Planning board denies waiver for individual driveway at 119 Sewell Falls Road

The Concord City Planning Board on Sept. 17 denied a request to amend a recorded subdivision and a waiver that would have allowed an individual driveway at 119 Sewell Falls Road, a change the applicant said is needed to preserve and provide safe access to a historic barn on the lot. The board voted to deny the waiver unanimously and then denied the subdivision amendment; the latter vote carried with one member recorded in opposition.

Board members and staff said the application did not meet the criteria in the city’s subdivision regulations and cited a staff recommendation to deny; the applicant, property owner Scott Alley, told the board the lot’s unique circumstances and the decision to retain the barn—after it was previously slated for demolition—create a hardship that justifies a separate curb cut. The board discussed temporary alternatives, the recorded shared-easement access, and recommended the applicant return…