Planning Board rejects extension, killing River Park
Secret Motion to Deny discussed in private Executive Session; not read aloud or provided to the Property Owner/Agent in stunning violation of open meeting laws.
Ironically, the Planning Board simultaneously granted River Park’s Appeal of Administrative Decision, over-ruling the Deputy Planning Director’s determination that River Park could not proceed because it hadn’t satisfied eight (8) conditions. River Park proved it had, with info previously provided to City on multiple occasions and testified to at previous hearings.
At the November 12, 2024 hearing of the Lebanon Planning Board, five (5) members of the Board voted 5-0 to deny River Park a Request for Extension that would have allowed the project to proceed.
The decision, which is customarily read aloud at the Public Hearing and provided to the Applicant, was instead kept secret and not discussed in front of the Planning Board audience. The decision has yet to be provided to River Park.
*When the motion is provided to us, we will post it here. We were denied an extension and property rights without being told why. Unprecedented behavior!
The decision followed a privately held meeting between the Board members and the City Attorney, and appears to have been written by the City Attorney, City Planning Staff, and the Chair of the Planning Board. There was limited discussion by the Board members before a motion was considered, passing unanimously 5-0.
Without an Extension, there is no way for River Park to complete the infrastructure work that was delayed in 2024. That 4-month scope of work had been contracted for, and materials purchased and delivered on-site, but was suspended by the Sta
The Planning Staff has continued to create delays, and then objected to an extension due to those delays, defying basic logic and fairness. Absent unbiased regulatory actors, River Park cannot get fair consideration before the volunteer Planning Board.
It’s as if a hockey referee were to throw the puck into the stands,
and then penalize the visiting team for delay of game.
The Extension request from River Park was filed on July 8, 2024, following the Planning Staff’s decision to Appeal its own Appeal Board on June 6, 2024, which all but guaranteed that the 1 River Park project could not proceed in 2024 with the construction season slipping away and the loss of the Construction Manager and 27 different trades that had re-bid the project following past delays.
Hearings on the Extension request were scheduled for August 12, 2024, September 9, 2024, October 14, 2024, and November 12, 2024.
The Planning Board and Planning Staff took 127 days to reach the conclusion that delays caused by the City were not sufficient to extend River Park.
The extension request was similar to those that River Park had been granted previously when delays were encountered, and extensions for the Phased Development are specifically allowed under the River Park approvals. and the City of Lebanon ordinance.
The Staff Memorandum argued that decisions by previous City Staff, Planning Boards, and City Attorneys were incorrect.
The ongoing delays due to City and State regulatory actions, include:
The Municipal Estoppel case at the N.H. Superior Court, related to the 1 River Park building permit being invalidated by Staff.
The well-documented Lebanon Planning Staff delays, errors, and inaccuracies that contributed to work not being allowed to proceed in 2024. For example:
waiting 30-days to respond to the draft Security Agreement necessary for the work to proceed.
The NHDOT refusing to issue an excavation permit unless 11th hour request for additional traffic analysis was completed, despite the NHDOT having never bothered responding when River Park addressed the same issue previously.
Staff taking over two months to respond to communications from River Park, if at all. In fact, the Building Inspector simply stopped responding to inquiries from River Park in 2023.
Astonishingly, immediately following the motion to deny, the Planning Board then took up River Park’s parallel appeal of the Deputy City Manager’s determination that River Park had not provided required information and/or satisfied certain conditions
The initial hearing on the July 8, 2024 application was scheduled for August 12, 2024, but after River Park attended the meeting for 2-hours the Board elected not to take up the matter on the advice of Staff. This decision, which could have easily been made ahead of the meeting and communicated to the Applicant, was based upon the Staff’s position that River Park had not provided sufficient information.
AT A GLANCE:
Site Plan Approvals set to expire on January 2, 2025 unless requisite infrastructure work is completed.
Work could not be completed in 2024 due to City Actions and NHDOT last-minute changes.
Further investments in municipal infrastructure was not justifiable without ability to construct the revenue-generating building 1 River Park as intended. Building Permit was invalidated while River Park was proceeding towards Spring construction season.
Staff actions in 2023-2024 directly contributed to River Park’s inability to proceed; but Staff has no accountability.
Planning Board elected not to grant extension to reflect those delays, ignoring River Park’s testimony and instead manufacturing theories without any evidence in support.
