Accountability posts

On December 18, 2025, the Sunapee Planning Board held a lengthy public hearing on a proposed new Waterfront Village Commercial Zoning District — a comprehensive overhaul of the town's harbor area covering building sizes, permitted uses, short-term rentals, and density. The meeting drew at least 14 public speakers and ran for hours. Here's what came out of it that every Sunapee resident should know.

The most significant procedural problem: the hearing for Amendment #1 — the centerpiece of the entire proposal — must be held again. Required notices mailed to residents in the district stated the meeting was on 'Wednesday, December 18.' December 18 is a Thursday. The board unanimously agreed the error requires a new public hearing, now scheduled for January 8, 2026 at 6:30pm. Residents who relied on that notice and didn't show up had no fair opportunity to participate.

Beyond the notice failure, several substantive concerns were raised and left unresolved. The Town Manager flagged that these zoning amendments would require additional staff at the same time the town budget is cutting staff — a direct conflict the board deferred to 'next year' without a concrete plan. A resident cited survey data showing 75% of Sunapee residents want village district lot sizes to stay the same, directly contradicting the proposal's growth assumptions. Another resident disputed — by name and with specifics — that Lower Main Street was ever included in the charrette process that forms the basis for this proposal. The board kept Lower Main Street in the district anyway. No enforceable affordability provisions were added despite public requests. And no proactive traffic study is planned for the harbor area, even as the zoning framework is designed to attract new development in a corridor residents say already has bridge weight restrictions and school bus conflicts.

On short-term rentals: the board reversed a proposed owner-occupancy restriction after heated public debate about property rights, voting by majority (not unanimously) to keep short-term rentals 'allowed by right' in the new district. At least one board member disagreed with that outcome. Amendments on parking minimums, ADUs, solar installations, and setback rules were also discussed and several were approved for the March ballot. The Amendment #1 re-hearing is January 8 at 6:30pm — if you care about what gets built near Sunapee Harbor, that's the meeting to attend. https://meetingwatch.org/nh/sunapee/planning-board/2025-12-18/ #MeetingWatch #SunapeeNH