Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Planning Board Extensions And Zoning Amendments topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Londonderry Planning Board grants multiple site‑plan extensions, reviews zoning amendments and SharePoint rollout
Summary
At its July 8 meeting the Londonderry Planning Board approved extensions for five site plans through late 2026, heard a SharePoint rollout for internal meeting materials and reviewed draft zoning amendments from the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission that implement recent state RSAs and add a mixed‑use building‑form section.
The Londonderry Planning Board on July 8 approved extension requests for five conditional site plans and discussed several policy and procedural items, including a staff demonstration of a new SharePoint site for meeting materials and draft zoning amendments drafted by the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission.
The board voted to extend the conditional approval for 6 Dickey Street to Aug. 31, 2026, and approved a separate 30‑day extension for the 5 Ricker/5 River Avenue site plan to Aug. 31, 2026. The board also granted a three‑month extension for the resource‑recovery site at 162 Litchfield Road to Oct. 31, 2026, and approved six‑month extensions for townhouse projects at 3 Page Road and 295 Rockingham Road to Dec. 31, 2026. Chair presided over the motions and the extensions were recorded as granted by the board.
John Trotter, speaking for staff, described the Village on Technology minor site‑plan change: the 60,000‑square‑foot manufacturing building would be rotated about 90 degrees, parking would be redistributed (staff reported an increase from 204 to 227 spaces), utility entries would shift, a dumpster pad would be replaced by a trash compactor, and stormwater filtration basins would be replaced with subsurface stormwater units. Staff recommended the revisions met the criteria for minor site‑plan review and asked the board to concur; the board gave a consensus to allow staff‑level review and asked to be notified when the staff hearing is scheduled.
Cyber services director Spaulding demonstrated a new SharePoint site the board will use to distribute meeting materials to members. “The site link that you were sent should have been to londonareanh1.sharepoint.com,” Spaulding said, explaining that full, internal documents may remain on SharePoint (because some attachments contain personally identifiable information) while redacted copies appropriate for public view will be placed on the town website. Spaulding said board access will be read‑only with version history and offered to assist members individually with licensing and authenticator issues.
James Veil of the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission briefed the board on five draft amendments tied to recent state RSA changes — accessory dwellings, vesting of approvals, parking minimums, road classification and a new mixed‑use residential section. Veil said the mixed‑use provision goes beyond the state requirement by adding architectural and building‑form standards and by limiting residential units to upper floors in commercial districts: “we're only gonna allow residential above commercial,” he said, describing the draft language.
Board members asked Veil to clarify which provisions were state‑required and which were local additions; several members asked for side‑by‑side language showing what the state requires and what the draft adds. Members recommended additional technical review from engineering and fire staff, and asked that draft language be traced back to the master plan. Veil said the SNHPC contract and the HOP grant that funded the work are nearing closeout and that he can prepare additional edits and a short report for New Hampshire Housing as needed.
The board did not take formal action on the proposed zoning amendments; members agreed to schedule follow‑up workshops and requested that a councilor or staff member from the council’s July 20 meeting be available to explain edits proposed by Councilor Combs before the council acts. The meeting ended with a motion to adjourn.
What’s next: several items will return to the board — the Village on Technology minor site‑plan hearing (to be scheduled by staff), follow‑up workshops on the draft zoning language, and closure/ reporting on the SNHPC HOP grant work.
