Summary
The Manchester Planning & Zoning Board approved a site plan and conditional‑use permit Aug. 20 to allow State Motors to build a new car wash at 275 Hooksett Road, granting waivers for required parking and for sloped granite curbing and adding a condition to work with staff on potential street tree plantings.
The Manchester Planning & Zoning Board on Aug. 20 approved a site plan (SP2025‑020) and conditional‑use permit (CU2025‑022) allowing State Motors to build a new car wash at 275 Hooksett Road in the B‑2 general business district.
The approvals include a waiver of the required number of parking spaces — 45 spaces will be provided where 89 are required — and a waiver to allow sloped granite curbing along the new sidewalk instead of the city's standard vertical curbing. The board also approved related waivers for landscape, utility-plan and pedestrian‑walk submittal items and added a condition asking the applicant to work with planning staff to assess the viability of adding at least one street tree along Hooksett Road.
Keach Nordstrom engineer Matt Peterson, who presented the revised site plan, said the most significant recent changes were adding landscape along Oak Street, relocating the dumpster out of the middle of the lot and proposing a sidewalk with curbing. "We have now proposed a sidewalk with curbing. However, we have asked for a waiver to install sloped granite curbing instead of vertical curbing," Peterson said, adding the sloped granite has a five‑inch reveal rather than the seven inches of standard vertical curbing to reduce the risk of plowing and ponding on the sidewalk.
Attorney Eli Lano said the applicant has begun negotiating a formal easement to record the existing sidewalk alignment where it encroaches on neighboring property. "It’s sort of... trying to memorialize the way it is," Lano said, noting he had contacted counsel for the neighbor and that he and the other parties were continuing negotiations.
During public comment, Daniel O'Neil, an alderman who lives nearby, urged the board to approve the application and described the Grant family's long local history: "The Grant family has operated for over 90 years at this location... the car wash that they are looking to replace has operated for 65 years on the site." O'Neil told the board the business employs roughly 25–27 full‑time and 5–7 part‑time staff and pays about $40,000 in property taxes, comments he offered in support of the proposal.
Board members questioned lighting, easement language and the potential for trees on the new sidewalk. Planning staff and Department of Public Works staff had reviewed the sloped‑curb request; Butch Laker reported DPW said it was not their preference but that they were okay with sloped granite curbing for this location. The applicant added a roughly five‑foot access easement on the plan to allow the city to maintain the sidewalk, and Lano referred to a roughly 730‑square‑foot access easement being negotiated near the Puritan property line.
Motions to approve the conditional‑use permit and the site plan carried unanimously. The board approved the CU (CU2025‑022) on a motion to approve with findings of fact (moved by John Wickert; seconded by Bob Gagne). The board approved the site plan (SP2025‑020), after first approving three waiver motions and then passing a motion that included staff recommendations and an added condition that the applicant work with staff to assess the viability of adding at least one street tree on the Hooksett Road frontage (motion to approve the site plan moved by Steven Meno; seconded by Brian Beaupre).
