By Patrick Adrian [email protected]
NEWPORT — The Newport Planning Board is considering a proposed workforce housing project on Spring Street that would provide 42 affordable apartments for low-to-moderate residents.
Jack Franks, president and CEO of the Walpole-based Avanru Development Group (ADG), presented his proposal to the planning board on Tuesday for a three-story workforce housing apartment building on two Spring Street lots zoned for heavy commercial use. The project would provide 24 single-bedroom units and 18 two-bedroom units and include a greenspace for residents behind the building, a double entrance driveway and a parking lot with capacity for 87 vehicles.
Avanru would employ a customized modular construction technology similar to its touted Abernaki Springs project, a 43-unit housing complex in North Walpole, which added its second phase with 22 units last November. The modules are constructed off-site and then attached to the structure, which has proven faster and more cost-effectively than traditional methods, according to Franks.
“We built [the second phase] in 128 days, and came in a month-and-a half ahead of schedule and under budget,” Franks said.
Avarnu’s technology is also receiving national attention for its energy efficiency, Franks said.
A 2017 energy report by New Hampshire Housing ranked Abernaki Springs first phase the most energy-efficient multi-family building of over 100 housing projects tested in the state, producing an annual average of 24,000 British thermal units (BTUs) per square foot. The average site produced 78,000 BTUs per square foot annually, according to the study.
“We heated Phase 1 this last winter for under $7,000 for the entire facility,” Franks said. “[The second phase] outperformed Phase 1. We heated 22 units, two stories and 23,000 square feet for under $5,000.”
But the project has also worried residents on Spring Street, particularly because of the potential traffic impact by adding additional vehicles to an already travelled neighborhood.
A zoning conundrum
To an unknowing eye, Spring Street might seem like an ordinary residential street. There is a two-way, unlined paved street and a small mix of single-family and multi-family houses. There are no sidewalks or streetlights. The street intersects with Elm and Pine streets, two larger residential streets that additionally serve as accesses to John Stark Highway and North Main Street.
These neighborhood streets are also a popular thru-way for area drivers to cut through town and avoid traffic lights.
“If you Google maps from Croydon to Claremont [Newport’s neighboring municipalities], the map is going to bring you right down Pine Street and Elm,” said Spring Street resident Scott Barrows. “You’re not only adding [the project’s cars] through there. You’re adding to a steady stream of cars that are already using it as a thru-way.”
Vehicles frequently speed through the neighborhood, and already pose an endangerment to children and other residents, as there are no sidewalks, Barrows told the Newport Planning Board.
Equally concerning are the dangerous intersections like Elm Street and John Stark Highway, which is heavily travelled and has no traffic signals.
Franks estimated, based on vehicle usage and traffic at his Abernaki Springs project, there could be up to 64 tenant-owned vehicles at the Newport project. About 15-20% of low-income tenants do not own vehicles. His analysis projected a “worst case scenario” of about 14 additional cars in the morning rush hour and 18 more cars in the evening rush hour.
The Newport Zoning Board, who approved the project for a zoning variance on Thursday, Aug. 13, also expressed concern about public safety in the neighborhood. But the zoning board determined they had no authority to consider the neighborhood impact in their decision, because the neighborhood was outside the zone in question.
“You have to base the case on the special exception,” explained Zoning Administrator Christina Donovan last Thursday. “So when you talk about the neighborhoods, that means the zone’s neighborhoods, not the other neighborhoods in town”
According to New Hampshire’s regulations, zoning boards must decide with the limits set by the ordinance and zoning map and cannot approve or deny an application based on what it thinks is the best interest of the surrounding neighborhoods.
The zoning board sent recommendations to the planning board to consider additional project requirements to mitigate safety risks, including adjustments to the buildings driveway plan, signage and a possible footpath for building tenants to directly access the downtown, which would greatly minimize additional foot traffic on the surrounding residential streets.
The planning board, however, said on Tuesday that matters involving traffic signs or sidewalks outside the zone would be the Selectboard’s jurisdiction, since the town would be responsible to maintain those installations.
The planning board said it did not see enough evidence to suggest the project would pose too great a public safety concern. The fire and police chiefs and highway department director all reviewed the site and reported the project would not obstruct their ability to travel or deliver services to the area.
The planning board also received a letter from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation saying they did not believe this project would have a negative traffic impact, given that the area has multiple access points to municipal and state roads and the proposed 42 units falls well below the number to require a traffic study.
Notably, the commercial zone targeted by this project was created in 1988, about six years before the first residential home was built on Spring Street. Even zoning board members questioned whether the town would have zoned these two lots for commercial use today, given the residential development since its creation.
Franks reasoned that an apartment project would arguably produce less traffic than what the town had originally designated.
“When you take a look at what could go there, such as a 100-unit hotel, a bus stop or gas station, this [project] is arguably the least possible impact the project could have.”
The planning board, who discussed the application for three-and-a half hours, motioned to continue the review at its next scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 8. Franks and the board have already discussed plans such as property buffers and landscaping and outside lighting.
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