Manchester’s Planning and Zoning Commission has denied a zoning change application for 699 and 719 East Middle Turnpike that would have allowed construction of a 32-unit apartment complex, a plan opposed by nearby residents.
The PZC voted 3-2 Monday to reject Kimlar LLC’s application to rezone the parcel to a planned residential development zone, which would have allowed Kimlar to build an apartment complex with 32 units among six buildings.
The state Department of Social Services has offices in a one-story building on the property. No materials submitted to the commission indicate that there are any plans for the state agency to leave.
The commission majority said the apartment plans would bring a level of housing density too high for an area that is otherwise occupied mostly by single-family homes.
“Every single house around (the lot) is a smaller, single-family house,” PZC Secretary Michael Stebe said, “and that would be putting 32 additional units into that very small space. … I think right now it deviates a little too far from what the rest of the surrounding area has.”
Neighborhood residents commented during public hearings that they were concerned the apartment complex would bring in more traffic, development, and people.
“The neighborhood is not ready for this,” Arcellia Drive resident Jacqueline Perreault said during a public hearing in May. “This neighborhood is friendly. We look out for each other, and when I see these big buildings being built right there so that I can’t see outside my window and my view will be blocked, we’re not happy.”
PZC Vice Chairman Patrick Kennedy said that current zoning at that area would allow for a strip mall with some apartment units above it. Kennedy said that kind of development was more appropriate for the kind of mixed-use plans the town has laid out for that area. He voted with the majority against the change.
Commission members Timothy Bergin and Jessica Scorso voted in favor of Kimlar’s application.
Bergin said that the area is already located near condominiums and that East Middle Turnpike is already a busy road. Both he and Scorso noted that the plans for the apartment complex included a buffering of trees and other foliage around the property to improve appearances and better fit the neighborhood.
Kimlar’s representatives are following through on another application to subdivide the parcel into two lots, for which they’re expected to appear at the commission’s next meeting July 1.
Kimlar’s lawyer, Mark Shipman, said repeatedly in earlier appearances before the commission that some kind of development at the property is inevitable, reiterating that the current zoning already would allow retail businesses with apartments above.
This story has been modified for the web
