By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

Hooksett planners are looking for outside help in forming a new residential growth management ordinance, which the town has lacked since a Superior Court judge ruled the town’s growth restrictions unconstitutional in April.

Since that growth ordinance was thrown out, the town council has allotted $15,000 to fund studies for a new growth ordinance.

Hooksett Town Planner Charles Watson has worked to draft a 17-page ordinance, but said he’s not confident the document would withstand the scrutiny of the courts if it were to be challenged by a developer.

“You can’t just grab a growth management ordinance off the shelf,” Watson said. “It has to be tailored to the community where you live.”

The town already spent more than $10,000 in legal fees when it defended the previous residential growth ordinance, which was submitted by petition by resident Michael Sorel.

Voters passed that ordinance by a two-to-one ratio in 2005, but a judge said it lacked the proper research and studies required to make it valid.

Watson said he’s only secured one bid from a firm that could assist with the whole process of researching a residential growth law. That bid, from Laconia-based Applied Economics Research, topped off at $22,500, well exceeding the $15,000 currently designated for studies.

Some councilors suggested drafting a legal ordinance should be a top priority.

“We need to do this,” said Town Councilor Michael Di-Bitetto. “I think we’ve got to find the money in another line item and move this thing forward.”

Town Administrator David Jodoin said a new ordinance would need to be completed within 12 weeks in order to be considered for the 2007 ballot.

In the meantime, the council urged Watson to get more detailed bids.