LACONIA — Changes to the language of a zoning district should set the stage to make it easier to add dwellings in city neighborhoods near downtown.

The city’s Planning Board approved a rewritten version of a never-used overlay district which could encourage housing development in densely-populated areas during their meeting on Aug. 5.

“It goes to show, we’ve had this overlay for years and nobody has ever utilized it. The intent was to spur development in those already densely populated areas and we didn’t provide anybody real tools to do that and I think this is providing those real tools,” Planning Director Rob Mora said.

Its purpose is simple but ideally impactful: to promote the redevelopment of affordable housing, encourage investment in multi-family housing stock, increase the qual

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