Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance Updates
Town-wide updates needed to align zoning and master plan with 2025 RSAs, affecting land use and development standards.
The Planning Board has been advancing updates to the Planning Ordinance and Master Plan to comply with state RSA changes, after rejecting a pause and opting instead to proceed via subcommittees. Developments have been driven by routine reviews of permits and enforcement needs.
The issue of updating the town's Planning Ordinance, Master Plan, and Rules of Procedure first surfaced during the April 28, 2026 Planning Board meeting when the board reviewed open building permits and noted the need to align local rules with 2025 RSA changes.
At that meeting, a motion to pause ordinance work pending Select Board direction failed, after which a separate motion passed to integrate draft content into the Zoning Ordinance and proceed with Master Plan work via the Lakes Region Planning Commission.
The May 12, 2026 Planning Board meeting continued the topic under Ordinance Enforcement and Review, confirming the decision to move forward with the Master Plan while addressing related enforcement procedures.
On May 26, 2026, the board formalized next steps by voting to split into subcommittees for separate review of the Ordinances, Master Plan, and Rules of Procedure, following a presentation on enforcement guides from the NH Municipal Association.
These updates carry broad impact on land-use regulation affecting all residents and property owners, with the board directing the Land Use Office to facilitate subcommittee information sharing.
The process remains ongoing through subcommittee work, with no final adoption votes recorded in the evidence.
At the June 9, 2026 Planning Board meeting, the board prioritized bringing the Zoning Ordinance into compliance with 2025 RSAs and directed Fenton and Koron to develop a new Camping Ordinance along with enforcement policies. The board also discussed the Master Plan's relationship to the Zoning Ordinance, SB 188 b., and approved amended minutes.
At the June 18, 2026 Select Board meeting, Vice Chairman Fenton reported that the master plan update is on hold, with priority instead on reconciling the zoning ordinance with recent state legislative changes. The board discussed maintaining the distinction between statute-based enforcement by the Planning Board and local ordinance-based enforcement by the Select Board, and noted that the camping ordinance rewrite is complete.
A local-ordinance enforcement policy for camping will be brought back to the Board.
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