CLAREMONT — The Planning Board unanimously approved a site plan for a 68-unit apartment building and 10 townhouses on a mostly vacant parcel at the eastern end of Washington Street, not far from the intersection with Roberts Hill Road.
The board’s approval came at a Monday meeting after about an hour of discussion that included a presentation of the project plans by Rich Whitehouse, project manager with VHB of Bedford, N.H.
The layout on the 18-acre site includes a driveway entering the property then turning right to the apartment building on the northeast corner of the lot. There would be 76 parking spaces in front of the three-story building and an underground parking garage.
The townhouses, which will be sold, will sit below the apartments. The plans call for five buildings with two, three-bedroom townhouses in each.
“We hope to put them on the market for $550,000 to $650,000,” developer Gilberto Aleixo Filho, of Hampton Falls, N.H., said Tuesday.
The board had no objections to the project though members did ask a number of questions related to traffic, a wetlands crossing and parking. The only point where there was some minor disagreement came when board member Bruce Kolenda said he would like to see a right-hand turning lane into the development, which is on the northern side of the street.
Washington Street is a four-lane road where it passes in front of the property and Kolenda said drivers often exceed the speed limit.
“I would like to see a left- and right-hand turning lane,” Kolenda said. “Drivers are not slowing down.”
But others on the board did not see the need. The final approval only required a left-hand turning lane approaching from the west.
A traffic study conducted in the area of the development found that volume during the peak times — weekday mornings and evening and midday Saturday — would add between 38 and 45 cars to existing traffic flow. The study concluded that only a left-hand turning lane was “warranted,” Christine Trearchis of VHB in Bedford, N.H., said.
“Even with that increase, we found that the project is expected to have a minimal impact on local traffic and can be accommodated with the left-hand turning pocket,” Trearchis said.
The project’s next steps include finishing architectural plans and working on the required state and local permits for the road work and wetlands impact, Filho said after the meeting.
He anticipates breaking ground later this summer and completing the project in about two years.
In March, the Zoning Board of Adjustment approved a variance for the project to increase the permitted density from 30,000 square feet per unit (three-quarters of an acre) to 10,000 square feet per unit (quarter of an acre). The Zoning Board also approved a special exception to allow multi-family housing on the property.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
