ENFIELD — The Planning Board will begin its final review of a nearly 300-unit proposed housing development — Enfield’s largest-ever — during a meeting Wednesday evening.
The project, known as Laramie Farms, calls for 86 townhouses and 213 apartments, according to the cover letter of the more than 500-page major site plan review application the developers submitted to the Planning Board March 30.
Laramie Farms is the “largest application we’ve received for a site plan review,” Land Use & Community Development Administrator Rob Taylor said in a phone interview last week.
If built, the development would be concentrated on roughly 77 acres of land between Route 4 and Maple Street in downtown Enfield. The property also includes proposed conservation easements on parts of the land that will not be developed.
The development is being proposed by John Dibitteto, of Maple Street-Enfield Acquisition LLC, based in Bradford, Mass., and Stephen Doherty, of DC Development and Construction, based in Sandown, N.H.
The developers have previously said that the apartments and townhouses would be available at the market rate. The average fair market rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $1,455 in fiscal year 2026, according to an Oct. 2025 report from New Hampshire Housing, a public corporation that supports renters and homeowners in the state.
Residents have spoken out against the project since it was first proposed during a conceptual hearing in 2022. Some who voted against proposed zoning amendments during Town Meeting this year that would increase housing density in downtown Enfield cited concerns about the Laramie Farms proposal. The amendments ultimately failed.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment granted two variances for the project in May 2024. One variance allows the developers to build more than one building on each primary lot. The other variance allows them to build buildings up to 75-feet tall, more than twice the town’s 35-foot height limit.
Those approvals prompted Route 4 abutters Alv Elvestad and Linda Jones to file a lawsuit against the Enfield Zoning Board of Adjustment. Last January, the New Hampshire Superior Court ruled against the couple.
Planning Board members will begin discussing the developers’ major site plan review application Wednesday evening, which is the final approval the developers’ need from the town’s land use review boards.
They will still need permission from the town Selectboard, in its role as the town water commission, to hook up to the town’s water and sewer system.
The developers will also need to get a permit from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation to build a road connecting the development to Route 4, as well as other permits from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.
During the meeting, “the Planning Board will debate amongst themselves whether they are able to accept the application as complete,” Taylor said.
If the Planning Board decides that the application is not complete, it could ask the developers to resubmit it with more information, he said. If the Planning Board does decide it is complete, it will kick off a 95-day review where it must either accept or deny the major site plan.
As part of their review — which Taylor expects will take place over multiple meetings — board members will consider the project’s landscaping, building design, lighting design and stormwater management system, among other features, Taylor said. Abutters will have a chance to weigh in on the proposal.
Some of the abutters’ concerns revolved around the town’s water supply and if it could support the proposed development. Last fall the developers agreed to work with the town to provide a water source for Laramie Farms and the town decided to commission an independent water capacity study.
Last week, Enfield Town Manager Ed Morris signed an agreement with an outside engineering firm to conduct a water capacity study, which is expected to be completed this June. The system’s users will pay for the $16,000 study.
“It is the town’s responsibility to know and understand our capacity, and though triggered by this application, it is not the developer’s job to determine our capacity,” Morris wrote in an email. “The study is more to ensure we have the capacity needed for this and future development.”
The town would be working with Laramie Farms developers to figure out a water source for the development, he added.
The Planning Board meeting is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. at the Public Works Facility, located at 74 Lockehaven Road. It can also be streamed via enfield.nh.us/meetings. A copy of the full Laramie Farms application can be found at enfieldnh.gov/planning-board-economic-development/meeting/planning-board-meeting-182.
