Planning Board OKs Chase Bank Plan on Gilcreast Road

By Paul Conyers

The Planning Board held a public hearing on a plan to demolish the building on the corner of Nashua and Gilcreast roads and have it replaced with a Chase Bank location.
During its Oct. 4 meeting, the board reviewed a site plan for a 3,116-square-foot Chase Bank at 66 Gilcrest Road. Randy Miron from Bohler Engineering attended the hearing to make the presentation.
“It’s the existing Remax building, with access off of Gilcrest,” explained Miron. “Just has a drive-through atm in the back of the building.”
The Chase design will add a greater buffer zone around the property to deal with stormwater runoff. The parking lot would be completely replaced and regraded. Miron hopes this will keep the property compliant with local environmental regulations. He’s also proposing new landscaping as part of the project, with 19 new trees and over 60 new shrubs.
Miron had brought the design before the Heritage Commission, where they asked to change the building façade from gray brick. The bank redesign will include red brick to better fit in with surrounding buildings.
Reaction from the board was positive.
“Very nice, I like the additional green space that will be there from what it is now,” stated alternate board member, Jason Knights. “I agree with everyone else, it’s a vast improvement.”
With no feedback from members of the public, the board unanimously voted to move the project forward.
Earlier in the meeting, the board opened with some overdue administrative work, including a determination that a lot line adjustment proposal at 5 Kitty Hawk Landing and Mammoth Road did not meet the standards for a regional impact.
Nick Golin of TFMoran, Inc. was at the meeting to make the line adjustment request on behalf of the applicant. There were several issues with the initial application, although the Planning Board agreed to temporarily waive these problems to hear out the request.
“What you have before you is an industrial subdivision of three existing lots,” explained Golin. “These are part of a larger plane development that we hope to be bringing before the Planning Board very soon.”
Missing items from the original application came from Golin’s focus on the master plan, he promised to have the issues fixed before moving on to the final development. The applicants had not yet decided how the construction would be accessed although they do not expect it to be from the Mammoth Road side.
This was a problem, as town regulations require applications to have a minimum line of sight for any access road. There was also some confusion as to the officially recognized borders of the property by the town due to a past subdivision.
“The expectation is that it be corrected and fixed before a final approval of the plan,” said Assistant Town Manager, Kellie Caron.
Golin promised the plan would be “updated accordingly.” The board voted to continue consideration on Nov. 8.