A conceptual plan for about 250 rental homes to be built in the Woodmont PUD was discussed at the Oct. 9 meeting of the Londonderry Planning Board meeting.
A number of waivers, amendments, and compliance alternatives were heard from Procopio Companies on a proposal set to be located at 36 Pillsbury Road. The site is currently one of Mack’s Apples Orchards.
Attorney, Laura Gandia, from Manchester’s Devine Millimet was at the meeting with the project. The presentation focused on moving the next phase of the Woodmont Commons Planned Use Development forward, with some changes compared to an earlier proposal favoring village or cottage-style buildings.
“The PUD was developed to create regulations and establish a process that allows flexibility and phasing in the actual development plan. The PUD Master Plan developed a unique relationship between the PUD and the town’s land use regulations.” said Gandia. “The PUD took the zoning ordinance, it added waivers some provisions of the zoning ordinance, and then it also provided modifications to certain provisions of the zoning ordinance.”
Such developments typically allow similar flexibility when it comes to subdivisions. The hope was to expand the next stage of the Woodmont Development, with plans that might not always strictly conform to local zoning laws. Gandia noted no plan would depart from Londonderry’s overall “design principals,” including the 36 Pillsbury Rd. proposal.
“We’ll have approximately 250 rental single-family units assembled into eight clusters,” she said. “We’re not doing one of the ideas from the PUD Master Plan, it’s much more intense, we have a lot more greenspace, we have a lot more areas that are conserved, the house are clustered together as opposed to when we were here last time with more of the cottage-court feel to it.”
She favored the compliance alternate method for design approval, citing factors like walkability and a more “community feel,” as the Planning Board might consider. The cottage-court design did not fit the performance standards Procopio wanted.
Town Manager, Mike Malaguti, generally agreed with the change proposed, saying there was no point in “trying to put a square peg in a round hole.”
Board Secretary, Lynn Wiles, wanted to know the land conservation plan for the new design.
“There’s quite a bit of open space, which I think is fantastic. How is that going to be preserved so that it won’t be developed down the road?” asked Wiles. “As the discussion processes down the road, I’m going to be concern over how we protect that.”
He was told much of the greenspace is already wetland Procopio cannot legally build on. Other areas were technically still under discussion, with the assurance that the developer did not want to increase housing density any further. A state goal of the project was to protect existing, abandoned apple trees on the land.
“There’s a lot to unpack here,” said Alternate, Tony DeFrancesco. “I think, for sure, we need some kind of letter or documentation from the developer saying ‘yes, we’re okay with this concept’ or however it’s worded, something from the developer.”
He considered the new design “a huge change” from what the Planning Board had heard before and wondered if the Town Council should be consulted.
Despite several concerns over the new design, most Board members seemed to like the clustered apartment design, with member, Jason Knights, saying he appreciated the plan.
“One of the things we continually hear in town is more open space, everyone likes to drive by apple trees,” he said. “All-in-all, I love this.”
The Planning Board wanted to set more details as things develop.