One of the most pressing concerns for Dartmouth students is finding available housing. Lengthy waitlists for on-campus undergraduate housing and a lack of sufficient living spaces for graduate students is the constant subject of student activism and administrative policy. President Beilock, in fact, called housing scarcity “one of the biggest sources of stress in our community” in her inaugural address.
Dartmouth’s lack of sufficient housing originates from the College’s decision to admit women in 1972, which was enacted by College officials on the condition that Dartmouth would not reduce the number of admitted men. In response, the College instituted the D-Plan, which rotated portions of the student body off campus throughout the year, thereby balancing the increase in students without building significantly more housing.
Since then, challenges caused by a lack of student housing have persisted at Dartmouth, reaching their peak with the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Nicolás Macri ’24, who serves as the Dartmouth Student Government's Town Affairs Liaison, the College “drastically reduced the number of people who were allowed to live on campus throughout all of [the] 2020 and 2021 school year” to account for social distancing guidelines.
Once the College lifted restrictions in the fall of 2021, Dartmouth experienced a “surge” in students requesting to live on campus, which caused the school to implement a lottery system. The College went so far as to offer $5,000 for up to 200 students who forfeited their on-campus housing.
“Housing was becoming a real big problem … and nobody was doing anything about it,” Macri said.
Despite the need for more student residences, Dartmouth has not opened a new dormitory since 2006, when it added Fahey and McLane Halls and the McLaughlin cluster. Until the College recently announced its plan to build new dormitories on West Wheelock Street, Dartmouth has also failed to make any substantial headway on new dormitory construction. In October 2021, the College announced plans to develop additional North End housing on Lyme Road, though that project remains unfinished. Macri said he attributed the slow-down to barriers within Hanover’s zoning ordinances.
Several problems with housing construction, particularly outside of Dartmouth’s campus, stem from Hanover’s restrictions on high-density housing and apartment buildings. Hanover imposes height limits of 45 feet downtown and 35 feet elsewhere on new buildings, making it difficult to construct apartment complexes. Until 2023, the Town also did not allow for residences to be built above commercial spaces.
Another problem relates to how parking minimums have shaped Hanover’s residential landscape. Prior to 2023, Hanover zoning laws dictated that residences required one-and-a-half parking spaces per dwelling unit, with another half space for each additional bedroom.
“As one of the planning board members said, if you tried to build Lou’s today, you'd have to demolish half the block next to it to build the parking spaces required,” Macri said. “Then you’ve just defeated the whole purpose of a downtown.”
In response to these issues, former Dartmouth student body president David Millman ’23 and Macri submitted a petition to rezone West Wheelock Street, which would legalize apartment buildings and high-density housing. On March 1, 2022, the petition received a recommendation from Hanover’s Planning Board in a 3-2 vote in favor and later passed by a community vote from Town residents.
“If we didn’t file that petition, it wouldn’t have happened,” Macri said. “It just wasn’t on the agenda.”
Dartmouth’s Senior Director of Project Management Services Patrick O’Hern said he recognized the effort from students to enact change.
“It was not something that the College was necessarily seeking, but I think a lot of students wisely saw that opportunity,” he said.
Construction on Dartmouth’s campus has historically been difficult. The land occupied by Dartmouth is known as the “Institutional Zone” on Hanover’s zoning map. Any construction in this area requires a lengthy application process, according to past reporting by The Dartmouth. According to Macri, Hanover’s Zoning Board of Adjustment must also grant a special exception on the condition that the residence will not “adversely impact the character of the area.” Before 2023, even renovating existing dorms required a permit and application process.
“You can build a medical center … you can build a warehouse, you can build all sorts of [buildings] by right in the Institutional Zone,” Macri said. “But a student residence, an essential need, has to get a special exception.”
Following the success of the 2022 petition, Macri and Hanover Planning, Zoning and Codes director Robert Houseman drafted the 2023 Hanover Zoning Amendments, which simplified the process for renovation of existing dorms. Following the passage of those amendments last year, Dartmouth announced its plans to begin renovating Fayerweather Hall in the summer of 2024, which will take about two years, O’Hern said. A renovation of Massachusetts Row is planned following its completion.
“[The zoning change] really helps us with renewals,” O’Hern said. “If you’re not changing the footprint of the building by more than 35%, it doesn't need to go back to [the Zoning Board of Adjustment]. It just helps us move a little faster.”
The 2023 Hanover Zoning Amendments also reduced the parking space minimums across Hanover, re-zoned the downtown area to accommodate mixed-use residential buildings and increased the number of unrelated tenants allowed in a sprinklered housing unit, providing Hanover with the ability to build more high-density housing in the future. Those amendments passed overwhelmingly, according to Macri.
“Hanover zoning laws [have] some significant traditional zoning standards that create development barriers,” Houseman said. “We have proceeded in a way that tries to lift those barriers and allow market forces to decide certain things.”
This year, Houseman and Macri are proposing additional zoning reforms, subject to a vote at the annual Hanover Town Meeting on May 14. Those proposals would completely remove the parking space requirement, allow for mixed-use residences in parts of Hanover and raise the building height limit.
Houseman said he believes that these reforms do not just impact Dartmouth, but the Hanover community as a whole.
“We know that [Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center] is hiring nurses and other support staff that are driving hours each way because they can't find housing,” Houseman said. “We know that people are turning down jobs because they can't find housing. Everything we do to add housing stock — whether it’s creating housing for students … or building new stock for all users — will help us across the board.”
Macri said he agrees that Dartmouth and Hanover share common goals.
“We shouldn’t exclude people who aren’t students, but we also shouldn’t exclude people who are students,” said Macri. “I think a lot of non-students in recent years have come to realize that the potential for collaboration [between Hanover and Dartmouth] is huge. That’s the whole point of a college town — to bring people together.”
Correction Appended (April 10, 9:55 p.m.): The article has been updated to clarify zoning technicalities.
