By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Goffstown News/Rod Hansen Jay Marden and Jed Callen work on a hypothetical zoning map for the town of New Boston at the Master Plan Update Committee meeting on Saturday, April 15.

The high costs of buying a home in New Boston may make living here too expensive for local house hunters.

That’s one message about 40 residents heard at the master plan meeting on Saturday, April 15.

Residents considered a draft of the master plan at Saturday’s meeting, and offered their thoughts on how the town should consider future planning options. The master plan is the spirit behind the town’s land use ordinances, according to Master Plan Committee spokesman David Ely. Ordinances can be revised to implement principles and goals of the town’s citizens, Ely said.

The Master Plan Committee will submit a revised edition of the document to the planning board in June, Ely said.

Mulling over a wide range of topics facing this community of about 4,000, residents who attended the master plan update meeting wrestled with topics including encouraging commerce while maintaining the town’s rustic charm, promoting affordable housing, and protecting natural resources.

To inform residents and take their opinions, the event was organized with speakers during the morning session and breakout groups of about a dozen residents discussing future land use in the afternoon.

Speakers who addressed residents in the morning included Ely; Robert Tourigny of Manchester Neighborhood Housing Services Inc., on the topic of housing and population; Tim White, a senior transportation planner with the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission (SNHPC) on transportation; Bob Todd, a local land use consultant, on natural resources; and David Preece, executive director of the SNHPC, on economic development.

What emerged through some presentations was a picture of a community potentially pricing itself out of its own market.

For example, Tourigny’s presentation showed the average price of a single-family home in New Boston was $386,162.

To purchase this home, a family must make $112,282, or 168 percent of the area median income.

Of the 71 homes currently for sale in New Boston, which range in price from $179,000 to $785,000, only six are listed under $250,000, according to Tourigny’s figures.

Dave Woodbury, chairman of the board of selectmen, who participated in group discussion with other residents, said his group had discussed affordable housing tentatively. However, he said the group had not reached consensus on how to define the subject.

“I think everybody liked the idea of affordable housing, but no one knew enough about it to define it. I think that will let the planning board know this is a new enough idea that it still requires some definition,” Woodbury said.

During his discussion of the town’s economic development, Preece used figures to illustrate that most New Boston residents make their living outside of the community.

Only 19 percent of residents currently work in New Boston, while a full 69 percent commute over 45 minutes, according to Preece’s figures. This shows the town may become vulnerable during economic downturns and be subject to increasing property taxes if it fails to diversify its employment and economic base, Preece said.

When residents broke into groups to discuss future land use in the afternoon, one thought seemed to dominate throughout: Growth is good, but too much growth could change the town’s character.

“One of the things that gives this town its personality is the village center, where we have to rub shoulders with each other,” said resident Don Chapman.

“As soon as you take away that village center, you take away the personality,” Chapman said.

During the afternoon discussion of future land use, residents primarily questioned whether the town would be better off to see its commercial center expand beyond its current area, or to leave the local lay of the land as is.

During break-out group discussions on future land use, residents were asked to consider a variety of uses for the town’s vacant and undeveloped land. Currently, this accounts for 67 percent of the town’s acreage.

Those options included residential, cluster developments, traditional village center, light industrial and varying degrees of growth. Residents placed colored dots signifying different types of development on a map on the town to show where they’d like to see further growth or conservation.

Meetings such as this are part of a process of collecting input before the Master Plan Committee presents the planning board with the revised document in June.

To view a draft of the revised master plan, click that link in the “News & Announcements” section of the town’s Web site, www2.new-boston.nh.us.