Commercial Growth There is relatively little commercial activity in this primarily rural and residential town. As of 1995, there were a total of 510 people employed within the city limits of Exeter. There are two commercial developments planned for Exeter, the Ladd School and the Dorset Mill Area. Click image to enlarge.

As a part of Exeter's Comprehensive Plan in 1994, a commercial buildout was undertaken to analyze the potential development of commercial properties. There are 262 total acres of commercial-zoned land in Exeter. 135 acres of that is already developed or undevelopable as of 1994. According to past rates of commercial growth, it was assumed that 1.6 acres per year would be developed, thereby it would be 79 years before Exeter had a dearth of developable commercial land. It was thereby assumed that Exeter's potential for commercial growth was not a hot issue for this town.

For a step-by-step analysis of how to conduct a buildout, Brown student, Matthew Amengual '02 did an excellent one for the city of Charlestown.

According to Exeter's Comprehensive Plan, the little economic activity in this community can be possibly attributed to the following:

• Lack of demand for expanded services (slow economy)
• Inappropriately zoned or accessible land available for development
• Competition from neighboring communities
• Lack of adequate utilities or services
• Price of land and general cost of development
• Unwillingness of owners to develop their land
• Local opposition to development or overly restrictive controls on development
• Large tracts of undevelopable land

The challenges for Exeter relates to where and what type of growth, if any, the town wishes to see in the future. Currently, the location of commercial zones in Exeter encourages strip-mall type development along Rt. 3 and Rt. 2 and the character of most of the existing commercial development is unattractive and detracts from the image of the town.