Route 1 88-unit condo project at Faro Gardens site: Will Hampton Falls approve?

HAMPTON FALLS — The town’s Zoning Board held off last week on making a final decision on a proposed 88-unit age-restricted condo development on Route 1, with board members saying they still need more information.

After spending hours debating the eight variances requested by Joe Faro for the vacant lot that once was the site of the former Faro Gardens restaurant, the board, for the third time, continued the hearing. The project will come up again at its next meeting in May.

The eight requested variances deal with building height, size, unit and bedroom density per acre, parking spaces and wetland setback issues.

However, the issue of whether the development will have sewer appears to be the final hold-up.

The continuance comes after Faro made several concessions for his proposed project since introducing it in September 2022. He has agreed to reduce the size of the project by almost half, down to 88 condos from the original 164. He also agreed to a Colonial architectural style – which increases the height with dormers and a gambrel roof – and increased the number of parking spaces, eliminating the original restaurant and retail space included. He has also offered to age-restrict the development to those 55-plus to minimize the impact on schools.

Faro wasn’t present at the April 25 meeting, but his consultant, Robert Clarke of Allen & Major Associates, explained Faro is also willing to underwrite the cost of bringing public sewer up to his project at 12 Lafayette Road (Route 1), which is just over the town line from Seabrook.

However, Clark said that can’t occur until a possible inter-municipal agreement between Hampton Falls and Seabrook is reached. Further, Clark said Faro is willing to make his project contingent on public sewer becoming available.

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ZBA wants more info on sewer deal with Seabrook and Hampton Falls

Since the project is dependent on Seabrook extending its sewer to Hampton Falls through an inter-municipal agreement, ZBA Chairman John DeLeire said the board needs more information on where that possibility stands, how it would work, how much it would cost, and who would foot the bill.

“Even if all this relief is granted (and all eight variances are approved), nothing happens unless (the sewer) works out,” DeLeire said. “So, it would be good to know what the parameters are.”

Clarke explained that some time ago, Hampton Falls Select Board asked Seabrook’s selectmen to consider extending its public sewer system to Hampton Fall’s Route 1 business district, which includes about 200 possible properties. Hampton Falls conducted a flow study it presented to Seabrook, indicating the amount of effluent that could be expected.

With that study, Seabrook crunched the numbers to see if its sewer treatment plant could accommodate the additional flow, what it would take to get it there, and how much it would cost Hampton Falls to proceed and enter into an inter-municipal agreement.

That information has been in the hands of Seabrook selectmen for months.

Seabrook Town Manager Bill Manzi said the board has not discussed it publicly nor presented it to the Hampton Falls Select Board. The information, he said, is considered contract-related and subject to negotiations and handled only in executive session.

Clarke told the ZBA that the information isn’t considered public information, at this time. On behalf of Faro, Clarke requested Hampton Falls officials consider reaching out to Seabrook in hopes of getting the information released.

DeLeire told Clarke to formally request the information from Seabrook so it can be considered at the ZBA’s next meeting on May 23. DeLeire added that if the need arose, Clarke should reach out to the Hampton Falls selectmen for help obtaining the information.

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Why 8 variances are needed to make project a reality

According to Clarke, it's the uniqueness of Faro’s 11-acre lot requiring not only the eight variances but also public sewer to successfully build 88 condo units in two, three-story buildings.

Although there are about 5 acres of buildable land there, he said, because of wetlands and the zoning ordinances that require wetlands’ buffers and setbacks, there’s only about an acre to place the structures without variances.

In addition, Clarke said, the site formerly held a restaurant with a grandfathered 4,500-gallon approved on-site septic system. However, that would only allow 30 condos, he said, and given construction costs that would make the development economically unfeasible. Clarke believes Faro wouldn’t commit to building the project on a scale smaller than 88 units.

That would leave the land at 12 Lafayette Road a vacant lot, as it has been for the past 12 years.

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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Route 1 88-unit condo project: Will Hampton Falls give OK