Each week, Tom Aspell wakes with a tremendous yawn and stretch, rolls out of bed with a giant, unkempt beard and steps out into the sunshine, squinting at the bright light. Then, he delivers the city memo he’s been dreaming up through his long hibernation.
Suggestion Box
Wanna develop a building?
In conjunction with the state of New Hampshire, the city has extended the deadline for potential developers to submit proposals for the New Hampshire Employment Security Building site at 32-34 S. Main St, Aspell writes. Man, the city is a lot more forgiving than our teachers ever were.
The deadline was originally March 15 and has been extended to April 16. The additional time will allow interested parties to complete certain due diligence activities, thus allowing developers to submit more complete and comprehensive development proposals for consideration by the city and the state. Current proposals include making the building the global headquarters of the Insider or turning the whole thing into Aspell’s giant office. Or, you know what the city could really use? Another pharmacy. It’s been at least six months since one was built directly across the street from another.
Spring has sprung!
Now stay away, trucks
Another sure sign of spring is the placement of spring load limit postings, Aspell writes. Well, that and the river of mud that’s about to appear in your driveway.
As the snow begins to melt and roads start to thaw out, roads are posted to limit truck traffic so they don’t cause severe damage to the roads. If you happen to have a really, really heavy bicycle, you may want to avoid the roads, too.
The signs will be placed starting March 18. Roads will remain posted until the snow has melted and there is no more water in the ditch lines. So, say, by the end of June?
Penacooking up a scheme
This sounds kinda hard
The city has been awarded a $30,000 Community Planning Grant for the establishment of a mixed-use Village Center District for downtown Penacook, Aspell writes.
The project will involve evaluating the existing zoning within the Village and engaging residents in a series of public visioning sessions and workshops to discuss how they would like to see the Village center developed and redeveloped in the future. Really, nothing engages residents like a good visioning session.
Residents and business owners will be asked to participate in defining the character of Penacook Village center and determining what development patterns they feel are consistent with their vision for the future. Thankfully, our vision for the future is entirely in line with that of Dr. Emmett Brown and features precisely 1.21 jigawatts.
The new districts will be defined based on public input, and language for a new zoning district will be developed. Ideally, the mixed use district will incorporate concepts from form-based code, which places a strong emphasis on building form, site layout, parking, walkability and aesthetics. Our thoughts: We have no idea what any of that means.
