Zoning Board eyes new shopping center
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Staff Report - Published: July 4, 2009
MANCHESTER – The Select Board is expected to accept a recommendation, which has attracted some controversy, from the town's Zoning Board on Tuesday but not approve or discuss it.
The change proposed by the Zoning Board would make all of the area within an existing Route 7A shopping center, which included a Chinese restaurant and a furniture store, part of a commercial zone.
The property is already effectively commercial, according to Manchester Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lee Krohn. But under the current bylaw, part of the site, including the area where the restaurant is located, is zoned for residential use.
Some neighbors have opposed the change because Price Chopper has applied to put a large supermarket in the shopping center. Price Chopper officials didn't request the zoning change and proponents of the project have said it is not dependent on changing the zoning in the area.
In April, the Select Board declined to change the zoning as an interim bylaw change but the proposal is now being submitted through more traditional channels.
The only difference between the last proposal, which also included zoning changes to some nearby properties, and the current proposal is that the latest changes would not affect the property of Elex Johnson.
Johnson's property is partially commercial and partially residential. At the Select Board meeting in April, Johnson said he would like the zoning on his property to go unchanged.
The Select Board is expected on Tuesday to accept the Zoning Board's recommendation for the purposes of warning a public hearing during which residents will be given time to comment on the proposal.
The Price Chopper proposal is still pending but there are no meetings scheduled on the permit request. The company already has a supermarket on Depot Street in Manchester.
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