Urgent Alert: October 5th Lebanon Planning Board Meeting
Dear Friends of River Park,
As you know, we filed our subdivision and site plan applications for River Park on June 14th, 2010. Subsequently there have been three separate public meetings with the Lebanon Planning Board– on July 12th, July 21st, and August 17th– regarding the preliminary subdivision approval, the initial step in Lebanon's site plan approval process. Lyme must secure site plan approval before any building permit can be issued.
This preliminary subdivision approval process has been frustrating. At each meeting, Lyme has received 11th hour requests from the Lebanon planning staff requesting additional information. We have completed all the work, and will continue to do so, but it has been disheartening that the staff continues to exhibit their opposition to River Park, just as they did in the voter initiated rezoning effort.
The next public hearing is this Tuesday, October 5th, at 6:00pm at Lebanon City Hall.
At the last meeting on August 17th the Planning Board promised Lyme that they would vote on preliminary subdivision approval at the upcoming October 5th meeting. This week the planning staff informed Lyme that they are going to recommend that the Planning Board not vote. In addition, the staff intends to recommend that Lyme must contract with contractors selected by the staff, but paid for by Lyme, to perform studies outside the published scope of items required for preliminary subdivision approval. I respect the staff's right to perform any study they want to, but I do question why I should pay for them beyond the $100,000 non-refundable filing fee I paid in June!
It will be up to the Planning Board to decide if any additional information is necessary for preliminary site plan approval.
This is an important meeting for the Friends of River Park to attend. Please come and ask the Planning Board to keep their promise so that River Park can complete site plan approval by the end of the year so that construction of the first phase can commence next spring.
The Lebanon Planning Board supported the rezoning effort last spring and the City has already conducted over one dozen meetings about River Park over the past two years. Your contributions to the planning process, the rezoning efforts, and the public approval process have been appreciated by Lyme. but the October 5th hearing is a watershed moment.
Please attend and voice your support, or send an email ahead of time to kelly.crate@lebcity.com
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
David Clem
Lyme Properties
dclem@lymeproperties.com
603-676-7800 x 20
