(This story is by Rob Wolfe, of the Valley News, in which it first appeared June 20, 2017.)
[N]ORWICH — Residents concerned about development’s effect on the character of Norwich are circulating a petition to force a townwide vote on the town plan, which expired in December and is undergoing revisions by the Planning Commission.
The public discussion around the town plan, a periodically updated document that outlines the community’s vision for land use and development, ties into a recent debate over a proposed slate of zoning amendments, as well as larger questions of whether Norwich will retain its rural character.
“We don’t live in Boston. We don’t live in a suburb of Boston, or any other place,” said resident Stuart Richards on Monday. He told the Selectboard earlier this month that he and other residents had acquired at least 250 signatures for the petition.
The petition could mean the town plan would require approval by popular vote rather than by the Selectboard.
“We’re our own community,” Richards said. “We’re kind of unique, and the demographics have changed. … Many of my friends have left, and I really feel badly about that. They left because they couldn’t afford to live in Norwich.”
Richards, a retired developer and former Planning Commission member, was a vocal opponent of a proposal to open up a corridor along Route 5 South for high-density development.
After a largely negative showing at a public hearing in February, that proposal was shelved this spring in favor of the ongoing town plan revisions, but Richards and the other residents have taken the fight over affordability and the look and feel of the town to this process as well.
Richards and his allies have been participating in the town plan revisions, and they hope the petition, which hasn’t yet been formally submitted, will impel Planning Commission members to take their suggestions seriously.
“If they don’t have a mind to, we can see what the town thinks,” he said, referring to the possibility of a vote.
A few weeks ago Richards and another resident, Marcia Calloway, submitted annotated copies of the Planning Commission’s latest drafts and offered numerous revisions, many of them seeking to limit development and reinforce the rural nature of the town.
In one section, the two residents deleted a phrase that appeared to support a high-density zoning corridor and had been in the prior town plan. It reads: “This plan envisions the Route 5 corridor in Norwich as a suitable location for higher-density or -intensity uses, including commercial activities, while recognizing that a lack of wastewater disposal capacity continues to be a limiting factor to development in this area.”
Calloway could not be reached for comment Monday.
Jeff Goodrich, chairman of the Planning Commission, said the committee was working quickly to replace the town plan and maintain eligibility for certain state grants that depend on the designation of downtown Norwich as a village center.
To get that done soon, he said, the commission is hoping to make a handful of minor revisions that would bring the document into compliance with new state laws.
“We’re trying to make as few changes as possible to this document that has been so publicly vetted over the past years,” he said.
The Planning Commission recently completed a draft of the town plan, with the minor changes promised by Goodrich, that residents will have the opportunity to address at a public hearing next month.
Goodrich also rebutted allegations from Calloway, as expressed in a June 3 letter to the Selectboard, that the commission had not been open enough in its revision process.
“Our Planning Commission has been open to the public nonstop,” he said, adding later that the panel in its town plan update “has been constantly involving outreach to the public or public input.”
Goodrich later took aim at the development opponents, noting that in 2011, when the town plan last was revised, few or no residents took part in the update.
“I don’t recall them voicing any concerns,” he said of the residents.
Richards acknowledged as much in Monday’s interview but said the high-density zoning proposal had made clearer the potential side effects of a town plan that expresses support for development.
“This time around they have shown us what this town plan could lead to,” he said, “and that’s not something that is consistent with either old Norwich or new Norwich or any Norwich.”
The town plan hearing is scheduled for July 13 at 7 p.m. in Tracy Hall.
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