EXETER – Plans to transform a dilapidated auto repair shop on Main Street in Exeter into four new townhouses are moving forward.
The city’s Planning Board unanimously approved the zoning plan for developer Patrick Houghton’s project on Thursday, Aug. 22. The plan calls for demolishing the Cocheco Auto Repair building at 46 Main Street to make way for two three-story, four-unit townhouse-style duplexes.
There are 12 parking spaces available on-site – two under each unit for eight spaces and an additional four on the ground floor at the rear of the building. Access to the buildings is via a single entrance from Main Street. Vehicles must turn around to exit the area.
The board also granted a special permit for the project that allows workers to perform leveling within 1.5 meters of the property line.
Houghton had initially applied for two additional exemptions from the Planning Board: one to forgo a high-intensity soil investigation and another to be exempt from regulations requiring connection to the existing municipal stormwater drainage system.
City planner Dave Sharples explained that under city ordinance, an intensive soil investigation is only required if a development will not be connected to the city’s sewer system, which is not the case with this project.
In addition, Sharples pointed out that a special permit to connect to the existing city sewer system is only required if runoff exceeds current levels. In a letter to Sharples, Erin Lambert of Concord-based environmental consulting firm Wilcox & Barton Inc. explained that runoff from the development will be “lower than pre-development watersheds,” making a special permit unnecessary.
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Residents express concerns about contamination
Some residents have raised concerns about potential contamination of the site, pointing out that the 1.5-acre property has been used as an auto repair shop since the 1960s and includes a junkyard. The site was once home to a Mobil gas station, which has been operated by Cocheco Auto Repair for the past 10 years.
Beth Griffin, who lives near the proposed project, said she was “concerned” because the site used to be a junkyard.
“I know you said everything would be done in accordance with (NH) DES, but can we do a proactive test to see that?” she said. “The school is right there, our house is right there … honestly, I probably wouldn’t have bought my house if I knew it was a junkyard.”
Dave Essence, another neighbor, expressed similar concerns.
“Who knows what’s in there and what’s being taken out,” he said. “It might be worth doing some soil testing.”
Lambert said her review of the property revealed that all tanks on the property had been closed by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NH DES) in 2014. The tanks were removed and the surrounding soils tested and cleared, addressing some concerns raised by neighbors and planning board members.
“The contractors and everybody else have a responsibility,” Sharples added. “If they start digging a hole and see oil coming out of the hole, then they have a responsibility to stop and contact (NH) DES … that goes for everything, because there’s a lot of stuff out there that we don’t know what it is.”
The building department had previously approved three variances for the project: one to allow use by “multi-family dwellings,” one to circumvent the minimum distance rule for the front yard, and the third to exceed density regulations.
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