There is service to be cut a growing market for senior housing in Hooksett, and four proposed developments for residents 55 and older attest to it.

And the hoops that developers jump through to build similar neighborhoods may get easier.

A proposed zoning amendment that was considered at a public hearing Monday, Feb. 23, would help streamline the approval process for developers seeking to build similar senior neighborhoods in town. The amendment, along with 12 others proposed by the town, will have to be approved by town voters in May before they take effect.

The purpose of the proposed amendment, one of the 12 the Planning Board discussed, would require a joint hearing with the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment for proposed senior and handicapped housing in order to streamline and coordinate the application process.

Planning Board Chairman John Gryval said the current process, which requires developers to present plans to the Zoning Board of Adjustment to request a variance, then to the Planning Board and finally again to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, is too cumbersome.

“If we’re both at the same meeting, it saves the developer time. This way it’s going to make it a lot better,” Gryval said. “(The amendment) is just to streamline the process.”

Four new 55-and-older communities are slated to be built along the Route 3 corridor in Hooksett.

Plans for a second phase for Webster Woods, an existing senior neighborhood in Hooksett, are on the table for consideration as well as a new 55- and-older neighborhood called Harmony Place. An unnamed senior development on Nancy Lane is seeking a special zoning exception from the Zoning Board. Blueprints for another project, Brookview Senior Housing, have been submitted to the planning office, too.

The Hooksett Planning Board will hold another public hearing at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 9, to discuss the various zoning amendments, all of which are available for review on the town’s Web site, www.hooksett.org.

The Planning Board meets in the Hooksett town offices, 35 Main St.