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Planning board approves adjusted SNHU landscaping record, removes 11-tree requirement pending site review
Summary
The Hooksett Planning Board approved an amended SNHU landscape plan and directed staff and the applicant to follow through on remaining conditions; the board removed one requirement for 11 replacement trees and scheduled a site check before final bond release.
The Hooksett Planning Board on Oct. 6 voted to approve an amended landscape plan for Southern New Hampshire University’s athletic complex and authorized the town to move forward with bond-release steps after a narrowed set of conditions.
SNHU representative Lawrence Assani and planning staff presented the results of a third‑party landscape audit comparing ‘as‑built’ plantings to the plan originally signed in 2016. The audit found missing and replaced plantings in several parking-island and perimeter beds; the applicant explained some trees had been removed because they were failing in the planting conditions.
Planning staff recommended conditions of approval and a brief hold while staff and the university reconcile a single disputed item: an island that had called for 11 trees in the approved plan but in practice contains fewer surviving trees. After discussion the board voted to approve the amended plan and the staff recommendations but exempted the earlier condition requiring replanting of the 11 trees; instead the board asked SNHU and staff to conduct a site visit together and then finalize the bond release recommendation. The board also asked the university to show snow-storage areas on future plan sheets and to confirm other maintenance items identified in the audit.
The motion to approve included standard subsequent items: recorded plans, final drainage documentation and administrative sign-offs required before releasing a landscape bond. Planning officials said they would place a bond‑release item on the town council agenda once staff and the applicant complete the site check and file any remaining documents.
