ENFIELD — The developer who proposed building a 38-unit housing development in downtown Enfield is now deciding whether to fight the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s decision to deny the variance needed for the project to proceed.
The 3-2 vote Tuesday came after board members and members of the public visited the roughly 16-acre site off Main Street. Adam Grounds, co-founder of Boston-based real estate development company Copper Acres, had applied to build a mix of 1,000- to 1,600-square-foot single-family homes in a cottage-style development known as Woodbury Farm. Grounds requested a variance that would allow him to build more than one principal structure per lot.
Grounds has up to 30 days to file a “request for rehearing” with the board, said Rob Taylor, land use & community development administrator. That would give the board the ability to reconsider its decision to deny Grounds’ his variance request. If the board denies that request, Grounds could file an appeal with New Hampshire Superior Court.
“We are evaluating the options that are available which does include requesting a rehearing. We haven’t made a decision on which direction we’re going to go yet,” Grounds said in a Wednesday phone interview. “At the end of the day, our goal on this project was to create as attainable a price point of for-sale housing. The reality is if we do end up going through an appeals process, the cost of doing so would make the homes a no longer attainable price point anyway.”
Multiple residents attended the site visit and the meeting that followed to share their thoughts on the project. Joe Wood said Woodbury Farm “can create community in small little pockets,” according to a recording of the meeting.
It is a “valuable thing that this particular area in town is very much needed,” said Wood, who serves as vice chair of the Mascoma Valley Regional School District School Board. “And the school district would love more kids.”
Judy Crate, an abutter on Sargent Street, was worried about the houses being packed into the lot.
“This is right in front of my house, right in front of my view that I pay dearly for in the town of Enfield which is going to impact our way of life and we’ve been there for 45 years,” Crate said in a recording of the meeting.
The Zoning Board started deliberating after 90 minutes of discussion with Grounds and input for the public.
Dan Regan referenced Town Meeting, where residents rejected changes to the town’s zoning ordinance that would have allowed for more housing density, including in the district where Grounds wants to build.
“I am strongly moved by the fact that the people of this community had an opportunity to vote four months ago,” Regan said in a recording of the meeting. “They voted no.”
Board chair Bill Finger pushed back against Regan’s assessment.
“I think there might have been a reaction there that there was too much change to swallow,” he said in a recording of the meeting. “I’m not sure that it was a mandate against this particular development.”
Taylor was disappointed.
“The thing that the Upper Valley needs is what he was trying to deliver, the modest small square footage homes that can be owned,” Taylor said in a Wednesday phone interview. “I feel sorry for Adam but I trust that he’s going to be fine. He’s got plenty of options to build on this land without any variances needed.”
Among those options are a 65-unit apartment building, which Grounds would not need a variance for, Taylor said. He could also go before the town’s Planning Board to subdivide the 16 acres into 64 quarter-acre lots and build on those, as well as add two accessory dwelling units to each of those lots, for a total of 108 units.
“We’re still excited to do something great on this site,” Grounds said. “At the moment we’re evaluating what path forward makes the most sense.”
