Opinion: Improper developer should be delayed or prohibited

Roy Schweiker lives in Concord.

Developers like to complain about Concord’s regulations, but they develop there because most other communities would reject their projects outright. For example, the Steeplegate project has requested a slew of variances because they are trying to stuff too much onto the lot. They have proposed only 55% of the required parking (apparently less than one parking space per unit for one apartment building), and unlike the typical policy for parking waivers, have not provided anywhere to put the required spaces if it turns out they need them. (Two duplexes near my home have five parking spaces each but still park cars overnight on the sidewalk.) There is no hardship involved with this project, and the Zoning Board should reject it and let them come back with a more appropriate plan.

Similarly, the Monitor Way project proposes to turn some of the last rail-served industrial property in Concord into apartments, stealing the city’s future. Everyone expects self-driving trucks to come, but the true future may be self-driving container flatcars which are safer and more environmentally sound. CSX like other railroads has adopted both Positive Train Control (they know where every train is) and Precision Scheduled Railroading (every shipment has a schedule when accepted) so land along railroad tracks will be highly desirable for manufacturing, warehousing, and high-volume sales. Apartments can be built anywhere but new rail tracks are essentially impossible. The Zoning Board should forbid this change of use also.

Developers talk about all the tax income but city taxpayers will never see it. No doubt the Monitor Way developers will expect the city to pay for their road with tax-increment financing, so if it’s like downtown or the conference center most of those tax dollars will be diverted to other goodies and police, fire, schools etc. for the development will be paid by general taxpayers. The city says that $26 million is needed to upgrade sewers on the Heights for more development, but this will be paid by all water users, not the developers.

And why do we need all these apartments anyway? The 3,000 housing units under development in Concord are more than enough for last year’s net population growth of 3,041 people for the entire state! Similarly of the 89,000 units that NH Housing claims the state needs by 2040, Concord’s share at 3.2% of the state’s population is only 2,848 so we are building two decades’ worth at once.

City officials may like the prestige and pay of becoming larger than Nashua, but how will it benefit other residents?