Two weeks ago I had the priveledge to participate in the Plan New Hampshire Charette held in July for the town of Moultonborough. The Charette was held  in an effort to allow free thinking with regards to how a plan might look for the revitalization of our historic village district.

The Charette was a unique opportunity for the town where talented people from throughout New Hampshire formed a team to put ideas together for the town to consider in future planning. Team members included  landscape architects, land planners, highway engineers, preservationists, civil engineers and a real estate cosultant.  We met over a two day period to gather input from the community in an effort to prepare a couple of possible future development plans for the village area.
The neat thing about a charette is that you can “free wheel” in that you are free to think and to plan without restriction or the need to conform to existing subdivsion and zoning regulations. What a great feeling to be able to design in this way. Every development plan I’ve created over the years had to comply with a multitude of regulations and standards.
At the end of two days work, two plans were presented to the citizens of Moultonborough showing what the village might look like if “all stars were to line up”. The plan would require that either the town or private sector would have to acquire a couple of key pieces of real estate in order to see the plan become reality. These parcels are currently likely to be available. Some key objectives of the plan were to create pedestrian walks and to slow or “calm” traffic as it moves through town. Envisioned were two new roads which would parallel route 25, one of which would allow school traffic to exit onto Old Route 109 without the need to access Route 25. The plan also detailed new walkways from the school to the village district. High (er) density housing would be a goal within some of the areas to be developed.
If you haven’t seen the plans, you really should head over to the town offices and take a look. (or you can take a look at the recorded video of the plan presentation to the community:  http://moultonborospeaks.blogspot.com/2012/07/moultonboro-charette-plan-nh.html )

Towns throughout the state of New Hampshire submitted applications in the hope that their town would be selected for a Plan New Hampshire Charette. Moultonborough was fortunate to have been selected.  It was a great opportunity to meet some very talented people who volunteered their time to create a forward thinking plan for our historic village. I hope to see this plan come to reality. It will improve safefty in the village, improve the appearance of the district, increase commerce in the village area and bolster real estate values. What’s not to like?
Jim Mardis

Broker/Owner

Lakes Region Realty Group

Moultonborough, NH