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Planning board approves Saint Paul School’s 17,600‑sq‑ft athletic addition, permits wetland‑buffer disturbance
Summary
The Concord Planning Board granted Architectural Design Review, a conditional use permit for limited wetland‑buffer disturbance, and major site‑plan approval for a 17,600‑square‑foot addition to Saint Paul School that will relocate squash courts and add site improvements, approving a set of waivers including limited surveying and a construction‑detail variance.
The Concord City Planning Board on Nov. 19 approved a major site plan and related permits for Saint Paul School to construct a 17,600‑square‑foot addition to its athletic and fitness center, including relocated squash courts and associated site improvements.
The board voted to grant Architectural Design Review approval, a conditional use permit to allow disturbance within wetland buffers, and major site plan approval, after staff and the applicant described the project and negotiated a set of waiver requests. The applicant team included Morgan Dunson of Nobis Group (project consultant) and Bill Massey, senior director of facilities and planning at Saint Paul School.
Deputy staff and consultant presentations described the project as an addition with an under‑building maintenance drive, a second‑floor squash court volume, a new subsurface stormwater treatment gallery to reduce peak flows, and a small net gain of parking (approximately seven spaces). The project also requests several waivers related to boundary surveying and construction details; staff indicated they would accept a compromise exhibit limiting the extent of required boundary surveys to the immediate project vicinity. During the presentation, the applicant described the catch basin detail for a tight area: "one of my waiver requests was for this little catch basin ... to be constructed with a 1‑foot sump where normally 3 feet is required," which the board discussed as part of erosion‑control and construction‑detail review.
Board members and staff discussed parcel boundaries that currently run through the existing building and recommended merging lots so the building and the area of disturbance do not straddle separate tax parcels. Staff read recommended precedent and subsequent conditions of approval into the record; the final major site plan approval was granted subject to those conditions.
Votes on the package of waivers (amended to include additional waivers R, S and T related to parcel boundaries and the catch‑basin detail), Architectural Design Review approval, the conditional use permit for wetland‑buffer disturbance, and major site plan approval were made on the Nov. 19 record and carried. The board’s motions were recorded as carried by voice vote during the public meeting.
Next steps: the applicant must satisfy precedent conditions in the packet (survey/exhibit, permit submittals and other listed items) before final plan sign‑off. The board’s approvals permit the school to proceed toward permitting and construction per the schedule in staff materials.
