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Zoning board grants Pelham Street homeowners variance to keep widened driveway after flooding concerns
Summary
The Nashua Zoning Board unanimously approved a variance allowing Joseph and Lisa Law to keep an existing 36‑foot driveway at 25 Pelham St., finding flooding and safety concerns constituted a special condition and that no reasonable alternative existed. The decision carries a 30‑day appeal period.
Joseph and Lisa Law will be allowed to keep an existing, wider driveway at their 25 Pelham Street home after the Nashua Zoning Board of Adjustment voted unanimously to grant a variance on Oct. 22.
The homeowners told the board they repaved the driveway in 2018 after repeated flooding at the property’s low point; they said Public Works removed a street drain and later raised the road, and that the driveway continued to flood before and after the repaving. "We reduced half amount of water that would come into our driveway," Lisa A. Law told the board, saying the work made the house safer for an elderly household member recovering from treatment.
Board members described a dry‑day site visit and said the flooding constituted a special condition justifying relief from Land Use Code Section 190‑17 (E)(1), which limits driveway width to 24 feet. The application asked to maintain a 36‑foot existing driveway. The board’s motion summarized the five findings required for a variance and said the request fits the spirit and intent of the ordinance, would not harm neighboring property values and would provide substantial justice to the owners. Neighbor Russell Brown told the board he has lived next door for 35 years and called the drainage problem longstanding.
After deliberation, the board voted 5‑0 to grant the variance. The board reminded the applicants that a written rehearing request or appeal may be filed within 30 calendar days to the City of Nashua Planning Department and, if denied, to the New Hampshire Superior Court.
The decision approves retention of the driveway as existing; any required permits or future corrective work with DPW for drainage remain separate administrative matters.
