Lebanon — City residents and officials expressed concerns on Monday night that an apartment building proposed to replace Roy’s Auto Service downtown is too large and has too little parking.

The Lebanon Housing Authority hopes to build a four-story apartment building on a quarter-acre lot at the corner of North Park and Campbell streets. The building would house about 30 apartments, an administrative office and commercial space on the ground floor, and is intended to boost the amount of affordable housing in the region, according to the authority’s proposal.

But some residents expressed disappointment about the proposal of an apartment building taking the place of a single-story auto repair shop. They also were concerned about the lack of parking options included in the proposal.

“This is a location that is subject to all sorts of parking problems,” board member Kenneth Morley said.

When there’s a performance at the nearby Lebanon Opera House or an event at Colburn Park, he said, finding a parking space within a half mile is nearly impossible.

Don Perron, a Water Street resident, who once lived on Campbell Street, said anyone who finds parking during the day “should buy a Megabucks ticket.”

Under the city’s zoning ordinance, buildings in the Commercial Building District are not required to provide parking as part of the planning process because of the assumption parking is available in city-owned lots. The Planning Board, however, can require a developer to create spaces when it finds them necessary.

Others on Monday supported the idea of workforce housing and increased development downtown, but saw North Park Street as the wrong location.

Board member Carl Porter showed postcards of the former Garrish mansion, which once stood on the lot. The three-story Victorian took up much less of the site than the housing authority’s planned building, he said.

“We’re going to turn the Soldiers Memorial Building into Stuart Little’s house,” he said about the project’s imposing nature.

Ditha Alonso, the authority’s executive director, said she’s heard similar concerns in the past. That’s why the plan calls for a 50-foot setback from the Soldiers Memorial with a covered terrace in between, she said.

“It’s in the pre-development phase,” she said, adding the authority is hoping feedback can improve the project going forward.

City councilors Karen Liot Hill and Erling Heistad both asked the board to keep the larger downtown core in mind when thinking of the project.

“We’ve had a lot of soul searching in town which the planning department has spearheaded with downtown visioning,” Heistad said.

Reading through the responses from that effort, he said, many see Spencer Street as a better place for future residential units.

Planning Board members also questioned why they were reviewing the proposal now, since the Heritage Commission has not yet met on the project and has more power to make changes within the city’s historic district.

“I really feel the Planning Office put the cart before the horse,” Porter said.

“This whole thing could change in the course of 30 days,” he said, and the board would be back at square one.

City Planning Director David Brooks said the housing authority has the right to propose the project to multiple boards, and it accepts the risk that the clock could run down on the board’s 65-day review process. 

Ultimately, the board decided to continue its hearing on the project to June 13, so the housing authority will have two meetings with the Heritage Commission before coming back. The commission will begin its review at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at City Hall.

Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.