A proposal for trade-focused storage units on Base Hill Road has drawn concern from residents worried about the project’s traffic and environmental impacts.
The Swanzey Planning Board opened the matter for public comment on the site plan at its Sept. 14 meeting, and it’s scheduled to continue in a public hearing at the body’s next meeting Oct. 12.
The owner of the property at 115 Base Hill Road, which according to the NH Secretary of State’s Office is Jeremiah Boucher of Las Vegas, is proposing to subdivide the roughly 10-acre parcel into two lots of 7 acres and 3 acres.
The 3-acre lot would house the existing All Purpose Storage, a fenced ministorage facility consisting of three-6,554 square-foot self-storage buildings. The 7-acre lot would accommodate the proposed structures totaling 72,000 square feet, with 40 units, according to the developer’s application. The new and existing facilities would be accessed by an existing private driveway.
Per the application, submitted by Fieldstone Land Consultants on behalf of Boucher’s company, these storage units would be rented to specialty trade contractors, such as plumbers, electricians and roofing companies, to store equipment.
At the planning board’s Sept. 14 meeting, several Base Hill Road residents expressed concerns that the new storage buildings would generate increased traffic and noise in an otherwise rural area.
“There’s going to be constant noise in our backyard, six days a week,” resident Mary Fish said in a recording of the meeting. “In a field that all we used to see are bear and deer and animals. The property values are obviously going to decrease increasingly. ... No one’s going to want to buy a home abutted up to this.”
Fish added that the new facility would prompt an increase in tractor-trailer trucks on the road, which she believes isn’t suited for that.
“This is a neighborhood, and we’re talking 2,000 to 4,000 cars a day; and now you want to add more to it,” she said. “It’s not built for that kind of traffic.”
However, in a letter to Julius Peel, Swanzey’s land use and zoning coordinator, J.B. Mack, assistant director of the Southwest Region Planning Commission, estimated the amount of traffic the new development would contribute to Base Hill Road would be minimal, even during peak hours.
Mack wrote that the commission conducted a weeklong traffic study on Base Hill Road in June at the Keene/Swanzey town line and found that 3,530 vehicles navigate the street per day. The study estimates Boucher’s proposal would generate 755 vehicles per day. Mack noted that the planning board may want to consider the impact of wear and tear that heavier truck traffic could cause.
In his letter, Mack also said the development site abuts Federal Emergency Management Agency-designated special flood hazard areas, which poses a risk of flooding.
“In order to minimize impacts to these important regional resources, the Planning Board is advised to ensure that the impermeable surface and drainage plan adequately retains stormwater on-site and activities involving hazardous materials are isolated on site,” he said.
Sharee Howard, who lives right across from the proposed site, said the area near her home serves as a wildlife corridor, which she believes would be disrupted if plans are approved.
“It’s going to be impacted no matter what they do,” she said. “We see wildlife all the time crossing here, it’s the only section available to them. They could be killed by vehicles on the road trying to cross and get to safety.”
— HUNTER OBERST/KEENE SENTINEL
