Zoning Board to Review St. Michael Parish Plans

Seacoastonline is reporting that the Zoning Board of Adjustments in Exeter, New Hampsire, will review the plans that the St. Michael Parish submitted on Tuesday night.

To be located on Newfields Road in Exeter, the St. Michael Parish wishes to construct a new campus at the location that would include an educational facility, and a church. The church would have enough space for about 900 people and would have a footprint of about 15,800 square feet. About 285 parking spaces would also be a part of the plan. The other building would cover about 8,000 square feet and would have offices, a food pantry, and religious education classrooms. This building would also have the capability to be added on to in the future.

There are two projects holding back the project. For one, a variance would need to be enacted that would allow a church to be built in a residential area. The other has to do with the height of the structures. The church would have a spire that would reach at most 93 feet, and the average height of the buildings on the campus would be about 53 feet. In the current zone, the height of buildings is not allowed to exceed 35 feet. For the project to go through, the ZBA would have enact ordinances that would grant the parish exceptions to the restrictions.

Two previous meetings have pitted supporters of the project against the opponents. Supporters believe that this project would only bring positives to the community, while the opponents maintain that the project is incompatible with the residential zone, and that there are issues with public health, safety, and welfare. St. Michael Parish has already had a meeting where they addressed site-use, landscaping, and traffic concerns, among other things.

Before the ZBA grants a special exception for the project, the board will review whether or not the project would affect the abutting properties, and whether or not the project would affect the safety, welfare, and convenience (among other issues) of the area.