Designs to renovate Litchfield horse farm into housing enhancement | Households & Yard
A developer would like to construct 64 townhomes on an aged horse farm in Litchfield, continuing a regionwide trend of converting rural properties to housing subdivisions.
Reginald Moreau, a Litchfield resident who has designed comparable developments elsewhere in New Hampshire, has a agreement on the horse farm at 540 Charles Bancroft Highway. The virtually 40-acre parcel, which is owned by Darlene Deblois, is listed for $1.4 million.
“This is a approach that I have been hunting to do right here in town for fairly some time,” Moreau explained to the setting up board Tuesday. “We have a good piece of land that has been zoned correctly for this.”
The plan calls for 16 buildings, with 4 units for each developing. Each individual two-story unit would be about 1,500 sq. ft, with 3 bedrooms and a single-automobile garage, according to Eric Mitchell of Eric C. Mitchell and Associates Inc. of Bedford.
Moreau claimed the venture will be very similar to The Vineyards of Harmony, a condominium sophisticated he made that is featuring models for about $300,000.
Kim Queenan, organizing board member and selectman, said the Litchfield Historic Modern society was let down at the prospect of getting rid of the old property and barn that sit on the home, describing the dwelling as a city fixture and quite possibly the oldest standing composition in Litchfield.
The Litchfield Historic Modern society believes the household was manufactured in the early 1800s as 1 of the Kings Grant attributes and was owned by the Corning family. Queenan stated over the many years there have been rumors of an underground railroad on the web page, though the historical society is not sure.
“The house and the barn are landmarks, even if they are not historical,” reported Kate Stevens, planning board member.
Mitchell mentioned the developer is not on the lookout to do anything at all with the current home and barn and is willing to get the job done with the town to go the construction to one more site wherever it could be made use of by the community.
Suggestions have been created to relocate the developing to the nearby Moore’s Falls conservation region and possibly convert it into a visitor center.
Thomas Campagna of 3 Temple St. explained he procured his abutting house in 2011 mainly because of the peaceful, peaceful locale.
“I struck gold when I located this residence and I would like to maintain it this way,” Campagna said. He strongly opposes the proposed enhancement, which he claimed will be a “direct invasion.”
Brent Lemire, a previous selectman who lives at 547 Charles Bancroft Highway, claims he has enjoyed a attractive check out of the rural horse farm for the earlier 40 many years.
“Anything you could do to reduce the impression on us, in particular developing a buffer and relocating the access highway, we would certainly recognize it,” he told organizing officers.
“There could be some visitors challenges,” reported planning board member James Boffetti, preparing board member, who observed that the Corning Road intersection previously gets congested.
According to the programs presented to the board Tuesday, some of the units will be owner-occupied and many others will be rentals.
Two ideas were being revealed to the board. Underneath just one proposal, the vast majority of the units would be constructed together Route 3A. In the other system, most of the units would be closer to the Merrimack River.
“We are striving to get some feedback on the two various ideas,” Mitchell explained.
Preparing board customers pressured the worth of preserving the cultural charm of Litchfield in contemplating the job.
In the meantime, Peter Ames of Moose Hollow Road pointed out the need for more housing alternatives in Litchfield.
“I imagine this would be an asset to the town,” he mentioned.