The widening of I-93 is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2007….and with it will come growth along the highway's corrider. The state's population is expected to grow by 10s of thousands over the next decade because of the road alone. To prepare for this growth, the State's Department of Transportation is holding public meetings for the 26 towns and cities likely to be affected.The first session was held Thursday evening in Manchester. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Rebecca Kaufman attended the event and filed this report.
(sound of room)
Representatives from communities, businesses, and non-profits gathered at Manchester’s Derryfield Restaurant and Lounge Thursday evening.
Over dinner, Department of Transportation commissioner Carol Murray had this question for the group:
"First what do we want to look like, and the corollary what do we not want to look like in 20 years?"
And for a good part of the evening, participants worked on answering those questions.
voices: "I’d like to see our brownfields revitalized with mixed use", "walkable neighborhoods instead of cul-de-sacs", "convenient opportunities for recreation and physical activity", "be able to use a Segway without getting hit by a car", "larger percentage of surface waters meeting designated uses"
More commercial activity, more affordable housing, mixed land use regulations. All these ideas for a model New Hampshire were messily scribbled onto a large strip of white paper tapped to the wall of the conference room.
James Gruber is the Executive Director of the Antioch New England Institute in Keene.
He helps organize what’s being called the “Community Technical Assistance Programâ€.
Gruber says this is the first step in pinning down how the state should allocate financial and technical resources.
"What are the needs of the communities now and what do they need to get to where they stated they want to go in 20 years, how do you fill that gap, is it technical assistance, legal assistance, is it education, resources, is it restructuring zoning and planning laws, what is it?"
26 communities stretching from Pelham to Concord and Goffstown to Fremont expect to grow in population and lose open space as a result of the I-93 widening.
For many of these towns and cities, growth is nothing new.
But many predict that the interstate expansion will accelerate the trend.
That’s why the DOT has earmarked 3.5 million dollars for helping towns develop land use policies.
Antioch New England’s James Gruber admits that for such a wide ranging project, 3.5 million is a small amount of money.
But he says he hopes it can serve a catalyst for more funding opportunities.
"There’s a lot more potential leverage resources by state agencies, federal agencies, even NGOs, so the goal is to use 3.5 million get us started."
Town selectmen, planning board, and conservation commission members were well represented at the meeting.
Most did not have specific ideas for how forthcoming resources might be used.
But many had a general sense of what kind of problems their communities might face from new growth.
Preserving rural character and open space was a top concern, especially for communities further removed from the I-93 cooridor.
Ray Peoples is a selectman in Litchfield.
"To me this I-93 widening project means faster conversion of farm land to commercial or residential, right now it’s still nice to look at…everytime you improve the access from boston to southern new Hampshire our problems are escalating."
For Charles Watson, the concerns were slightly different.
He’s the town planner in Hooksett. I-93 runs right through town.
Watson says Hooksett, already well developed, could stand to benefit economically from the expansion.
"I think a much greater emphasis must be placed on bringing the jobs that people travel south to every morning back to new Hampshire if were able to cut down average commute, we’ll have a lot more participation in what’s going on at home."
These ideas and others will continue to be fleshed out over the next few months.
The next meeting is scheduled for January 19th.
For NHPR news, I’m RK
