The Peterborough Planning Board discussed three proposals involving housing at their virtual meeting on Monday night. The Board got their first look at a three story multi-tenant building proposed for the lots on 104-108 Grove Street, which would house a dentist’s office and three apartments, briefly discussed a proposal to convert 28 Main Street, an all-commercial property, to a combination of commercial and residential uses, and granted a one-year extension to the development work at 63 Old Street, or the Stone Barn.
Dr. Tae Kwon of Monadnock Perio and Implant Center assured the Board that he’d work closely with his architect and consultant to provide a formal proposal that meets the needs of the town. His dental office would occupy the ground floor of the proposed building on Grove Street, just down from the Dunkin Donuts. The building was designed to be about the same height as another white building nearby at the intersection of Route 101 and 202, architect Katie Sutherland said, with a peaked roof and a traditional New England façade. The building would have about a 2,000 square foot footprint with two 1,000 square foot two bedroom apartments on the second floor, and one on the third floor, Chad Branon of Fieldstone Land Consultants said. The dentist’s office is designed with five exam rooms to facilitate staggered appointments, Kwon said.
Some Board members praised the project as an opportunity for much-needed downtown housing, but balked at the parking lot dominating the long, narrow property south of the building, which depicted 19 parking spaces. Branon suggested planting trees along the road to obscure the parking lot from the road and acknowledged that the shape of the three parcels on the project didn’t allow for other parking configurations. The building is not likely to substantially increase traffic on Route 202, he said.
28 Main Street is not leveraging the downtown commercial district’s zoning mandate to its fullest extent, applicant Mike Dias said. The three-story building is mostly storage space, with a hair-cutter operating out of the side of the building and an empty commercial space out front, he said. Dias is proposing internal renovations to create five apartment units in the building while maintaining retail space on the right side of the ground floor and keeping the hair-cutter in place. Parking for residents is a concern, he said, and that he’d rather lease spaces in one of the town’s municipal lots rather than attempting to squeeze spots piecemeal into the property’s alleyspace, which includes an attractive walkway between the building and the adjacent Mariposa Museum. Dias had been attempting to get on the Select Board agenda to discuss parking spot lease opportunities but was told by the Town Administrator’s office to see the Planning Board first, Town Planner Danica Melone said. The Board couldn’t do much for him on Monday other than to express their interest in expediting that process, chair Ivy Vann said, and recorded the Board’s unanimous sentiment to that extent.
The proposal to expand the Ecovillage hasn’t returned to the Planning Board since its initial discussion in July. Engineers are still reworking the original design, and will return to the Board as soon as they’re finished, applicant Akhil Garland said last Thursday.
The Ledger- Transcript did not receive a response about the status of the 16-home condominium project approved for the former site of Woodman’s Florist from Branon.