NEWPORT — The Planning Board granted final site plan approval to a 96-unit senior housing project on land adjacent to the airport runway in North Newport on Wednesday night, nearly five years after it was first proposed.
The approval for Runway Heights Senior Housing came after the applicants, Avanru Development of Walpole, N.H., and North Newport Housing, presented an amended site plan that reduced the elevation of the building. The board also added the condition that a 4-foot by 400-foot-long chain link fence must be constructed along the border with the runway at Parlin Field, the town’s airport, to improve security.
Though pleased with the approval, Jack Franks, CEO of Avanru, said it never should have taken this long.
“It is unfortunate a senior housing project took almost five years to get through the planning and zoning process,” Franks, whose Spring Street project brought 42 affordable housing units to town last year, said Thursday. “We are having a housing crisis in New Hampshire and seniors are having the hardest time finding housing.”
The project dates back to late 2021 when Avanru submitted an application to build senior housing on almost 5 acres of a 17-acre parcel along Route 10. The vacant lot sits next to the airport runway with a stand of 80-foot trees in between.
In spite of objections from residents in a neighborhood on the opposite side of the road and the airport manager, the Zoning Board of Adjustment approved two variances on March 17, 2022. The first was to allow multi-unit housing in the rural residential district and the second allowed the building to exceed the 30-foot height restriction in the airport zone.
Two years later, on March 19, 2024, the Planning Board approved the site plan but with the condition Avanru reapply for the variances because the board said they expired after two years. Franks disagreed with that requirement. He said the variances were still valid when he submitted the site plan in early 2024 and therefore he should not have to get the variances approved a second time. Franks eventually agreed to reapply, but reserved the right to challenge the Planning Board’s decision.
In May of 2024, the Zoning Board changed its earlier decision and denied the multi-family variance. A month later, Avanru took the town to court. In its argument, the developer said the plans were filed in January 2024 and were scheduled to be heard by the Planning Board in February, but a mistake by the town in notifying abutters pushed the hearing date to March.
In October 2024, a Hillsborough Superior Court judge ruled in Avanru’s favor. Judge Michael Klass said the town acted “unlawfully” when it said the variances had expired. He said Avanru should have been given a six-month extension because the site plan was filed when the variances were still in effect.
Avanru later redesigned the building, reducing it from four stories to three and making it L-shaped. It also moved the footprint 200 feet further east from the runway for a total distance of more than 400 feet.
At Wednesday’s Planning Board meeting, Chad Branon, owner of Fieldstone Land Consultants in Milford, N.H., stressed that they were seeking an amendment to the site plan approved in 2024 and no other aspects of the plan should be addressed. Branon said they were proposing to lower the elevation, not the height of the building, by 2 feet.
“We basically carved out the soil a little bit,” Branon said. “We have an approved project. We are asking for a site plan amendment to address the elevation problem. We are not asking the board to rehash any details.”
Branon explained that with the lower elevation the building would no longer be in the “glideslope” of approaching aircraft using visual flight rules. Glideslope allows the pilot to keep an accurate descent angle on landings.
When the issue of a fence was raised, Branon noted that the original approval did not include that condition, even though it was discussed. But the board persisted.
“If it were my project, I would put up a fence just enough to keep people out,” said board Chairman David Burnham.
After a brief recess, Branon came back into the room with Franks and said they would agree to a 400-foot chain link fence.
The applicant will need to secure state permits for a septic system and driveway entrance off Route 10.
No residents from the nearby neighborhood attended the meeting, nor did airport co-manager Heath Marsden. A letter from Marsden, read by Burnham, reiterated his opposition to the project. Light emissions could affect nighttime approaches and noise from approaching and departing planes could be an annoyance to residents, he said.
“Placing a highly populated residential structure in close proximity to an active runway is not considered a compatible land use,” Marsden wrote.
The board voted 5-1 to approve the site plan. Board member Keith Sayer cast the sole no vote.
The project’s next steps include assembling the financing for the $35 million project, Franks said Thursday morning. He could not predict when construction would start.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.