By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CLAREMONT, N.H. — The Claremont Zoning Board of Adjustments voted to approve an application for a special exception to allow the retail sale of meat products at the entrance of the Granite State Packing Cooperative building.
City Planner Austin Ford explained on Monday that the project site is a 5.2 acre, 226,512-square-foot lot north of the Claremont Municipal Airport at 471 Sullivan Street. There is a 16,624-square-foot building on the lot that is currently occupied by Granite State Packing Cooperative, which is involved in meat processing operations and has been for many years under multiple owners.
The applicant, Kimberly Marro, is looking to open a retail storefront to sell “USDA inspected frozen and fresh meat products” out of a 360-square-foot room at the entrance of the building.
“The proposed activities fall under the category of retail sales related to permitted use, said use being food processing and packaging,” Ford said.
Marro is the assistant general manager at Granite State Packing Cooperative, and she spoke with the ZBA about how they would like to open up the storefront and bring meat to the city of Claremont and surrounding areas.
“The majority will be pork, and we talked about bringing in some beef to process rib eyes, strip steaks and ground beef,” Marro said.
Marro said the storefront will be at the closest end of the building, and there will be designated parking on the side.
Ford said that retail sales may be allowed in the Industry District 1 by special exception by the ZBA. Retail stores require one parking space per 400 feet of gross floor area.
Zoning Board Chair Michael Hurd noted that North Country Smokehouse had a retail spot in the past, and he asked Ford if this needed to be renewed because it was a different owner. Ford explained that while variances and special exceptions run with the land, that was a pre-existing non-conforming use.
“Because the use was abandoned for long enough that it is no longer deemed non-conforming, we can’t move forward with that use without a special exception as is required,” Ford said. “But yes, to our knowledge, this was happening before.”
Nobody from the public spoke for or against the application, and the ZBA found that it fit all the requirements for passage. They did not see any additional hazards that would result, no traffic impact, parking looked to be acceptable and there would be no disproportional use of the city’s operations, and no public safety or health concerns. Hurd also said the location looked good, as it was previously a spot where he would go to pick up Christmas hams in the past.
“As most of us know, it was already there,” Hurd said. “We just unfortunately have to re-dot our ‘I’s’ and cross our ’T’s.’”
The ZBA approved the application with very little discussion by a 4-0 vote. The applicant must now go to the planning board for approval before any construction is done.
