this week: Mayor Tom Ferrini seeks to shape Portsmouth’s growth with smart zoning

Running for his third term as a member of the Portsmouth City Council, Tom Ferrini reeled in more votes than any other candidate in the November race, making him the elected replacement for former Mayor Steve Marchand. At the same time, several other longtime councilors opted not to run for reelection in 2007 and were replaced by four new members. That puts Ferrini at the helm of a municipal body with a number of new faces. But he is confident that the Council will find a “new cohesiveness” that will enable it to move forward on the myriad issues facing this rapidly evolving city.

Major development in the city’s Northern Tier will dramatically alter the “gateway” into downtown, and a new Middle School must be constructed on Parrot Avenue. The city sorely needs more workforce housing projects, and economic conditions will make it challenging to keep tax increases low. Meanwhile, the city must attempt to remain at the forefront of sustainable practices and maintain its vibrant artistic community.

The new mayor believes that almost every issue facing the city relates back to the zoning ordinance re-write. With zoning that reflects the ideals laid out in the city’s Master Plan, Portsmouth can continue to grow in a manageable and desirable way, he said.

“It’s incredibly dull for some people, but I think that our Master Plan very clearly, incontrovertibly, espouses those ideals,” Ferrini said. “The Master Plan isn’t worth a darn thing if you don’t write it into a zoning ordinance.”

Ferrini shared his vision with The Wire during an interview in his new office on the fourth floor of City Hall. A Portsmouth native, the new mayor majored in history at the University of New Hampshire before attending Vermont Law School. A husband and father of two young children, he is now a full-time attorney with Wyskiel, Boc, Tillinghast & Bolduc, P.A., in Dover and has served on a number of boards and committees in Portsmouth.

As he campaigned this fall, Ferrini heard many concerns from voters about affordable housing. Rent in the Port City has become formidably high for many people, which has driven workers to surrounding communities. Without a reliable workforce living in Portsmouth, it is difficult to attract new businesses that will employ local laborers. The Council, therefore, must explore ways of providing housing options that will enable people with moderate incomes to live and work in Portsmouth.

The city recently passed a zoning ordinance that offers density bonuses to developers who construct workforce housing facilities. But, so far, the ordinance has resulted in few actual projects. Ferrini thinks the Council can do more.

“I think it’s going to be a broader set of solutions than merely one density bonus-driven zoning ordinance,” he said. “We have to be creative. There may be a charitable giving component. There might be establishment of some sort of an endowment component to fund overages in mortgages.”

The key, according to Ferrini, is providing a range of zoning incentives that will encourage developers to build affordable housing units. The idea extends beyond major developers to individual homeowners. The city could offer tax incentives to people who rent out affordable rooms in their own houses, he noted.

Offering attractive zoning incentives is a theme of Ferrini’s ideas. By rewarding certain development behaviors, he believes the city can control the manner in which it grows. City leaders frequently point to the new LEED certified Portsmouth Public Library as an example of the city’s commitment to green building. But, Ferrini believes the Council must use zoning tools to ensure that the city does not become complacent on the issue of sustainable practices.

“The way you become not complacent about it is you go right back to that zoning ordinance,” he said. “What does somebody get for doing a green building? What does somebody get for creating opportunities for pedestrian and bicycle use? What can we do to reinforce and incent those behaviors on the part of the economic actors who are in our city so we can reinforce those behaviors?”

The new Middle School will offer a chance to implement some of those practices, Ferrini said. Having opted to rebuild at the school’s current site on Parrot Avenue rather than relocating someplace else, the city now must begin planning the facility. If it is done right, the school could be as green as the neighboring library and have aesthetically pleasing qualities, as well.

“We’re gonna be able to construct a really great facility on Parrot Ave., and I’m hopeful that there will be art components and design concerns and things that are really appropriate, aesthetically, for our community,” Ferrini said.

Design elements are an important aspect of the zoning re-write, especially in the Northern Tier, where many residents are concerned about the visual impact of building several gigantic structures—such as the Westin Hotel conference center and parking garage. 

“If you start with the initial changes that we suggested in the Northern Tier, where you give credits for certain types of reduction in height or changes in vistas so that roof heights vary and the developer gets a bonus for that, that incents open space, less monolithic development (and) access to the water,” he said. “Our current height ordinance that we’ve passed in the Northern Tier does those things.”

Ferrini acknowledges that many residents question the real necessity of building more enormous hotels in Portsmouth—a city of just 21,000 people. However, if the conference center and other projects do not go forward, Ferrini said, the property will be open to development, which could result in the construction of several high-priced condominiums or housing units. Such development, he warned, would spark an “economic multiplier effect” that would ultimately result in higher rents and higher taxes across the city. The conference center, however, would add to the city’s tax base without the side effects.

“I can appreciate that it’s off-putting for people to look at large areas of development like that,” he said. “The question as to how it will benefit a resident is, can development of that sort, which is pretty significant in terms of investment, ultimately reduce my tax bill or reduce the rate of tax increase, and I believe that it can.”

Although some residents question whether such large developments will force the city to expand its police and fire services, Ferrini pointed out that the Hilton Garden Inn on Hanover Street did not appear to put greater demand on those departments when completed a couple of years ago.

As Ferrini sees it, the City Council’s primary job is to draw up an operating budget that adequately funds each city department without causing dramatic tax increases. With rising energy costs and the precarious state of the economy, keeping budget increases to a minimum will be a significant challenge that will require cooperation between citizens, department heads and councilors.

“People can’t have an unreasonable increase in taxes. They can’t afford it. So, we have to find a way to try and keep the services where they are,” Ferrini said. “It is a significant challenge. It was last year, it was the year before, and it will be this year. That’s what we get elected to do. I think that we have to have good faith in each other, from taxpayer to department head to City Councilor to School Board member to Fire Commission member.”

Ferrini also takes seriously the responsibility of providing an atmosphere where Portsmouth’s art scene remains prevalent. Many artists fear the city’s days as a Mecca for the arts are running thin, with high rents driving out resident artists. The mayor believes that creating a partnership between local artists and local businesses will help keep art in the city’s heart.

“We have to help our arts community network within the fabric of our businesses so that things get packaged with businesses,” he said. “We need to be ever mindful of that, because if we do lose that, then this is a really dull place, and nobody wants that to happen.”

Wanna pick the mayor’s brain? He is at City Hall from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. every Friday at 603-610-7200. He can be reached at home in the evenings at 603-436-0287, or at work during the day at 603-742-5222. He is an early riser and is also available by appointment. For more information, visit the city’s Web site at www.cityofportsmouth.com.