A project to demolish the old Sal’s Pizza Restaurant and build a new one has been extended.
Planning Board members voted 8-0-0 at their Jan. 4 meeting to approve a request to extend the project for another six months. The extension will expire on July 6, 2017, according to board members.
Back in July, Board members voted to conditionally approve a site plan to allow Sal’s Pizza owner Sal Lupoli to demolish the old two-story building at 2 Lennox Ave. and replace it with a more modern, single- story building. The restaurant has been at the same location for more than 20 years and the building was showing its age, said Phil McCabe, in the company’s operations department.
McCabe said it would have been too difficult to remodel the two-story building so the decision was made to demolish it and build a new single-story restaurant.
With approval of the site plan, crews were scheduled to begin the project in the summer with the possibility of it being completed by as early as the fall, McCabe said.
But those plans changed and Sal’s asked for the extension, said Planning Director George Sioras in the meeting.
“This is the first request,” Sioras said. “The board approved this back in July, and they are looking for an additional six months.”
Before moving forward on the Derry project, the company plans to finish work at their Manchester site and then move forward with a project in Bilreica, Mass before finishing in Derry.
“So they do plan on doing the project,” Sioras said.
According to plans, the new restaurant will feature a brick façade with large windows along the store-front. Along with the new building, new landscaping will be incorporated into the project. In addition, new sewer, water, gas and telephone service for the building will be included, and a new catch basin to capture any storm-water runoff will be added.
A request to add a natural barrier of trees between Sal’s parking lot and a parking lot owned by St. Thomas Aquinas Church was rejected by board members.
But the board did leave open the possibility of opening a discussion between Sal’s and the church about possibly adding a barrier when a nearby vacant property is developed.
Sal’s Pizza owner Sal Lupoli bought the two-story building more than 20 years ago. The first floor is used by the restaurant and the second floor is for storage.
The new building – at 2,200 square feet – would be a bit larger than the old building, McCabe said.
The project would help improve an area along Crystal Avenue, said Elizabeth Robidoux, planning assistant.
“We are slowly changing the face of Crystal Avenue, and I think this is another positive change,” Robidoux said prior to the vote on the project in July.
Town councilors voted last year to change the zoning for three properties on Lenox Avenue to expand a commercial zone and leave open the possibility of including them in a larger commercial zone just north of nearby Sal’s Pizza.