RE/CON Briefs
Shaw’s lawyer buys site near Yoken’s
The abutter to the former Yoken’s Restaurant in Portsmouth has sold her property to the same developer who acquired the Yoken’s property in November, leading to more speculation a supermarket will be built there.
Isabelle Champagne, who lives at 721 Peverly Hill Road, has transferred her property to Barron P. Lambert of Michael’s Realty Trust, according to deed documents dated Dec. 15.
Lambert acquired the Yoken’s parcel from former owner Kevin MacLeod last month for $3.8 million. While there has been no confirmation a Shaw’s will eventually occupy the space, Lambert is listed as general counsel of the supermarket chain.
Michael’s Realty Trust also owns the abutting property at 35 Mirona Road, the former home to Baumann Control Valves before it moved to Pease International Tradeport two years ago.
Agreement reached on Sanmina building
Lifecycle Business Partners of Salem is in the process of purchasing the former Sanmina building in Derry.
Lifecycle has signed a letter of intent to buy the 80,000-square-foot building at 7 Manchester Road. The firm disposes of computers in an environmentally safe way, while erasing the hard drive and determining if the computer can be resold, sold for parts or recycled.
Some 40 new jobs are anticipated from the company’s move to Derry.
Concord 2020 director resigns
Amy Sheridan has resigned after three years as executive director of Concord 2020.
Sheridan said the decision was reached mutually with the 2020 board. Sheridan, who told the Concord Monitor she plans to stay active in community organizations, handled administrative duties. She also focused on grassroots education and application of 2020’s principles, engaging the public on topics like traffic calming and providing funds for projects that emphasized community resources, like access to the Merrimack River.
No replacement for Sheridan is expected; 2020 will instead hire an executive assistant, Board Chairwoman Susan Leahy said.
“We’re sorry to see her go,” Leahy said. “(Sheridan) brought a lot of visibility to 2020 and its work. We hope to carry on ably without her.”
Wal-Mart application accepted in Hillsborough
After tailoring its plans to regulations set by the Hillsborough Zoning Board, Wal-Mart officially presented its proposal for a supercenter to the planning board in December.
The company plans to build a 155,000-square-foot store about two miles west of the center of town on West Main Street.
Town planner Matt Taylor said he anticipates the board will take two to three months to make a decision on the proposal, and more public hearings are expected.
Portsmouth grants variances to credit union
The Portsmouth Board of Adjustment granted three variances to Northeast Credit Union, which is planning to build a 24,000-square-foot addition to its Borthwick Avenue building.
The bank was given a variance to expand the financial facility on the existing site. The variance was required because the building is located in an area zoned for office or research institutions. A second variance was granted to allow the expansion within 100 feet of zoned residential property.
A third variance allows the bank to have only two loading areas, while the city normally requires five for a building that size.
Three firms fined at ballpark site
Three companies building the riverfront ballpark in Manchester face fines after being cited for alleged health and safety violations by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Payton Construction of Boston and Scire Construction Corp. of Woburn, Mass., were cited for failing to provide sufficient safeguards for workers exposed to hazardous substances at the baseball stadium excavation site, according to OSHA.
A third company, Barnes Building & Management Group Inc. of Woburn, Mass., was cited for not giving adequate fall protection for workers installing steel decking in a separate incident at the stadium under construction along the Merrimack River.
The companies face a combined $20,950 in fines.
Company plans explosives plant in Henniker
Green Mountain Explosives of Auburn has received preliminary approval for plans to build an explosives mixing and storage facility in a rural residential area of northwestern Henniker.
The company says it wants to store up to 300,000 pounds of explosives that are used in mining, quarrying and construction in four storage units in the center of a 1,617-acre residential parcel, according to the company’s application to the zoning board. In one of the units, a blasting agent will be blended with other materials to create a waterproof explosive.
The zoning board approved the plan for Green Mountain Explosives by a vote in November. The company is now completing site plans in preparation for hearings before the planning board, which have not yet been scheduled.
But some residents are skeptical of the plans, and many believe the board set a precedent by allowing Green Mountain Explosives to make building plans for rural residential land, which makes up 72 percent of the town’s land.
High court backs Greenland mall
A state Supreme Court ruling largely backs a developer’s effort to build a 357,000-square-foot shopping center in Greenland.
A group of abutters sued to overturn a special exception granted in April 2002 by the Zoning Board of Adjustment to Packard Development of Newton, Mass.
The neighbors were concerned the shopping center would be too large, be out of character with the town, increase traffic, threaten the environment and lower property values. Packard wants to build a Lowe’s, Target and major supermarket at the site of the old GTE Sylvania plant on Route 33.
The Supreme Court dismissed both arguments raised by the abutters — that one of the zoning board members, James Wilbur, missed two out of the five meetings on the project and should not have voted, and that a 357,000-square-foot shopping center does not meet the definition of “retail sales and services” under the town’s zoning ordinance.
The court sent the decision back to the trial court on the one matter where it agreed with the trial court. The lower court had ruled that Greenland did not prepare an independent review of the shopping center project’s impact on adjacent property values.
