Pillar 4: Vibrant Neighborhoods

Pillar 4: Vibrant Neighborhoods – Support vibrant community neighborhoods that reflect their unique culture and identity.

Keene is a community that has retained some very important aspects of its culture and heritage.

The downtown and main street areas are an example of a vibrant ‘neighborhood’ that has a unique identity, and this will be enhanced by the upcoming infrastructure improvements. However, Keene has other important neighborhoods and places. The City should work with the community to identify these places and help build more place-based experiences in the community. In today’s world, these place-based approaches help build community connection points. This approach helps enhance the community fabric, and people’s sense of belonging and being included in a community.

Below is what we know so far (from the community visioning phase of the comprehensive master planning process):

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Related Macro Trends

Currently Happening in Keene

Community Survey Results

Community Snapshot Highlights

Consultant’s Insights and Potential Trade-Offs

Add to the Discussion

History

Keene Public Library Strategic Plan
To preserve the heritage and visual character of the City of Keene, the City Council established a Downtown Historic District in 2009, which was expanded down Emerald Street and Gilbo Avenue in 2011. A second expansion was explored in 2014, and although that effort ultimately did not result in an expansion of the district, it did identify many properties of historical, cultural, and architectural significance on lower Main Street.
The Heritage Commission has received several grants over the past few years to celebrate the history of different neighborhoods in Keene, including the Italian Neighborhood and the School Street neighborhood.
In the early 2010s the eastside neighborhood of Keene held a series of forums and events, and out of that effort came the Marlboro Street Rezoning Initiative, which re-zoned portions of the southeast area of Keene to reflect the community’s goals for that neighborhood:
The 2010 Comprehensive Master Plan identified a need for developing neighborhood plans and recommended the creation of “Neighborhood Village Activity Centers,” allowing mixed uses, and the provision of public amenities, schools, and enhancing connectivity.

Related Macro Trends

Placemaking is becoming more important in urban and city planning. It focuses on more than just physical elements and includes approaches about how to ‘activate’ these places to create unique experiences and purposes.
Emerging from the pandemic, many cities are continuing to develop ‘activity centers’ that enable people to work from home or walk to work. These centers aim to cluster economic, physical, social, and civic assets on a local scale.

What is Currently Happening in Keene:

Neighborhood Parking Report – In the winter/spring of 2023 and 2024, the City used grant funding to explore sustainable parking and transportation options that will enable continued residential development in neighborhoods near downtown. The goal is to improve parking and sustainable transportation (i.e. biking, walking, public transit) for the community while facilitating needed housing development.
WOW! Community Nights – The City hosted five community nights, one in each Ward of the City, to hear from residents and discuss issues specific to each neighborhood/area of the City.
Several Keene neighborhoods have formal or informal neighborhood associations (not affiliated with the City). Examples include the Southeast Keene Neighborhood Group, the Maple Acres Neighborhood Group, and the North Central Keene Neighborhood Group. Often these groups organize and share information using Facebook or other social media sites.

What the Community Survey Results Show:

Under the Community and Social Fabric topics of the Community Survey, 75% of survey respondents identified fostering a sense of belonging to a community and 79% of respondents identified residents being part of key decision-making as important to shaping the future of Keene.
Under the Economic and Built Environment topics of the Community Survey, 70% of survey respondents identified continuing to preserve and protect Keene’s historic district and 63% of respondents identified developing the Downtown core area as important to shaping the future of Keene.
Under the Environmental and Landscape topics of the Community Survey, 66% of survey respondents identified preserving Keene’s existing look and feel and 78% identified fostering accessibility for all ages as important to shaping the future of Keene.

Key Community Findings:

19% of the population in Keene are identified as socially vulnerable according to the US Census Bureau, more than the rate of 16% in Cheshire County, and slightly less than the national rate of 21%. Community resilience is the capacity of individuals and households to absorb, endure, and recover from the health, social, and economic impacts. (About Community Resilience Estimates)
According to the US Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey from August 2024, 88 % of adults in New Hampshire reported getting the social and emotional support they need sometimes, usually, or always. This is compared to 79% of adults nationwide. The same survey shows that 38% of adults in New Hampshire reported feeling lonely sometimes, usually, or always, compared to 40% nationwide.

Consultant's Insights and Potential Trade-Offs:

Communities that are the size and scale of Keene often include smaller unique locations, places and neighborhoods. This smaller sense of scale helps create a more intimate sense of belonging, and tighter local community connections. Keene has numerous small character areas that can be developed further through the Comprehensive Master Plan.
Scale is a key element in planning, and Keene is very fortunate to have many existing infrastructure design elements that help leverage this intimate sense of scale.
There are several unconnected elements that foster the development of vibrant neighborhoods. For most people, vibrant neighborhoods are defined by their walkability, human-scale environment, diversity of people, and activation of public spaces. The are areas that people want to visit and fulfill the needs of the third space where people can socialize and enjoy their lives outside of work or the home. There is no one-size-fits-all formula to foster vibrant neighborhoods but they typically have several common characteristics.
Downtown is usually the first neighborhood people think of when locals think of a vibrant neighborhood. This is because of its walkability, historic character, and strong sense of place. The ground floor retail activates the street while the historic architecture is pedestrian oriented. It is a social gathering place for all residents of Keene.
Traditional Euclidean zoning focuses on the separation of uses. This is counterintuitive to the creation of vibrant neighborhoods that have a mix of uses. The zoning code needs to be reviewed to ensure that targeted neighborhoods have land development regulations that allow for this type of development. Sacramento, California approached this predicament by proposing to de-couple density from land use and instead using Floor Area Ratio (FAR) to regulate building size. This strategy ensures new housing is compatible with existing while allowing for the development of a diversity of housing options. They also legalized small neighborhood commercial developments within residential neighborhoods, promoting vibrance and walkability.
Creating a sense of place is an important characteristic of vibrant neighborhood. Placemaking has become a more and more popular tool in the last decade to revitalize neighborhoods and promote social interaction. Placemaking have been initiated by several cities across the nation to boost the transformation of underutilized public spaces into vibrant places for people. Typically, many placemaking projects can include public participation, helping to bring the community together to improve their neighborhood. Charlotte, North Carolina, and Clearwater, Florida are two examples of city driven placemaking programs.
Another aspect of vibrant communities is their connection with nature and recreation opportunities. Interacting with nature is proven to help improve people’s mental health. Incorporating nature into the built environment can happen in many ways such as building pocket parks, improving connections to nearby parks, or improving the urban tree canopy. Increased greenery also improves the urban heat island effect, keeping communities cool during heat waves and protecting vulnerable populations like seniors.

Keene is a community that is attractive to many people. Knowing that there are a range of views on this topic, we are keen to hear your comments about the future trajectory of the city.

What do you think would be the ideal community development strategies that could create the best overall outcomes for Keene?

We would love to hear your thoughts!

3 Comments

It might be interesting for the City to organize walking tours for the planning committee (open to the public, perhaps led by the relevant councilor) of various Keene neighborhoods identified as in need of support / revitalization. It is a challenge to have people look outside Main Street / commercial areas and their own neighborhoods to get a better feel of the spectrum of needs for the city.

Would like to keep community and population health as key components in the planning

The point about zoning is so important “Traditional Euclidean zoning focuses on the separation of uses. This is counterintuitive to the creation of vibrant neighborhoods that have a mix of uses. ” Our downtown developed before zoning mandated the types of uses that could be built for and the presence of residential and commercial uses (often within the same building) is a key component of what makes it so vibrant and desirable. If we want other neighborhoods to develop into vibrant nodes for our community, we need to remove many of the restrictions that limit areas to only allow residential development (and often only single family houses, which spread people apart and prevent the close, walkable vibrancy seen downtown). We’ve also got to resistance the temptation for “Not in my backyard” thinking that says development is needed, but should happen “somewhere else”. That’s a recipe for stagnation and deterioration of our neighborhoods.

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MORE INFORMATION

For more information about the Keene Comprehensive Master Plan Project, please contact:

Mari Brunner, Senior Planner
City of Keene
3 Washington Street
Keene, NH 03431
(603)352-5440
mbrunner@keenenh.gov

David Beurle
Chief Executive Officer
Future iQ
(612)757-9190
david@future-iq.com

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