MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Planning Board gave the green light on Thursday for a new congregate housing complex on Beech Street, approving a change of use site plan that would allow the center to open its doors.
The proposed sober house, located just north of Manchester Central High School at 568 Beech St., will be operated by an organization called 603 Sober Living LLC. According to documents submitted to the Manchester Planning and Community Development Department, they would provide room rentals to men recovering from drug and/or alcohol addiction.
At the Planning Board’s last meeting, representatives of 603 Sober Living LLC said they are seeking to house up to 14 men, although they would initially seek approval to have only 12 tenants until a new bathroom can be constructed at the site, which is currently classified as a two-family dwelling.
During the last Planning Board meeting, several residents in the area voiced concerns over the request, believing the new facility would impact property values, make the neighborhood less safe, and cause late-night noise issues among other issues.
Planning and Community Development Department Staff provided 15 recommendations for the Planning Board if they determined that the change of use site plan fit within the city’s regulations, and the Planning Board changed only one part of those recommendations. That was the fifth recommendation, where Planning Board Member Sean Sargent recommended that the city require a six-foot stockade fence and landscaping shrubbery along the southern property boundary. Previously, the applicant could have chosen one or the other, indicating that they would prefer fencing.
Another one of the recommendations referenced a maximum tenancy of 12 men, with the applicant needing to return if they seek to raise the maximum occupancy to 14.
Planning Board Member Molly Lunn Owen said that this request was only her third regarding a congregate housing facility and asked other members of the board whether they were comfortable with the ability of the applicant to meet the requirements they’d need to follow if their request was approved.
Planning Board Chair Bryce Kaw-uh noted the significant public comment against the proposed facility at the last meeting, but also noted he did not have a tangible reason to doubt the applicant’s desire to build a rapport with the neighborhood.
Pat Long, the Aldermanic liaison to the Planning Board, stated that he was told the applicant would try and reach out to neighbors and encourage tenants to do so as well. He also stated that he does not have a reason as of yet to not believe the facility would try to build bridges with the neighborhood.
“Bottom line is we don’t have a history with this applicant,” he said.
Sargent echoed Kaw-uh’s concerns from the public testimony at the previous meeting but noted that he was impressed by the proposed NHCORR training the applicant intended to take. He also noted that the parcel is zoning as C-1 (Civic Institutional District), which allows congregate housing facilities by right, or that if 603 Sober Living LLC was not converting the building from a two-family home, Planning Board review wouldn’t have been necessary under the city’s zoning ordinance.
The change of use site plan request was approved 5-1-1. Kaw-uh, Long, Sargent, Lunn Owen and Todd Connors voted in support while Andrew Boyle voted in opposition. Stefan Philbrook, who just joined the board last month, abstained from voting.
The Planning Board also unanimously finalized a pair of approvals for requests to add over 150 residential units at 1000 Elm Street, following several weeks of deliberation.