Zoning board grants Bank Chevrolet variance to preserve shared parking access to city ball fields

The Conquered Zoning Board of Adjustment on Monday granted a variance allowing Bank Chevrolet (Duval Realy Associates LLC) to reconstruct a gravel parking lot at 234 Airport Road without installing the 4-foot-high berm, fence or dense plantings the city’s parking-area landscaping rules normally require. The board voted unanimously to grant the relief and adopted the applicant’s proposed findings of fact.

Erin Lambert, an attorney representing the applicant, told the board the property straddles commercial and residential zones and that the portion of the lot at issue shares 636 linear feet of boundary with city-owned ball fields. “Bank Chevrolet allows the public to park in the lot when using the ball fields,” Lambert said. She described the project as a reconstruction: paving, striping, curb, lighting and stormwater controls will be added to an existing gravel lot and the proposal retains existing trees that buffer the ball field.

Lambert argued that a continuous fence, berm or dense plantings would sever the current shared access and reduce on-street parking capacity at peak ball-field use. Board members asked whether a gated opening could preserve public access; Lambert said gates or walkways could be added but that the current wooded connectivity is more flexible for patrons entering from multiple points.

Board members said the adjacent city parcel is used for ball fields rather than residences and that the proposed configuration preserves screening for the private residence at 222 Airport Road. After discussion, a motion to grant the variance from section 28710A of the zoning ordinance carried unanimously. The board recorded its motion adopting the applicant’s proposed findings under RSA 674:33.