Should Worthington consider changing the frontage requirements for a building lot?
Worthington currently has a zoning requirement of 2 acres and 400 ft of frontage on a street, private or public, in order to build a residence. Some people find this frontage requirement to be particularly onerous. Other towns in our area have frontage requirements ranging from 200 ft (Chesterfield and Cummington) to 300 ft (Plainfield). The 400 ft required by Worthington can make it difficult and expensive to purchase land suitable for building a home.
The Town has worked and continues to work hard to maintain the Conwell School. Its continuation requires a base of young families, who may not be able to afford existing houses and may not be able to afford land that fulfills our current zoning requirements, particularly as pertains to the frontage, if they wish to build a home. There are many pieces of property in town that have the necessary acreage, but not the frontage. It should also be noted that many houses in Worthington were built under the original frontage requirements of 100 ft and then 200 ft.
We want Worthington to continue to thrive, to be able to keep our aging population as long as they wish to remain, and to welcome a new population that will help to keep our tax base affordable and help our school to thrive, but we do not want to increase the housing density beyond all recognition.
Keeping all of this in mind, we would like to ask the Town to consider reducing the required frontage while maintaining the lot acreage size (2 acres) and keeping the character of the Town. We are asking whether the Town should consider changing the frontage requirement to something less than the present 400 ft.