By Alex Malm
The Town Council heard a rezoning request during its Monday, Sept. 11, meeting.
The request was made by Page Rock LLC, who is looking to rezone 556 Mammoth Road from a AR-1 Agricultural-Residential zone to a C-II commercial zone.
The Planning Board previously voted 6-1-1 to recommend approval by the Town Council for the property to be rezoned with Ex-Officio, Ted Combes, abstaining saying he wanted to wait until he could vote at the Town Council meeting.
In a staff memo, it was explained that Page Rock owns the properties at 3 Page Road, 556 Mammoth Road, and 295 Rockingham. Ultimately, they were looking for rezoning of the 556 Mammoth Rd. property in order for all the lots to be zoned the same in order to develop there.
Brad Westgate, an attorney representing Page Rock LLC, said the plan is to have a multi-family residential complex for 40 units, which they would be able to get as a conditional use permit if they are granted the rezoning request and the conditional use permit is approved by the Planning Board.
Paul Chisholm, the engineer for the project, said one of the properties has frontage on Mammoth and Page Rd. for a total of 7.9 acres, with most of it undeveloped.
A second property at 3 Page Road is about 2.6 acres of land.
The 560 Mammoth Rd. parcel is about a third of an acre.
“It’s totally undeveloped at the moment,” Chisholm said.
He noted that currently there are a number of different uses in the surrounding area. If the rezoning is approved, Chisholm said they would do a traffic study when they do the design work.
Westgate explained that the properties are contemplated for mixed use as part of the town’s master plan and they feel the use of multi-family housing would fit within the mixed use designation.
He also noted that the one parcel on its own is too small for agriculture purposes, and there isn’t continuance AR-1 district land around it.
“It doesn’t fit anymore, the objectives of the AR district,” Westgate said.
Westgate said by approving the rezoning request they would have one district covering all the properties.
Town Council Chair, John Farrell, said they are likely going to have upwards of 80 more cars in the area with an already tough intersection. He added that he wanted to know what the plan would be for traffic.
“I need to know what you’re thinking about doing with that intersection before I can vote on any rezoning,” Farrell said.
Chisholm said it’s premature to have a traffic plan in place, noting they would want to have a full traffic study done.
“We will look at all options. We will let the data dictate our decisions,” Chisholm said.
Farrell said he needs to get a better understanding about how traffic is going to come in and out.
Chisholm noted that if it were to be a commercial property there, they could have more traffic and what gives them the most options is to rezone the property and have consistency with all three properties.
Ann Chiampa, who is a member of the Planning Board and the one member to vote against recommending rezoning, said she was glad to hear comments being made in regards to the traffic issues. She said while she isn’t against a development there, she is against an exit onto Old Mammoth Road.
The council voted to continue the proposal until October so the applicant can continue to work with Town Engineering Director, John Trottier, about what they are looking for.