Hanover residents voted on Tuesday to pass several zoning ordinance amendments that will directly affect construction plans on the west end of campus.
These changes were a culmination of a three-year effort by the planning board to sort out and remove all inconsistencies in the current ordinances. Hanover Planning Board chair Judith Esmay identified three of 13 amendments relevant to the College’s plans for new construction that were proposed by the College.
The first proposed amendment would increase building heights from 35 feet to 60 feet along the West Wheelock corridor, since 60 feet is the allowance for all other structures in the institutional zone. This amendment also included the provision of a 20-foot rear setback and 10-foot side setback from the GR-2 properties abutting the “I” district in this region of campus.
This amendment affected the new building addition to the Thayer School of Engineering, which is still in the planning stage and has not yet received approval for construction. The new structure would be built in the Cummings Parking Lot adjacent to the current Thayer building and close to West Wheelock street. The planned building’s location and height violated the existing law and resulted in the amendment proposal. According to the official town ballot, 601 people voted in favor of the amendment and 272 against it.
Computer science professor Hany Farid, whose department will be housed in the new building, said compromises like these between the College and Town of Hanover are fairly common.
Nonetheless, Farid said he was relieved after the amendments passed. If this request had been voted down, he said, it would cause problems for the computer science department and the College at large. Farid noted that the computer science department will share the building with Thayer when it opens in 2020, which will allow these two similar areas of expertise to be in closer contact.
The new structure will also provide students with more wide open spaces to do their computer science assignments, Farid said.
Another amendment directly impacting the College’s expansion plans included improvements to storm water erosion management and landscaping in a burial site, such as the Dartmouth College Cemetery. It also accounts for the proximity within which a building can be located near a burial site. Six-hundred and thirty-six people voted in favor of the this change, while 217 were against it.
The third relevant amendment included expanding the range of structures that fall in the outdoor recreation category, Esmay said. These structures include a Nordic skiing facility at Oak Hill that meets NCAA requirements, additional restrooms, snow-making facilities, warming huts and cross country ski courses. Seven-hundred and sixty-six people voted in favor of this change, while only 102 voted against it.
All three amendments requested by the College were approved by the town planning board at their meeting on March 1 before the public vote. Residents cast their ballots in favor of or against these changes at Hanover High School between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on May 10. Esmay said these ordinances were originally developed for the College in the 1960s and have been changed approximately 200 times since their creation.
Expansion plans include the creation of a parking facility located below the new Thayer building, increased outdoor spaces to open the land to the Connecticut River and heightened safety improvements along the west end’s main streets.
A proposed pedestrian and bicycle bridge built over the cemetery is currently pending review by the town, with the goal of increasing cyclist, pedestrian and vehicular safety on campus.
Vice president of campus services Lisa Hogarty said she was pleased by the collaboration between the town and the College regarding the process of changing the zoning rules.
“It was a terrifically democratic process, with great community engagement,” Hogarty said. “The vote is a testament to how well the community and Dartmouth engage together, and the town passed it resoundingly.”
