Exeter planning board approves parking‑waiver for Presbyterian Church expansion with requirement for formalized neighbor agreement

The Exeter Planning Board voted June 25 to approve an amendment to the site plan for the Exeter Presbyterian Church at 73 Winter Street that removes a previously planned parking easement and accepts a reduced on‑site parking count, subject to a condition requiring a formal agreement with the adjacent property owner.

Town Planner David Sharples outlined the background: the board granted site‑plan approval in September 2025 that relied on an easement on an adjacent lot to meet parking requirements. At the meeting, applicant Paige Libby of Jones & Beach Engineers said the church now proposes 37 on‑site spaces and will no longer record an easement for 20 off‑site spaces that had been counted in the original approval. "If you do the parking calculations per the zoning ordinance… you come up with a parking calc of 57 parking spaces required. We're proposing 37 spaces on site," Libby said.

Libby told the board the church currently has 26 parking spaces and that the proposed layout yields a ratio of about one space per 5.4 seats rather than the ordinance's one space per 3.5 seats. She said the congregation and adjacent business owner remain "very good neighbors" and that the parties prefer not to record a permanent easement. "They just don't want to have the easement on that property," Libby said.

Board members pressed the applicant and town staff for a less permanent alternative to an easement. Several members said a revocable license, memorandum of understanding, or similar instrument would make them more comfortable that parking will remain available without placing a deed restriction on the abutter's property. "A license is revocable. So, the other property owner… it's not as long‑term. It's not affecting a deed," one board member said during the discussion.

Planner Sharples drafted a condition to mirror that discussion. He read the requirement into the record: "A formal agreement/license between the applicant and the abutter of tax map 173 lot 147 shall be submitted to the satisfaction of the town planner consistent with the discussion at the planning board meeting prior to final approval." The board then moved to approve the amendment and the parking waiver with that condition; the motion carried.

Why it matters: the decision allows the church to proceed with its previously approved addition without tying the property deed to an adjacent parcel while giving the planning department a concrete document to show how required parking will be met.

Next steps: the applicant must provide the formal agreement or license to the town planner for review and satisfaction before the board will sign the final plans and complete the approval process.