By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

The Hooksett Planning Board may soon decide whether to offer voters a new residential growth management ordinance in September.

Town-sponsored growth restriction has been a hot topic since a state Superior Court judge ruled the town’s previous growth law unconstitutional. That ordinance was submitted by petition in 2005, and voters approved it by about a 2 to 1 ratio.

The court case, spurred by a developer challenging the growth cap, cost the town about $10,200, said Town Administrator David Jodoin.

The town council has since approved spending $15,000 on studies for a new town-sponsored law, which would have to then be approved by voters.

The board held a hearing on Monday, June 12, focused on a new 17-page growth law that could limit residential growth to the average of eight nearby communities.

The ordinance was drafted in part based on successful growth ordinances in Hudson and Londonderry, said Town Planner Charles Watson, and would have a clause that the planning board review yearly studies to determine if capping residential growth is appropriate in a given year.

Watson said Londonderry was one of the first New Hampshire communities to pass such a growth ordinance, and the law has only applied for six of its 15 years in place.

Just because a community has a growth ordinance, said Watson, “it doesn’t mean growth is necessarily being curtailed all the time.”

While planning board members said the new document provides some of the information the courts deemed necessary for a legal growth management ordinance, Chairman Dick Marshall suggested some necessary studies have not yet been done.

Marshall also suggested developers will be quick to challenge any growth cap the town puts forward.

“We fully expect, no matter what we do, you will get sued,” he told the small crowd gathered in the town hall chambers.

Some residents questioned whether the proposed growth restriction would survive another court test, and others voiced objections to any kind of government-sponsored growth management.

Town Councilor Jason Hyde described such growth restrictions as “flatly un-American” and “anti-capitalism.”

“It is inherently unfair to tell people what they can do with their land,” he said.

Rick Elliot, a partner in the residential Granite Heights development, argued against the common perception that taxes generally rise along with residential development.

Elliot also urged the board not to “rush” into a new growth law.

Marshall said the proposed growth cap will be on the board’s Monday, June 19, agenda. Board members made no statements on what type of vote, if any, may be made at the upcoming meeting.