Keene zoning change continues discussion about need for housing

Vacant property being slated for Monadnock Conservancy headquarters at center of year-long negotiations

Keene city councilors on Thursday greenlit an amendment to reclassify the zoning of a 3.53-acre plot of land on Ashuelot Street, part of which is expected to serve as the new headquarters for the Monadnock Conservancy. 

The proposed change passed by a 9-1 vote, though several councilors have expressed — in discussions going back more than a year ago — a desire to see the long-vacant property instead converted into additional housing.

Councilor Bobby Williams, the sole vote against the amendment, reiterated that position for his peers.

“I’ve been against this project all along,” he said. “I just don’t think it’s as sustainable as we wish it was. Yes, it’s nice to have more park space … but that is a location in our city that is very centrally located, (in) which 40 or 50 families could live in apartments there.”

Williams noted that it seems that Keene is pushing housing development to the edges of the city. He highlighted how in May, the council approved a zoning change to lower the minimum lot size in the rural district to allow for more development.

“There was a lot of opposition to that; people said ‘you’re changing our community, you’re changing the nature of this area,'” he said. “How can we ask people in the rural zone to put up with that kind of change if we’re not willing to build in our most densest center of our city?”

Councilor Randy Filiault countered that developers had plenty of time to purchase the property with the intent to build more housing. He added that for years the site has been an “eye sore,” but the new plans will give it new life.

“It sat there for years,” he said. “(JRR Properties) happened to come up and buy it, and this is what they’ve decided to do. So I’ll remind the councilors, if you ever see an abandoned lot come up and you want it to be housing, buy it.”

The Ashuelot Street property is on an undeveloped lot that once served as an overflow parking lot for the nearby Colony Mill Marketplace at 222 West St. JRR Properties bought the parcel in 2013. Whereas the area used to be covered in tar and pavement, that has since been dug up, with a sheet of green grass taking its place.

In a housing report Camoin Associates presented to the city council in April, the New York-based consulting group found that vacancy rates in Keene were below 4% for homeowners and rental units, whereas a healthy vacancy rate would be around 5%. The report also estimates that an additional 1,400 units are needed over the next 10 years.

Councilor Kate Bosley, chairwoman of the Planning, Licenses and Development Committee which recommended the amendment’s approval, noted that the opportunity for more housing won’t be diminished by the owner’s plans for the property, since the city’s land code allows residential development above commercial buildings.

Property owner JRR Properties LLC requested that the land be rezoned to be part of the city’s commerce district instead of its designation as part of the high-density district. 

Tara Kessler, a paralegal for BCM Environmental & Land Law representing JRR Properties, previously told councilors that the reason for the request is to allow for the construction of the Monadnock Conservancy’s headquarters and solar energy systems, which were not permitted in the high-density district. 

In the summer of 2022, JRR Properties proposed to donate 2.5 acres of the full parcel to the city to be converted into additional park land expanding on the adjacent Ashuelot River Park. That July, councilors authorized City Manager Elizabeth Dragon to enter into negotiations to accept the donation. 

The remaining acre of land, also at the site, is slated to go to the Monadnock Conservancy to construct a net-zero energy building to serve as the organization’s new headquarters, which would be powered by a 100-kilowatt solar array.

The Monadnock Conservancy, currently at 15 Eagle Court, is a Keene-based nonprofit with a mission to preserve the natural resources and rural lands of the Monadnock Region.

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