The Concord Zoning Board of Adjustment approved a variance to permit a portion of off-street parking in front of a proposed urgent-care facility at 161 North State Street in the Urban Commercial (CU) District.

Attorney Robert Dietle, representing the property owner, described the site as the former Santander branch that sits close to the street on two frontages and has long-standing nonconformities. The applicant presented plans to demolish the existing building and construct an urgent-care building with approximately 50 parking spaces; roughly 16 spaces would be located in an area the ordinance treats as a front yard, requiring relief.

Dietle said the property’s two street frontages and existing access points constrain site layout, and the redevelopment brings a long-underused lot back into active commercial use that is consistent with nearby uses that also have parking visible from the street. Board members and staff noted the proposal would likely move traffic circulation inside the site and that the proposal will also require site-plan review.

The board found hardship in the lot’s configuration, the building’s historic placement, and the surrounding development pattern; a motion to grant the variance from section 28-7-7(g)(3) permitting off-street parking in front yards passed unanimously. The board adopted the applicant’s findings and emphasized subsequent site-plan and building-code reviews would govern final access and design.