Zoning board grants variance for heavy-duty repair bays at 263 South Main

The Concord Zoning Board of Adjustment voted 4-1 on Tuesday to grant a variance allowing Jeff Kell Inc., doing business as Gary's Fleet Services, to operate heavy-duty automotive repair, commercial fleet work and a school-bus inspection station at 263 South Main Street.

The variance, requested under Case O3222025, allows an automotive-repair use that is not otherwise permitted in the Urban Transitional and Opportunity Corridor Performance District where the unit is located. "This is gonna be catastrophic for my business if this doesn't work," owner Jeff White told the board, saying he had invested "about 2 or $300,000" in equipment and site work and hired employees for the expansion.

The requested approval follows White's effort to move heavier commercial and fleet repair functions out of his existing shop at 323 South Main Street into bays behind the former Sunnell's auto-parts building. White said the new bays are needed to handle larger lifts and vehicles that can weigh up to 20,000 pounds and to host a New Hampshire school-bus inspection station. He told the board the change would also reduce truck traffic on South Main because some deliveries would go directly to the industrial-zone bays rather than to his downtown location.

Board members debated whether the use was materially different from other repair facilities already clustered behind the Sunnell's complex and whether the peculiar zoning boundaries created an undue hardship. Several members noted multiple existing repair uses at the site and the site's relative seclusion below street level, and said denying the variance would place a disproportionate burden on the applicant.

One board member, Miss Spector Morgan, voted against the variance, saying she did not see the statutory hardship required for a variance. The board otherwise found that the spirit of the ordinance would be observed and that granting the variance would not be contrary to the public interest.

The motion to approve also adopted the applicant's written findings as the board's findings. The board did not specify conditions beyond the findings included with the application.

Jeff White addressed practical steps he has taken at the site: poured new concrete floors, bought specialized lifts, and leased a fenced impound lot for overflow vehicles. He said he employs three full-time technicians and that two were newly hired for the expanded work. The board noted the area contains a mixture of zoning districts despite appearing as one contiguous complex on the ground.

With the variance granted, White may proceed with the heavy-duty repairs and school-bus inspection operations at 263 South Main. The board recorded the vote as 4 in favor, 1 opposed.