Zoning board approves variance for six-home plan on Penichuk Street with 20-foot building setback

NASHUA, N.H. — The Nashua Zoning Board of Adjustment on July 22 approved a variance that lets Gateway Homes LLC subdivide and develop 16 Penichuk Street with up to six single‑family detached homes, adding a condition that every building must have at least a 20‑foot gap to the adjacent property lines. The board voted to approve the variance after hearing the applicant and more than a dozen neighbors who expressed concerns about traffic, privacy, and stormwater runoff.

The board’s decision matters because the 1.83‑acre lot sits inside an established residential area and is larger than nearby parcels; the applicant said the design would replicate the scale and pattern of nearby Nathan Court and generate little new traffic. The project must still clear planning‑board engineering review for drainage, access and landscaping before building permits can be issued.

Attorney Andy Perlman, representing Gateway Homes, said the lot is an unusual, oversized parcel in the RA (residential) zone and that the requested variance is modest compared with what the zoning ordinance would allow. “We believe the application before you is not contrary…