and surrounding neighborhoods.
The example was used to say that conservation and housing aren’t necessarily on the same lot of property, but have a track record of thinking in the same direction and cooperating with each other in the city.
Brohinsky, one of the discussion’s moderators, noted a trend in Lebanon shifting from sprawl — the dominant trend from the 1960s to the ’90s of developing housing outside city limits — to “infilling,” where new housing is built on previously developed land within the city.
However, there was some concern about profitable development currently being in the market of sprawl.
Some also mentioned a shift in profitability to larger apartment complexes.
Chris Johnson, a member of the Lebanon Conservation Commission, asked for further vertical housing development.“I also think that building up is a great way to conserve a lot of the land we still have remaining to us, while also fitting housing needs,” Johnson said.
Some noted that the issues of housing and conservation are regional and should be addressed at the regional level.
Ben Wallace, of the Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire, mentioned that grants, like the the one that prompted the meeting, go to Lebanon instead of the smaller surrounding communities. This results in Lebanon essentially providing housing for the region.
Wallace proposed that Lebanon take on a “leadership role” in addressing the issues of the larger area by thinking “about the conservation solution and also the housing solution as a regional thing.”
There will be about eight similar meetings, working with groups like the Lebanon Housing Authority, hospital affiliates, senior citizens, LGBTQ+ and young professionals, Whitman said.
On Sept. 25 at 4 p.m., a similar meeting is scheduled to be held at Salt hill Pub in downtown Lebanon that will include businesses and young professionals, Whitman said in an email.
