HOP GRANT
Since February 2023, Hinsdale's Housing Working Group made up of volunteers and reps from the Planning Board, HEDC and residents interested in promoting better approaches to housing policy. The Hinsdale Working Group also worked with the Community Housing Navigator in a variety of community engagement activities, including a comprehensive housing survey and public forums. The Community Housing Navigator has provided preliminary assessments of housing need and regulatory opportunities to meet these needs. In March 2024, The Town of Hinsdale voted to reduce the minimum lot size requirement in the Rural Agricultural District from two acres to one acre. The Town also voted to amend in The Commercial Industrial District from ANY uses allowed in the Roadside Commercial and Business Districts except Residential District used to ANY uses allowed in the Roadside Commercial District.
Hinsdale received the HOP grant in May of 2024 for $53,750 to perform the following. HOP Phase 1 services are to augment and build on community engagement efforts through February of 2025. Professional planning and technical consultants (Ivy Vann and Carol Oglive) are to review and analyze current ordinances and land use regulations. Phase 2 through December of 2024.
The outline for the HOP grant is as follows.
- Housing Needs analysis: Thorough exploration of existing housing and future possibilities.
- Regulatory Review: Analysis of current zoning code, site plan regulations, and subdivision regulation as they relate to housing.
- Community Engagement: Creating and executing 8-10 public engagement activities.
- Master Plan Update: Rewrite the Population and Housing chapter of the Master Plan. Rewrite the Vision Statement.
- Develop Regulatory Review: Assist the Planning Board in creating proposed zoning language for ADU’s, cottage courts, and pocket neighborhoods.
Below you will find the HOP Grant consultants reports.
Hinsdale_Population_Housing_2024
Hinsdale_Housing_Needs_Assessment
Our primary goal is to increase housing opportunities for Hinsdale residents of all income levels while more accurately aligning the housing supply with local demand and our economic development objectives. In order to achieve this goal, we recognize the importance of a collective will within the community that is based on greater awareness of our strengths, constraints and opportunities. Engaging with and educating Hinsdale residents about the realities of housing options and opportunities will be a key outcome of this project. We hope to address, for example, misconceptions among some residents about the actual definitions and condition related to "affordable" housing, "workforce" housing, or "low-income" housing.
The HOP technical consultant will complete a comprehensive regulatory review of Hinsdale's zoning and land use regulations. The intent is that through public engagement and future vote-approved reforms, Hinsdale's zoning ordinance and land use regulations will more effectively facilitate nuanced, smart planning and development, while protecting our natural habitat and rural character. The town last completed a regulatory audit in 2017. This audit focused on clarifying certain elements of local land use regulations but did not specifically address increasing housing opportunity and diversity. A regulatory review that is aimed at identifying undue barriers to residential development would look quite different. Such a review will feature a prioritized list of recommended changes that the planning board can develop and propose for voter approval.
