7-13-2010
Walpole Group Proposes Condo/Commercial Development
By Chuck Bingaman
Four Walpole residents Tuesday evening gave the Planning Board a preliminary look at a 48-unit condominium development with possible added commercial pieces they are seeking to create on a 12+ acre site off Rt. 12 behind the new Tractor Supply store.
Prior to hearing the development overview, the Board approved a lot-line adjustment clearing the way for the condominiums to be built. Before the Board approved the adjustment, a sale, really, of 2 acres of abutting land to the developers, the primary abutter, Ralph Murray, claimed that he was the “most affected” abutter and told Board members that he was opposed to the project on so many levels, both ethical and moral, that he couldn’t express them all.
After the Board approved the lot line adjustment, local attorney Rob Kasper, one of the four proposers of the development, gave an overview in which he said he wanted to put to rest some of the innuendos that had been circulating about it. First, he wanted to clarify that all of the development group were local Walpole residents: Jack Franks, Jason Dunbar, Jedd Pellerin and himself. He stressed that they were merely “local people trying to do what’s best for Walpole and not popping up a ‘big box’ store as have already been approved twice recently here!”
Kasper further noted that all of the plans more than complied with local zoning and planning regulations and that the group was more than prepared to fully accomplish the multi-phase work.
The condos, according to Kasper, have been designed to serve an “adult community” meaning that at least one of the residents will be required to be over age 50 and that underage persons would be allowed residence only for limited periods.
Partner and group architect Jedd Pellerin showed drawings and renderings that left about 57% of the section of the development set for condominiums as open space, nearly twice the required amount in Walpole regulations. He noted that they would be 600 feet back from Rt. 12, have shed-roofed parking areas and both a berm and plantings to limit views to the west that would be the rear of the new Tractor Supply building. The buildings would be built in phases based on how quickly they sell.
Pellerin’s rendering of the three buildings showed large, barn like structures with tall, peaked roofs and cupolas on each. They would have16 units in each, eight on each of two floors. Entrances would be at both ends of each building with common lobbies at each end. Common hallways on each floor would lead to interior entries to each 1100 square foot, two-bedroom, 1.75-bath unit. Middle units in the each building, he said, would be at the most 82 to 100 feet from an entrance. There would not be elevators because, he said, there would be sufficient accessible units on the first floors.
Planning Board members and audience members peppered Kasper, lead developer Jack Franks, Pellerin and engineer Tom Duffield with questions about the buildings, units and estimated pricing. Franks said, “we’re still getting numbers, and my goal is to make the units affordable locally.” He emphasized that the design of the buildings and the units in them had prefabrication and price control in mind. Board Chair Jeff Miller asked that Franks be prepared at the August public hearing to discuss specifics of what he considers “affordable.” Former Board member Eric Merklein asked if some units might be reserved as rental units for people unable to afford to purchase.
As to future development of condominium amenities such as common rooms, a health club, etc., Franks said, “We see ourselves as just the vehicle putting these units in place for the future people who will govern the development through a condominium association and who can choose to create such things.”
In addition to the condos that would be the first phase of the overall plan, Mr. Kasper discussed two other parcels in the 12-acre development. In the lot closest to Rt. 12, he said the group was considering a possible coop food store on the order of those in Littleton and Hanover NH, both of which the group had studied. Such stores sell not only locally produced foods but also commercially imported foods to broaden their inventories and deal with seasonality. In the lot between such a coop grocery store and the condominiums, he said the group was looking at a number of options and invited Walpole residents to make suggestions. Among the possibilities, he said, were a health club, a dentist’s office, a possible bank or coffee shop or even a resurrection of the old Fall Mountain Brewery as a brewpub and restaurant. Those plans, however, would wait until after the condominium buildings are completed or well on their way to being sold.
The Board voted to accept the group's complete site plan application and to set it for public hearing at its regular meeting August 10.
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