River Park closed to address "unpermitted improvements" and “site plan violations”

Last week we closed down public access to River Park to address the “unpermitted improvements” and “site plan violations” that the Lebanon Planning Staff alleged in Staff Memorandums and communications earlier this summer, and reaffirmed at the Planning Board hearing on Monday 9/11/23.

For the past 16 years we have sought to abide by the City’s written rules and regulations and the River Park approvals, even when we disagreed with the conditions placed upon us. The Staff’s statements and the ambiguity it creates has legal and liability consequences for us, the property owner. We were advised by Counsel that it would be prudent to eliminate the risk, and have done so accordingly.

We have begun removing the pop-up area and Diners (one of which was recently vandalized) that have served as host to Trails + Trucks back in 2020, the launch of The Bagel Lady in 2021, and had been our intent to serve as a pop-up coffeeshop launching for the Hootenanny earlier this year. The fence scrim has been taken down and the murals by visiting artists have been removed to be re-installed elsewhere. Temporary fences have been erected at the entrances, and we ask that folks please respect the trail closure and no trespassing signage.

This came on the heels of the latest memo from the Planning Staff on the parallel Amendment matter that furthered the pattern of the Staff’s errors, misinformation, and accusations that represents financial and reputational risk to Lyme Properties.

This attitude cost us our fourth attempted start of 1 River Park earlier this year, the loss of tenants and a full construction season, and months and thousands of dollars defending ourselves against bureaucratic B.S. It’s an attitude towards Lyme Properties and River Park that has gone from bad to worse as of late. Enough is enough.

Much of Monday’s meeting was spent responding to the staff’s insinuation that we aren’t “experienced developers,” that "it is not clear how River Park is in any significant, meaningful, or relevant manner substantially different from Lebanon's completed developments of comparable size,” and addressing their repeat attempts to insert themselves into our business beyond the bounds of their bureaucratic authority.

The full video from Monday night’s two hearings is here, and I’ve excerpted two short segments from our testimony in response to the Staff’s memos.

At an earlier hearing on this matter, the Director of Planning and Deputy Director of Planning wouldn’t answer the question of whether they had even been to the River Park site. In fact, they made these determinations based upon images we submitted and satellite photographs of the property.

They aren’t reading this, because when we sent out the “10 Things to help River Park succeed” email back in April following the 1 River Park stoppage they caused…they both chose to unsubscribe from all communications from River Park. But they call us “difficult” when we object to their actions and correct their mistakes.

We have exhausted our willingness to subject ourselves to a Staff that doesn’t respect our property rights or the intent of the River Park plans endorsed by the Lebanon voters. We will not expend our time seeking more permission slips from City Hall, not when every effort is met with this attitude.

We are going to take some time to evaluate our options and determine where we go from here.

Presentation on Amendments

PDF of presentation in response to Staff’s 9/8/2023 memo.

Presentation on Diner Appeal

PDF of presentation seeking to correct Staff’s accusation of violation.