3.0 Conclusion
3.0 Conclusion
The implementation of the Downtown Hanover vision will require the amendment of the existing zoning ordinance to allow for the creation of the D-1 and D-2 Downtown districts, the GR-3 district, and the amendment of current zoning district boundaries.
Revised parking standards for these areas should be reviewed. New parking standards in the Downtown area must be initiated in concert with a Town program to develop more structured parking facilities either as all-public facilities or as combined facilities built in joint-venture with new development projects.
In addition design guidelines should be created to give direction to new development to encourage built-form that contributes to and enhances the high-quality, heritage character of Hanover.
This study is the first step in a process that will require a concerted collective effort in order to implement the vision for the Downtown. The cooperative process, which has led to the above recommendations, reflects a sincere collaborative effort involving Town staff, residents, Downtown merchants, Dartmouth College and other stakeholders. The spirit of this process will serve the Town well as it undertakes the next steps to achieve its Vision for Downtown Hanover.
Figure 40 Aerial view of Hanover, New Hampshire
Appendix A: Summary of Results of Stakeholder Interviews and the Downtown Vision Public Workshop.
Downtown Hanover Vision
A series of interviews with stakeholders recommended by the Downtown Vision Committee was conducted by the consultant Brook McIlroy Planning and Urban Design. The interviews were held on August 23rd and 24th with committee members and representatives of Downtown businesses, property owners, residents, and Town and College Officials.
On Saturday, September 23rd, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, the public was invited to participate in an all day public workshop. Approximately 50 people attended throughout the day. The morning session was introduced with a presentation by Calvin Brook on Downtown issues and opportunities. The morning workshop focused on a series of questions based on issues and discussions generated from meetings of the Downtown Vision Committee and the interview process. The workshop consisted of five groups of 10 to 15 participants. The discussion was recorded by an appointed 'scribe' on a flip chart and notations were made on the Downtown base plan provided to each group. The afternoon workshop session focused on the discussion of a variety of specific downtown areas. A member from each group briefly summarized the results of the workshop, after which a general discussion was held.
The following is a summary of the themes and issues discussed in the interviews, followed by a summary of the workshop.
Interviews Summary
The general themes and key issues that emerged from the interviews included:
General Themes:
1. Quality of Life
¡ Hanover's unique scale and the College presence are the driving forces in the vitality of the Town.
¡ Hanover's homogeneous population and the expense of living and purchasing housing in Town are significant complaints.
¡ There needs to be greater diversity within the College.
¡ College faculty and students should be able to afford to live closer to campus.
¡ There is a high standard of public education in Hanover and Norwich with a high I.Q. population.
¡ Hanover is generally populated by two income professional families and has a diverse economic base.
¡ The Downtown should not be socially engineered. People come to Hanover for their own reasons.
2. Gentrification of Downtown
¡ Downtown has become gentrified due to increasing property values. This needs to be influenced rather than overly controlled to avoid the excessive presence of national chains.
¡ Smaller business retailers (e.g. cobbler, flower shops) are being pushed out. There are opportunities to locate smaller businesses, as the downtown redefines its parameters and intensifies underutilized areas (e.g. Lebanon and South Street).
3. Downtown limits
¡ The Downtown needs to have limits to protect the established residential areas.
¡ Create a buffer zone through mixed use forms of development (e.g. retail at grade with residential above) between the central business district and residential areas.
4. College and Town Relationship
¡ Maintain the strong relationship between the College and the Town. The College has brought wealth to the Town, the response to which has not always been positive.
¡ Provide more activity choices for all ages and College students. The College is trying to provide more of it's own social alternatives: coffee houses, theater and performances with subsidized ticket prices.
5. Downtown Activities and Diversity of Commercial Uses
¡ There is a need for a greater diversity of Downtown activities to serve families and students of the Middle and High School and College.
¡ Retail needs to provide more common goods including clothing, shoes and everyday supplies at a reasonable price.
¡ Provide a location off the Main Street for small shops to locate at reasonable rent (e.g. Lebanon Street, South Street).
¡ The east west streets including Lebanon, South Street and Allen Street should be intensified with mid-range retail uses.
¡ Provide more lively activities for adults and children including theatre, musical entertainment and a greater variety of restaurants to encourage evening activity for College students, visitors and area residents.
Key Issues
1. Parking: On street parking vs. structured parking
¡ The College and Town continue to grow, which places increased pressure on Downtown parking needs.
¡ Encourage greater use of the shuttle bus system and public transit.
¡ Build parking structures at the edge of the Campus and Downtown to control traffic infiltration to the center of Town.
¡ The 7 Lebanon Street project represents a good design model for subsequent parking structures, but it is in a poor location because it draws traffic to the center of Town. The garage is funded by local businesses and it fits into the scale and character of the immediate area.
¡ A new parking structure should be considered behind the Town Hall.
¡ On street parking will be metered for longer term use (2 hour) and made more expensive to encourage use of the 7 Lebanon lot.
¡ The use of free parking at the Thompson Area and shuttle bus to Town should be encouraged.
¡ Market forces should dictate parking requirements rather than outdated zoning regulations, in order to allow the appropriate business to stay in Town.
¡ Look at a variety of approaches to improve the parking deficit.
¡ Improve the appearance of small surface lots through landscaping and pedestrian amenities including lighting, signs and paved walkways.
2. Traffic and Circulation
¡ Population traveling from Norwich, Tetford and Stratford use the Ledyard Bridge, which results in long queuing on Wheelock Street.
¡ Peak hour traffic is worst in the morning during school drop-off time. Evening traffic is not as severe. A lot of traffic congestion is attributed to the High School, however much of this traffic has destinations beyond the school.
¡ Hanover is a destination town that causes a constant flow of traffic.
¡ Improve the local transit system to improve traffic congestion and maintain a village atmosphere.
¡ The College and High School should force students to use transit by imposing a fee for those who drive. Boulder, Colorado has an excellent College shuttle system called 'the Hop, Skip and Jump'.
¡ Create public transit incentives e.g. free bus system from Lebanon Street to the Hospital.
¡ Consider an alternative traffic route through the downtown: from West Wheelock Street south on West Street to Maple Street, east on Maple across Main Street to its extension on East South Street. Create a new street connection from East South Street to Hovey Lane leading north to Lebanon Street. Consider impacts to established residential areas, particularly west of Main Street.
¡ The blocks north and south of Lebanon Street could be redeveloped as a larger 'super block'. The larger block could be created through street closures (Currier Place, Sanborn Road) and would allow for higher density new development and infill opportunities.
3. Land use relationships: retail, office, public use, mixed-use and residential
¡ The downtown should evolve to include a variety of retail, public use, mixed use and higher density residential uses. Historically people lived and worked in Hanover.
¡ Find locations to support a greater variety of affordable retail uses away from Main Street such as Lebanon Street and East South Street.
¡ Capitalize on the streets and pedestrian ways leading to Main Street to extend the variety of mid range retail uses. In particular, activate and intensify Lebanon Street on the north side and create a visible connection to the Hopkins Center and the Spalding Auditorium. There is potential to infill and intensify use on both sides of Lebanon Street and to establish the street as a landscaped entrance to Town.
¡ Create a destination building or special streetscape treatment to mark the role of the Lebanon and Crosby Street intersection as a primary east gateway to Town
¡ Keep the High School in town. The open campus concept would not work in a rural or suburban context.
¡ The library if relocated has the potential to create a civic building landmark for the Downtown. Some interviewed suggested that the library would serve the community better if it were more centrally located and not in a residential zone.
¡ Consider a 'civic zone' at the Lebanon and Crosby Street east gateway to include a new Library and a relocated Town Hall.
4. Residential types: single, multi-family, mixed-use residential, student and faculty affordability
¡ The Downtown needs more mid to low-income housing for College faculty and staff close to campus. Create more affordable rental housing than is currently available for students close to campus.
¡ Increased housing alternatives will help the vitality of the Downtown and allow more people to walk to businesses and shopping as well as contribute to increased evening activity.
¡ Recently purchased College housing should be replaced with higher density housing forms.
¡ Build townhouses, rather than single family homes or condominiums.
5. Development Densities
¡ Density should be controlled and addressed through high quality design.
¡ Allow mixed use development that includes lower level retail and upper level commercial or residential use.
¡ Control building heights to prevent street 'canyons'.
¡ Consider the potential to place taller buildings relative to topography.
¡ Current zoning is outdated and should be readdressed based on clearly established setbacks and building envelopes.
¡ Traffic will be an issue with increased residential and commercial density
¡ Higher density development should be located in the block behind 7 Lebanon Street.
¡ Higher density buildings should form the transition between Downtown and the established residential area.
6. Architectural Character
¡ Create building designs that recognize the quality and character of existing buildings.
¡ Hanover's original Main Street buildings establish a generally fine scale of building along the street. New development should be designed to reflect this finer scale. The GAP frontage is too long and not in keeping with this finer scale.
¡ New buildings don't need to be historicist to fit into Hanover's context. Buildings should create appropriate transitions in height and massing and establish a balance of scale and proportion in building elevations so that the village scale of Hanover is maintained.
7. Public Open Space and Pedestrian Circulation
¡ Downtown Hanover is focused on the Main Street, but has a strong and irregular framework of intersecting streets and pedestrian mid-block connections that provides many options for walking through and around the downtown. Many expressed that new development should support this framework of streets, blocks and buildings that collectively enhance the experience of walking through the Downtown.
¡ A series of pedestrian scaled outdoor spaces should be linked to an overall Town open space network as well as provide a variety of local 'green' open space (e.g. streetscapes and pocket parks). There should be more urban squares that are linked to at-grade building uses (cafes, theatre, library, seniors' residence) and provide places to socialize.
¡ The plaza in front of the Nugget has too many level changes and is not well connected to the street edge.
¡ The north side of Lebanon Street could be developed with public open space as part of new development. Any new development should create a link to Hopkins Center to the north.
Downtown Hanover Vision Public Workshop Summary
The following questions that were presented during the workshop were based on many of the issues that evolved from the work of the Downtown Vision Committee and the stakeholder interviews. A different selection of questions was distributed to each group to encourage a variety of discussion on each topic.
1. How do we maintain and enhance a vibrant downtown?
¡ Provide more diverse retail including lower to mid range retail.
¡ Retail should be open later in the evening. Current regulations and rental rates prevent lower end retail (e.g. used books, barber, CDs, cobbler)
¡ Increase the retail area within the Downtown.
¡ Include traditional service retail (e.g. hardware, pharmacy) to support resident's everyday living needs.
¡ Provide more downtown housing to support a greater diversity of retail
¡ Increase housing density by providing housing above retail, not by 'jamming' undergraduates into houses.
¡ Include office uses on the periphery of the downtown as a buffer.
¡ The Middle and High School should remain within the Downtown.
2. Is downtown pedestrian friendly? Can this be improved?
¡ The Main Street works well for pedestrians. Extend this treatment to other areas including Lebanon Street, South Street and mid-block connections (e.g. south of Hopkins Center to Lebanon Street).
¡ Don't permit parking and include benches along Lebanon Street
¡ Provide Bus pickup behind the High School.
¡ Create two-sided buildings to improve mid-block connections and promote personal safety.
¡ Improve bicycle safety within the Downtown by reducing street parking.
¡ South Park and Lebanon Street intersection is unsafe for pedestrians.
3. How should downtown evolve or grow? Where should the boundaries of the downtown be?
¡ The downtown should be able to evolve, but needs to have limits.
¡ Allow higher density housing and mixed-use development as a buffer between the periphery of the downtown and established residential.
¡ Allow higher density around Lebanon Street through infill and redevelopment (e.g. College owned sites).
¡ Maintain and extend the diversity of building types.
¡ Preserve the existing residential neighborhoods.
¡ Preserve existing community green space, including the Middle and High School, which is used like a community park.
¡ If the Middle and High School moved, the lands could be used for a community center, park or faculty housing.
4. What is an appropriate design vision for downtown buildings and streetscapes?
¡ Continue Main Street streetscape treatments along Lebanon Street.
¡ Create meeting places through greater setbacks, park spaces, courtyards and gardens along Lebanon Street.
¡ Create higher density through infill opportunities along Lebanon Street and East South Street.
¡ Create a more attractive entrance/gateway to the downtown (e.g. Lebanon and Crosby Street). Create a destination building(s) e.g. anchor store, public or civic building (library, town hall). Include a statue at the gateway.
¡ Consider a rotary at the Lebanon and Crosby intersection.
¡ Connect South Street to Hovey Lane allowing an alternate route to Lebanon Street and the High School.
5. What additional activities should downtown accommodate?
¡ Provide a greater variety of activities for adults and children including theater, live music, restaurants, mid-range retail and children's clothing.
¡ Provide more social places and affordable retail for College students.
¡ Create more outdoor social spaces including courtyards and green space within building setbacks.
¡ Provide more night-time activities including clubs and cafes with entertainment and music.
¡ Change Dorrance to service retail on South Main Street from behind.
¡ Consider the issue of extensive library parking requirements for the existing or relocated facility.
¡ Create improved northsouth links and visibility to the Hopkins Center.
¡ The post office no longer serves its original purpose and occupies a large amount of space.
6. Are there problems with the existing road network and traffic˛≈what needs to be done?
¡ Provide more bypasses and bridges to allow alternate routes around downtown and reduce through traffic.
¡ Traffic problems should not limit the growth of downtown.
¡ Use shuttle buses to provide alternate transit opportunities.
¡ Consider a northern bypass (check the history of past study).
¡ Change the traffic direction of South Street.
¡ Consider speed bumps to calm traffic speeds.
¡ Build a 120/10 connector.
¡ Encourage the use of bicycles by providing safe routes through parking, traffic control.
¡ Continue shared responsibilities between the College, Town and local businesses.
¡ Promote radical thinking and stop 'tinkering': limit student driving and the number of permitted cars per downtown household.
7. Should there be more housing downtown? What types are needed?
¡Yes, there should be more graduate and professional housing downtown for a variety of people including college faculty, seniors, families, and students. Housing doesn't generate as much parking need or demand as other uses.
¡The provision of more affordable housing is critical.
¡Protect against increasing higher-income demographics.
¡New housing should be located within and close to Downtown to allow people to walk to work.
¡Provide more non-student housing.
¡Create a mixed-use buffer around the downtown that includes at grade retail with above-grade residential.
¡Consider intensifying existing housing, through additions or allowing for basement apartments.
¡Consider the school site for medium density housing. Moving the school would have a huge impact. The open concept only works in the Downtown.
¡Maintain strong physical links between the Downtown and surrounding residential areas.
8. Should there be more and/or different types of retail downtown?
¡Yes, the downtown is too homogeneous. Provide a greater balance between the inevitable up-scale shops and retail that serves the needs of local residents.
¡Hanover retail by nature is 'boutique'. Change zoning to allow for small and side street retail.
¡Create a mixed use buffer around the downtown that includes at grade retail.
¡Improve the vibrancy of Main Street south of the Post Office through redevelopment of the Post Office and Grand Union sites.
¡Provide complementary low-scale uses to those that exist (e.g. Newbury Street, Boston).
¡New development should provide a flexibility of use that can evolve with market conditions.
9. Is parking a problem? Where should new parking areas/structures be built?
¡Build more parking structures on the periphery of the Downtown to reduce infiltration of parking within Town.
¡Consolidate parking to reduce on street parking.
¡The College should build more parking.
¡Consider underground parking structures. Servicing under the College Green would restrict the construction of a parking garage.
10. Are there enough public spaces (parks, plazas, town squares) Downtown?
¡Create smaller open space areas or parkettes rather than one large Downtown park.
¡Maintain the current open and natural open space in Hanover.
¡Improve Lebanon Street between Crosby and Main Street with green space/open space. Include street trees and benches similar to Main Street on streets that intersect with Main Street.
¡Create more 'spill-out' areas for socializing from at-grade building uses (e.g. caf¨˛, theatre, townhouse or Senior's housing) in the form of landscaped courtyards and forecourts.
¡Consider moving things out of downtown to provide for more open space. Establish criteria for deciding what should move.
¡Improve the Nugget forecourt
11. How should Hanover's rich heritage be integrated into the Downtown vision?
¡Maintain the image of the downtown including building and house form scale and style.
¡Extend the Town's original role as a place to live and work.
¡Create a pattern and network of open space that connects to existing natural and planned open space networks.
12. What attributes of the existing downtown should not change?
¡Maintain private business to prevent the Downtown from being overwhelmed by national chains and looking like other places.
¡Maintain the existing established residential neighborhoods.
¡Maintain image of the fine grain scale and heritage character of downtown buildings.
¡Build on the existing street and block fabric that creates a unique and diverse experience of the Downtown.
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