LEBANON — A proposal to create a 90- to 130-seat performance venue in the former Lebanon Junior High School building has received approval from the Lebanon Zoning Board of Adjustment, though residents and even board members still have concerns about the project’s potential impact of traffic, parking and safety.

The Zoning Board voted unanimously at a public hearing Monday to grant a conditional special exception to developers seeking to convert the former school gymnasium into a small theater for live plays and music at 75 Bank St., a six-story mixed-use building containing 43 apartment units.

Project applicants Tim Sidore, whose company, Ledgeworks, manages the 75 Bank St. property, and Jim Wasser, an architect based in White River Junction, said they have a “nonbinding but working agreement with the Lebanon Opera House to develop a black-box theater,” a smaller venue for staging plays and concerts. Black box theaters are typically square spaces with black walls and flat floors, allowing different configurations for staging and seating.

Wasser said they have not designed a plan yet for the theater, though developers anticipate a maximum seating of 90 to 130 seats.

“I think it will provide a great benefit to the city by providing a black-box theater that Lebanon currently does not have,” Wasser told the Zoning Board.

According to Wasser, the property’s current parking lot contains 85 spaces, only 44 of which are required under Lebanon’s zoning ordinance to be reserved for use by residents. Additional parking could be available off-site at the rail-trail public parking lot, located across the street from 79 Bank St.

Lebanon Senior Planner Tim Corwin said the property’s 85 parking spaces are enough to accommodate Lebanon’s minimal zoning requirements for 43 apartment units, 40 of which are studios, which only need a minimum of one parking space apiece, and an entertainment venue containing at least 123 seats.

But residents of Bank Street said they still worry about the proposed theater’s impact on the neighborhood in regard to traffic and street parking.

“We like the idea in general of having a black box theater,” neighbor Bob Mclellan said. “But I’m not convinced that (patrons) will know the zoning regulations on our street. And even if there are open parking spaces on site, people may still choose to park on our street, especially during inclement weather.”

Mclellan’s wife, Lucy Mclellan, said she worried about the noise impact of events on tenants of the building, who appear to work at varying hours based on her observations of foot traffic by tenants.

“Apartments in Lebanon are difficult to find,” Lucy Mclellan said. “I see people going in and out of the building at different times, and I bet many of them need to sleep.”

Wasser said they have already contacted an acoustics consultant to assess the noise levels in the gymnasium and to recommend strategies to contain the volume.

Sidore added that the developers intend to be very responsive to the concerns of neighbors and tenants, particularly in regard to noise.

“The last thing we want to do is create an adverse situation for anyone,” Sidore said. “Mixed-use property management is what we do, and we are certainly sensitive to the needs (of our tenants), because otherwise we would be shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Bob Mclellan acknowledged that noise within the gymnasium has never been audible to neighbors, though there might sometimes be noise outside the school when attendees of events returned to their vehicles.

All theater events would conclude by 10 p.m., in accordance with the city’s noise curfew ordinance, according to Sidore, who added that most programs would likely conclude by 9:30 p.m., based on programs typically run by the Lebanon Opera House or other area venues.

Residents also worried about whether there would be alcohol service and whether that could lead to traffic safety concerns after the events.

Sidore and Wasser indicated that alcohol service may be part of the theater’s operating plan though they did not confirm it.

Some Zoning Board members also expressed concern about the lack of physical separation between the residential parts of the building and the theater. Sidore and Wasser said a new bathroom would be built to serve event performances, though patrons would likely use the existing bathrooms in the gymnasium hallway, where two apartments are also located.

“As a single female, if I lived there, I would not be happy about 130 people being able to walk up and down the hallway,” said Zoning Board alternate member Catheryn Hembree.

The Zoning Board added two conditions to their approval of a special exception: first, that the seating capacity will not exceed 130 people and, second, that the developers will create separate bathroom facilities for venue patrons to create a separation from the residential space.

While the Zoning Board felt the proposal met the conditions to receive a special exception, individual board members said they had questions about the proposal, though these would be addressed when the applicants bring their project before the Lebanon Planning Board.

“It just didn’t sound to me that the parking has been adequately addressed,” said Zoning Board alternate member Paul McDonough. “I also think (the proposal) is a bit thin in terms of what the impact is on the character of the area.”

In an email response to the Valley News, Corwin said it is not unusual for applicants to seek a special exception for zoning approval before planning the project’s full design.

“The Zoning Board doesn’t generally look too closely at interior layouts, which instead will be reviewed as part of the building permit process,” Corwin said. “I think one or more of the board members felt the application could have provided more detail about the proposed use, but presumably the board obtained the information that they felt was necessary to decide the application through a combination of the written applicant and the testimony from the applicant.”

Joe Clifford, director of the Lebanon Opera House, confirmed that the Opera House is “in a very early discussion phase” with Execusuite LLC, owners of 75 Bank St., regarding the use of the gymnasium “as an arts-based space.”

The non-binding agreement, Clifford explained, allows the parties a period of time to conduct due diligence “to be sure our goals and vision for the space are aligned and, most important, to see if we can come to agreeable terms to use the space.”

Patrick Adrian can be reached at padrian@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.