MANCHESTER, NH – A proposed residential development just off Wellington Road known as Wellington Heights has received an approximately $250,000 reduction in school impact fees following a decision by the Manchester Planning Board on Thursday night.
Residential building developers are required to pay impact fees relating to any added burdens their developments might place on the city’s schools and the fire department. Developers can apply for waivers from fees in exchange for providing considerations to the city, most notably promising to provide affordable housing.
Attorney John Cronin, representing the applicant, told the board that the hundreds of new apartment units in the development will provide approximately $1.3 million in new property tax revenue to the city. He added that most of units would be unlikely to add families that would impact the school district, the development would be adding a new public road and sidewalks and that the project would be difficult to build given projected building and planning costs. Cronin also added that elimination of the fees, just over $950,000 for the schools and approximately $150,000 for the fire department, would be needed if legislation that could make the development eligible for 79E grants did not become law in future legislative sessions.
The cost of purchasing the over 80 separate undeveloped lots and confusion over their market values given the previous lack of road access was also requested to be taken into consideration.
“We didn’t get a bargain, people have been trying for 122 years to try and figure out the value of this land,” said project engineer Gregg Mikolaities.
Members of the board felt that road, an extension of Radburn Street that would connect Smyth Road with Wellington Road and was a key concern regarding a gas station proposed on Edward Roy Drive, was not enough of a capital improvement to justify eliminating the fees. Likewise, the approximately dozen affordable units expected within the development were not enough either.
However, the board did feel it was appropriate to reduce fees to align with new baselines approved by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen when the development’s site plan was approved last spring after delays.
The board also approved a one-year extension on those approvals to provide additional time related to the road extension and securing title on the over 80 lots.
