I have a piece in the Warren Group’s Registry Review, New Hampshire’s real estate newspaper, about the city of Manchester’s push to rewrite its zoning rules to boost construction of new housing. But unlike in Cambridge, Mass. (and now Medford), Manchester isn’t shooting for the YIMBY moon with its zoning reforms. Its proposed changes are more modest – and thus probably more realistic in what might be achieved. Basically, city planners discovered via extensive surveys that residents didn’t really mind small-scale multifamily housing in their neighborhoods, such as two-unit duplexes or triple-deckers. But they did mind large multifamily apartment complexes in mostly single-family districts. So the final draft ordinance mostly reflected that sentiment – and, if approved, the city’s new rules would allow more “missing middle” duplexes (and occasionally triple-deckers and small four-unit apartment buildings) to be built in many (though not all) previously exclusive single-family districts. Larger and larger apartment buildings are to be allowed the closer one gets to the city’s core downtown commercial area. … The bottom line: city planners listened to residents and found they were slightly more open to reforms than one might think. The result will probably be hundreds, if not thousands, of new housing units in Manchester over coming years due to the common-sense zoning changes. ….

Compare that to the early-stage fights now breaking out in Cambridge over its landmark zoning-reform ordinance that allows four- to six-story multifamily housing buildings to be constructed as a right in all residential areas. It’s a policy almost guaranteed to generate controversy – and it risks a backlash that could harm future reform efforts. There’s also a part of me who wonders whether some newfound YIMBY zealots are looking for a fight.