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Board grants variances and special exception allowing Surrette plumbing business office in detached garage
Summary
The Goffstown Zoning Board approved two variances and a special exception so Wayne Surrette may relocate his established plumbing business office and storage from an attached residential garage into a new detached barn-style garage; the board found the use consistent with the supplemental standards and required site-plan review for buffers and screening.
The Goffstown Zoning Board voted to grant two variances and to approve a special exception that will allow Wayne R. Surrette to move his long-running plumbing, heating and HVAC business office from an attached residential garage into a new detached 2,160-square-foot accessory barn-style garage on a 2-acre lot in the agricultural district.
Maria Dolder, attorney for the applicant, told the board the plumbing business has operated as a home occupation at the property for more than 25 years and that the proposal relocates only the office and storage from one on-site garage to another. The town staff had classified the proposed use as a landscaping/contracting-type business in the agricultural district, which triggers supplemental standards (including a 5-acre lot-size reference and 100-foot side setback) and therefore requires both variances and a special exception.
Dolder argued the detached garage structure itself is permitted by right as an accessory to the residence and that relocating the office will not change the intensity or character of the business: service work is performed at customer sites, there is no outside storage, and the business typically has one full-time employee on site with two project managers splitting time between office and field.
Board members discussed buffers and screening—notes in the record listed a sandpit abutting two sides of the property and a roughly 200-foot natural wooded buffer to the closest neighbor—and asked about septic tie-ins and structure siting. Members agreed that site-plan review will address buffering and any screening or equipment-enclosure needs.
Procedurally the board first approved the two variances—(1) relief from a 5-acre lot-size requirement so a 2-acre lot may host the use, and (2) relief from a 100-foot side-setback standard to allow 40-foot and 65-foot side setbacks as proposed—each by motion and voice vote. The board then approved the special exception, concluding that with the variances the supplemental standards were met and that the use will not create nuisances or hazards and is compatible with the neighborhood. The motions carried by voice vote; the written decision will document the variances and the special-exception findings. The project still requires planning-board site-plan approval and any applicable building permits before work can proceed.
