LEBANON — Developers and city officials have long eyed the northern part of Lebanon, along Route 120, as a hot-spot for new housing and businesses, and the result has already been evident with large apartment complexes cropping up there in recent years.
After years of planning and studies, the City Council will hold a public hearing Wednesday to consider zoning changes for properties between Exit 18 off Interstate 89 and the Hanover town line. The changes can move forward with council approval and will not appear before voters.
That corridor is “seen as an emerging third village center in Lebanon” in addition to downtown Lebanon and West Lebanon, according to the city’s description of a 2024 study that looked at opportunities for development and preservation along Route 120.
The proposed changes try to “strike the balance between a need for housing and a need for allowing some of these properties to reinvent themselves and … preserving the connectedness of conserved lands,” Lebanon Planning and Development Director Nate Reichert said Monday.
As things stand, most of the north part of Lebanon along Route 120 and Etna and Heater roads are designated for industrial use. Under the proposed changes, most of the area would be updated to allow mixed-use development including multi-family housing, businesses such as offices, mobile food services and group day care facilities.
With special permission, the zoning designation called “general commercial one” also allows uses such as retail stores, restaurants, animal boarding facilities, schools and inpatient rehabilitation.
The area directly around Centerra would be re-designated as a “central business district,” which allows for multiple kinds of housing and many kinds of businesses and facilities such as community centers, health clubs, hotels, museums, offices, retail, theaters and restaurants. The proposal would bring several uses in Centerra in line with the zoning code and allow for future development.
Currently, the business park and the 153-unit Altaria complex are technically considered light-industrial areas and were approved by the city as industrial planned unit developments, which allow for some housing. These kinds of projects also require a more extensive review by the Planning Board.
“Right now, both Centerra and Altaria apartments can build no more housing,” Reichert said. “So what we’re proposing will allow for more housing to be developed up there.”
As the biggest employer in the area, Dartmouth Health supports the zoning changes, David Duncan, vice president of facilities management for DH, said in a Monday statement.
“The proposed zoning changes will encourage the building of single-family homes and condominiums as opposed to large apartment complexes, which is a positive for our employees,” Duncan said.
The type of housing that will be permitted in the Route 120 area going forward is at the discretion of the City Council and will likely be part of Wednesday’s discussion, Reichert said. Some of the conversation will likely center around developing smaller multi-unit complexes and townhouses rather than big apartment buildings.
Large apartment projects have garnered vocal public opposition over the past several years and there are already more than 1,200 apartment units that have Planning Board approval and are not yet built.
“Hopefully the underlying piece of it is that we need more housing in the community,” Reichert said.
The New Hampshire side of the Upper Valley needs about 4,000 new housing units by 2030 to meet demand, according to a 2023 housing needs assessment by the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission. The highest need is in Lebanon.
Some residents are not convinced by the changes and have taken the opportunity to protest continued development in the city.
Miriam Voran, who lives in West Lebanon, believes housing in Lebanon is growing at an “unprecedented rate” and urged the City Council to “pause, absorb our unprecedented growth, and consider what’s best for Lebanon long-term,” she wrote in a letter to the council.
Voran’s main concerns include crowding, scarcity of resources such as water and sewer capacity, especially in the face of climate change, and affordability. Voran cited water conservation restrictions amid this summer’s historic drought as an indicator for concern.
“I recognize that we face a housing shortage,” Voran wrote. “Many view the proposed upzoning as the solution. But this is short-term thinking. We can’t keep growing forever.”
Many residents in Lebanon opposed the 474-unit Brickyard housing development in 2024 and were told at the time that because multi-unit housing was allowed in that part of town, the Planning Board had little power to oppose the project.
“The lesson learned is that residents need to take an upstream interest in land-use regulations,” Voran wrote about the Brickyard project. “This is the upstream moment.”
The zoning proposal would also convert several industrial lots to conservation land “due to their unique geographic features and locations within the wildlife crossing” near Etna and on the opposite side of 120 along Mount Support Road, according to meeting materials.
A 2017 city study found several areas where developments might be putting wildlife such as white-tailed deer, red foxes, coyotes, bears, turkeys and porcupines in danger, including several near the Hanover town line.
Along Heater Road, the proposals focus on rezoning several currently vacant “orphan properties,” as Reichert called them, to allow for easier redevelopment.
There are several properties between the Volvo car dealership off Heater Road and Interstate 89 that currently have either empty buildings or empty lots. These would be updated to general commercial one to give developers more options to revitalize the properties.
The City Council will hold a public hearing on the zoning changes at 6 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall.
