Developer gets city approval for nearly 500 units near Lebanon schools

A site plan of the proposed 474-unit Brickyard apartment complex across from Lebanon High School in Lebanon, N.H. (Courtesy VHB)

A site plan of the proposed 474-unit Brickyard apartment complex across from Lebanon High School in Lebanon, N.H. (Courtesy VHB) Courtesy VHB

By CLARE SHANAHAN

Valley News Staff Writer

Published: 01-22-2025 6:31 PM

LEBANON — A controversial 474-unit apartment complex on the site of a former brickyard off Hanover Street earned unanimous approval from the city’s Planning Board last month, after an extensive review process.

The Planning Board reviewed plans in a series of seven meetings beginning in July. In addition to the project itself, the board also approved special exceptions that will allow the developers to build more units and increase the height of the buildings.

The final project plan includes 53 three-bedroom townhouses in eight “clusters” and 422 apartments spread among five buildings that are each three- or four-stories tall. The apartments are a mix of studio and one-bedroom units, according to application materials submitted by developers in December.

“The things that we were most concerned about got addressed, essentially, and given the housing crisis that’s a balance you make,” Planning Board Vice Chairman Richard Ford Burley said about the approval in a Wednesday phone interview.

Overall, Ford Burley said the Planning Board was convinced by the changes made to the project. He said he appreciated the addition of townhouses — the original plan included only 10 apartment buildings — and shifting the units from primarily three-bedroom to studio apartments.

The Planning Board approved the project in a special meeting Dec. 17.

Since 2022, when the project first came up for preliminary review, residents have expressed concern about the impact on wetlands, traffic and congestion around two Lebanon schools on Hanover Street, and how the history of the property, once home to the Densmore Brickyard, will be honored.

The size of the nearly 500-unit project also concerned residents. As of 2023 there were about 1,500 housing units of any kind that had been approved and permitted but not complete across 32 Upper Valley towns, according to Vital Communities.

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The development team believes that the project “preserves some history” and provides much needed housing, especially through the new plan to include both townhouses and apartments, said Lebanon lawyer Barry Schuster, who represents the property’s owner, Brickyard One Nominee Trust. The original plan proposed 10 apartment buildings.

The changes to the Brickyard plan “occurred somewhat organically over time” based on feedback from city staff, the Planning Board and residents, said Schuster.

This is the first Upper Valley development for Richard M. Marchese, the Massachusetts-based property owner behind Brickyard One Nominee Trust. He previously owned a property in Peabody, Mass. that he began developing in the 2000s before abandoning the project due to the 2008 financial crisis, according to the Salem News.

The Lebanon complex will include mixed-size, “market rate” apartments; 316 studio apartments, 106 one-bedroom apartments and 51 three-bedroom tow n houses. The apartments are expected to cost $2,000 per month for a studio, project engineer Dave Fenstermacher said in a recording of a December meeting.

This price is above the average median rent for a studio apartment and utilities in 2024 in New Hampshire, which was $1,297 per month, according to data collected by New Hampshire Housing, an advocacy and research group. In Grafton County, the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $2,027.

The New Hampshire side of the Upper Valley needs about 4,000 new housing units by 2030 to meet demand, according to a 2023 housing needs assessment by the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission. The highest need is in Lebanon.

“This modern shelter we call a home is in need by residents, workforce, and others attracted to this place. Addressing this need furthers all our ability to prosper and see equitable access to success,” the report says. The entire region is “challenged to provide needed homes, and it has been for years.”

As part of its approval, the Planning Board created several conditions to address traffic and pedestrian safety. Lebanon High School and Hanover Street Elementary School are both on Hanover Street near the planned development and already create vehicle and pedestrian traffic in the area, especially during school pick-up and drop-off times, driving many residents’ concerns.

A traffic study conducted by Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., the engineering firm for the project, found that the development would increase traffic at some of the intersections around the property.

The Planning Board’s conditions require that the developers make some sidewalk and intersection improvements to accommodate the influx of residents and contribute to a fund that will be used to more generally fix “pedestrian facilities” in the area.

Developers also will have to pay an impact fee that has not been calculated yet, but is designed to cover impacts from the project on the school system, recreation facilities and the police and fire departments.

As a condition of the approval, developers have to document the structure and condition of kilns that were once used in brick-making by the Densmore Brick Co., which operated on the site from the 1800s through the 1970s.

The Planning Board required that the developers “make reasonable efforts to maintain the structural integrity” of the kilns and offer public access to the kiln area. The buildings will also be built with partially brick exteriors and will be named after important figures in the history of the Densmore Brickyard.

In spite of changes from its original form and more than 50 conditions included in the December approval that aimed to meet resident and Planning Board concerns, neighbors are still worried.

David Kroner, who has lived across Densmore Pond from the property since 1985, has followed the Planning Board’s review of the development closely. The approved development surrounds all but one side of the pond.

Kroner is most concerned about the development’s effect on the pond, which he said has caused flooding and erosion on his property in the past. He’s also concerned about the effect of nearly 500 new housing units on traffic and pedestrian safety, parking and the strain on schools and city services.

While he is still against the development despite the conditions of approval, the one change that Kroner said he “loves” is the decision to switch some of the proposed apartment buildings to townhouses rather than the “big huge buildings they were going to put up,” he said in a Tuesday phone interview.

Bill Lamb lives a little under a mile from the property and has also followed the development throughout the review process. While he said the conditions require “some small changes that make a difference,” he still does not believe the project should have been approved.

“I think it’s a terrible mistake,” Lamb said about not only the approval, but the decision to grant a density bonus for the project.

Lamb acknowledged that there is a significant need for housing in Lebanon, especially affordable and workforce housing, but said he does not think that need will be met with more apartment complexes.

“I think the city needs to take a leadership role and come up with a solution to housing where people can own their own homes,” Lamb said.

In addition to his concerns about the development’s effect on traffic and city services, Lamb said he is also worried about what the property owners may do with more than 100 acres that are not part of the currently proposed development.

The property is about 135 acres, but just about 30 acres of the land will be developed for this project. The remaining area “may be developed as part of a separate future application,” according to documents submitted by developers.

In addition to the approval from the Planning Board, other city boards and committees reviewed developers’ plans and offered feedback for the 474-unit project, including the Heritage Commission, Pedestrian and Bicyclist Advisory Committee and Conservation Commission.

Developers are “pulling together all the final plans” for the project to meet outstanding conditions and hope to begin construction as soon as possible, Schuster said.

The complex will be built in phases with units in each building going up for rent as soon as that building is complete. All of the site improve ments must be finished by January 2030, and the final permits for the b uildin gs themselves have to be issued by September 2030.

Clare Shanahan can be reached at cshanahan@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.