Officials in Exeter are hoping Town Meeting members will approve a plan at their March meeting to substantially extend a zone that allows mixed-use development to help create more housing and local tax revenue. 

The measure was unanimously approved by the Exeter Planning Board last month. 

The zoning proposal would allow 4-story buildings and require at least 10 percent of any housing development’s units be set aside as affordable homes. In addition, ground-floor commercial units will be required in certain circumstances, including when a building replaces an existing commercial property. Buildings will also have to abide by design standards that echo much of Exeter’s existing, historic commercial core. 

The zone would extend up Portsmouth Avenue from Green Hill Road to the Exeter-Stratham town line on the east side of the town’s core. The zone would also let landowners in a cluster of commercial properties fronting on Epping Road, near the city’s Industrial Drive business park, add housing on their land.