On October 5 there was a public hearing that came before the Keene City Council on the proposed rezoning of a lot off of Ashuelot Street. Locals will recall this spot as a big empty concrete overflow parking lot for the mall, back when there was a mall, and which has recently been replaced by a big lawn adjacent to Ashuelot River Park.
Two thirds of the 3.5 acre property was donated to the city last year to become parkland. I was one of four Councilors who voted against accepting that property, although ten others voted in favor. So now that land will be expanding a city park, which is nice, but not as nice as becoming new apartments that people can live in.
The proposal before us now is to convert the rest of the property from high-density residential zoning to commercial zoning, so that the space could be developed into a headquarters for the Monadnock Conservancy.
While the Monadnock Conservancy does important work stewarding habitat in our region, I just don’t like this project.
My concern is that, at a time when we are facing a simultaneous housing shortage and oversupply of commercial space, the Conservancy is building a suburban-style office building on a piece of land in our city’s walkable urban core. A far better use of that spot would be to build a family-oriented apartment complex.
Think about it. A fact of our age is that young families can’t afford starter homes anymore. But what may be in reach would be two and three-bedroom apartments near the center of town, adjacent to the Ashuelot River Park and featuring some of Keene’s only waterfront views, that can provide a supportive community and a fun place for kids to grow up.
The Monadnock Conservancy project doesn’t offer any of that. By displacing potential urban apartments, they are squeezing new housing development out to the city’s edges, consuming far greater amounts of land and energy and fostering car-dependent lifestyles that put pressure on the city’s roads and parking capacity.
Thus, while the building is going to be LEED certified and the parking lot is going to be covered in solar panels, that kind of green halo doesn’t really cancel out the much greater effect of bad land use decisions. This project is not actually green.
An actually green option would be to save the prime housing location for housing, and for the Monadnock Conservancy to instead move to one of the several commercial properties that are currently for sale down on Main Street. I really hope that happens.