Stopping by the Gas Station on a Snowy Evening
One of the many benefits of being married to a librarian is that she’s always on the lookout for content related to my latest interests. And she reads a lot more than us civilians. Last February we stopped at a gas station on the way back from skiing in Vermont. When she got back in the car, Ms. G threw a copy of the Valley Reporter in my lap. Here’s the headline that caught her eye on my behalf:
Morristown: Five Hundred Housing Units in Three Years
Wow! A small town in Vermont (population 5,139) is on track to add 500 housing units in three years?! This calls for a pop quiz:
How did the leaders of a small town in Vermont add five hundred housing units in only three years?
A. They directed the teardown of a bunch of historic homes and built apartment complexes everywhere, rendering the town unrecognizable and destroying its “character.”
B. They encouraged suburban development and built new roads toward the edge of town, taking on loads of infrastructure liabilities in the name of growth.
C. They gave tax breaks and incentives to a developer from New York, who built Green Mountain Village, an exclusive, walkable, intentional village with all the charm of a real Vermont town, priced for discerning flatlanders.
D. ADU’s!
The answer is E— none of the above. On its surface, Morrisville’s strategy didn’t even seem to have much to do with housing:
[Town Planner Todd] Thomas, who joined the town in 2010, said his specific marching orders from the select board when he was hired were to revitalize the downtown. At the time there were seven empty buildings downtown, one of which was full of pigeons. He was able to grow the Grand List to keep up with inflation until inflation took off last year.
Morrisville is addressing its housing challenges by revitalizing its downtown. Sounds like a win/win, no?
The Morristown Miracle: A Deep Dive
Let’s look at how they’re doing it:
“One of the reasons why downtown was a shell of what it used to be was the zoning and especially the parking requirements. Each unit in our downtown needed two parking spaces, which made little sense. Most of our buildings go back to the horse and carriage days and our buildings are built to the property line. There’s no place to put cars,” he said.
But the town has multiple municipal lots and changed its parking requirements to require only 0.75 spaces per unit which works because businesses and their customers use the lots during the day and residents use the lots at night.
“That was a big change. It allowed second- and third-floor apartments above businesses, which is a traditional New England development pattern,” Thomas said.
Humble Observation
Before I address the specifics of this strategy, I want to note something about Thomas’ overall approach that’s important to our discussion here at Stronghaven. Thomas’ assertion about the plight of the downtown is based on his humble observation of the challenges of the businesses there. This is a guy who’s walked these streets and spent time talking with property and business owners. He’s got a running inventory of his downtown businesses and knows them well enough to start thinking about potential solutions to their barriers. It would have been easy for this guy to come in, see seven empty buildings and draw some quick conclusions: old downtowns are no longer viable. These businesses are all doomed to fail. People don’t like local businesses, America runs on Dunkin’! Instead, this guy rolled up his sleeves and looked for what he had to work with. Then he made a bunch of small bets over time, growing that list of businesses and creating momentum. Singles. Short passes. Not Hail Mary’s.
People First
Now to the specifics of Thomas’ strategy. Loyal readers will not be surprised to see that Thomas started by addressing arbitrary and outdated parking minimums. As New Bedford’s recent housing plan so aptly puts it, projects often prioritize vehicles over people. By reducing parking minimums (and eliminating them in some cases), Thomas lowers a significant barrier for developers looking to invest in the downtown, as well as eliminating a common excuse used by neighbors to delay or prevent investment. There’s no war on cars going on here— far from it. He refers to dedicated municipal lots. He’s just not putting the need for everyone to have free parking everywhere and anywhere over the need for the town to have a viable business district.
The Missing Middle
Thomas is also focused on what he calls a traditional New England development pattern: apartments above shops. This is one form of what is now called Missing Middle Housing:
A momentary detour from the big cities of Morrisville and Fairhaven: the quaint hamlet (jk) of Arlington VA just approved missing middle development by right. Predictions— Arlington will continue to thrive and the “character” of the city will not be destroyed! Missing middle development is the secret sauce to achieving that thickness that we should all want for our happy Haven. Ok, back to the Green Mountains.
Streamlined Process
What else did Thomas do? He reformed the zoning process to make it so people could invest!
He said Morrisville was able to entice developers by showing how easy permitting is.
“Developers don’t like to go to the DRB. There’s a risk there. Anyone can appeal a project and then you’re stuck in court for a year and a half with a lot of money in the project and no certain outcome. We made it so I can approve projects by right if buildings meet certain minimum requirements,” Thomas said.
Those changes didn’t happen overnight. Thomas spent time with town officials walking around the downtown looking at the built environment asking them what they liked and what they didn’t like and identifying the obstacles that the zoning code presented to rebuilding or redeveloping in the area.
There’s a big difference between actually encouraging a use and “allowing” it, only to effectively discourage that use through overburdened processes. Lengthy processes often have the effect of making projects prohibitively expensive, particularly for smaller-scale developers, who often don’t have the cash on hand to wait on lengthy reviews and appeals. Streamlining the process gives clarity to developers and allows the little people to participate in investment as well. I’d call this a more traditional New England development process/ that complements the pattern that Thomas is encouraging downtown. This brings me to my last takeaway from the Morrisville Miracle: they’re encouraging incremental developers!
Unleash the Swarm!
Thomas said he’s had the most success getting local and Vermont developers interested in investing.
“You really grow from within your community. Those are the developers that took a chance on building in Morrisville. They’re from Morrisville, they’re from Stowe, and they’re from here. If you want to change as a community, you really have to look amongst yourself, who’s going to do it, who’s got the talent, who’s got the wherewithal, who’s willing to take the risk? You’ll find more people willing to do that, if you give him a reasonable sense of permit surety.
Small, local developers don’t have the economies of scale that the large firms do but they do have a personal investment in the area, a nuanced understanding of the local environment, and a willingness to do smaller projects with smaller margins that fill a vital role in towns like ours. I’m not saying that big developers are inherently bad (or greedy or whatever)— they clearly play an important role as well. But prioritizing small bets and incremental development means that the town is not tying its fate too closely to any one large project. A town that is developing incrementally (and therefore in a financially sustainable way) is in a much stronger negotiating position when big developers come knocking.
From the Mountains to the Sea
When I worked full-time in education, there was always a big push to adopt best practices from other schools or systems. At their worst, attempts to adopt best practices are strictly technical, tactical, and decontextualized. Looking at others’ shops tended to be more fruitful when we were able to zoom out to look at approach, even if that same approach might yield different tactics in our own setting. So here’s my attempt to summarize some key takeaways from the Morrisville Miracle:
Humbly observe the needs and challenges of current residents and businesses before attempting any interventions
Start with what you have and build on that. Don’t discount small businesses in your downtown, even if it looks like it’s seen better days.
Prioritize people over vehicles
Encourage traditional development patterns and processes. They’re effective because they’ve evolved over time. Ignore their wisdom at your peril!
Prioritize making lots of small bets over putting all your eggs in one basket
Encourage incremental development by creating streamlined processes. A swarm of small developers is a mighty engine for sustainable economic development!
All of these takeaways apply here at sea level and none of them require any miracles, let alone the deus ex machina of grants or lots of state or federal funding. A thick, thriving Haven awaits us in the future. Let’s make it happen!
Update: see here for an interview with Todd Thomas, detailing the story of the Morrisville Miracle
Stronghaven Summit
We got some bites! Stay tuned to hear what comes of it. Looks like some super low-key coffee convos to get things started.
Bikety Bikes
I’m reviving the Bike Bus, with a great debt to Mat for his detailed documentation from prior years. Here’s the registration for you local Wood School folks who want to get your kid biking to school. Lots of bunnies and turkeys along the bike path this morning— who doesn’t want to be riding a bike surrounded by bunnies and turkeys?!
New Subscribers
Two weeks ago this thing was private and limited to family and a few neighbors. Last week I made it public and Strong Towns featured a post in their roundup (thanks, Norm!). Now I’ve got a bunch of new readers from all over the country. I’m honored to have you all with me for this ride, even if it makes me a bit nervous. I hope I don’t disappoint you all as I continue to focus on the Haven and the Southcoast of Mass. I look forward to hearing from all of you about what resonates in your own havens.