MANCHESTER — Hoping to quiet neighbors' complaints about the size of the planned Coolidge Commons condominium project on Summer Street, developers of the 40-unit complex — which is using state affordable housing laws to sidestep some local permitting — have agreed to cut 10 feet off the height of the largest building in the complex.
Residents living near the proposed development, at 601 Summer St. near Raymond Street, fear the project will add traffic, increase stormwater runoff and loom over the neighborhood in a manner inconsistent with Manchester's small-town character.
Last week, members of the Coolidge Commons design and legal team presented a handful of design changes to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Those changes include lowering the roof of the largest building, a three-story structure housing the project's "garden-style" units that will be at the front of the property overlooking Summer Street.
Andrew Zalewski, lead architect on the project, told the Zoning Board that dropping the roofline from 64 to 54 feet would break up the facade and make it less imposing from the street.
But neighbors and town officials are continuing calls to shrink the building or move it farther back on the property, away from the road.
Andrew Harris, of University Lane, said the building would blend into the neighborhood better if it had two stories instead of three, and he suggested it be moved to the east side of the 14-acre property, closer to Magnolia.
Planning Board member Gary Gilbert said he questions assertions by the developer that moving the large apartment building to the rear of the site, away from the road, would not leave enough space to fit all the townhouses needed to make the project profitable.
Zoning Board Chairman Darrell Aldrich said during last week's meeting that he was "having a hard time imagining" how tall the building would look to someone standing on Summer Street.
Aldrich proposed holding a "balloon test" at the site, where helium balloons would be floated above the site at the height of the planned building to give viewers a sense of how tall it would appear.
The owners of 601 Summer St., Mark and Leslie Lynch, proposed Coolidge Commons last year after they were ordered to tear down an indoor horse-riding ring they had built on the land. The order came from the Zoning Board, which agreed with neighbors that the large plastic tent covering it did not fit in with the rest of the area.
The Lynches decided to develop the Coolidge Commons project under the state Chapter 40B housing law, which allows developers to bypass most local zoning restrictions and bylaws if they agree to reserve at least 25 percent of the units for first-time homebuyers making less than 80 percent of the area's median income.
Cities and towns with more than 10 percent of their housing already considered affordable are not subject to the law. At the time Coolidge Commons was proposed, Manchester was close to having 5 percent of its housing deemed affordable.
Coolidge Commons has agreed to make 10 of its 40 units affordable, and as a result will not have to apply to the Planning Board or Conservation Commission for permits. The Zoning Board of Appeals is the only town agency that needs to approve the project, and its power to deny a 40B development is limited.
Coolidge Commons, expected to cost $19.7 million to build, will include 24 "garden-style" condos in the three-story building and four clusters of townhouses containing four units each.
Developers have said they located the large "garden-style" building close to Summer Street so that firefighters would be able to access the back side of it.
In addition to lopping 10 feet off the top of the largest building, Coolidge Commons designers have announced changes to the site plan: moving the townhouses away from the ledge toward the rear of the property and eliminating the need to build a retaining wall.
The locations of a septic tank and stormwater retention features have also been moved in the latest plans, project designers said.
Adam Costa, a lawyer representing residents and abutters calling themselves the Manchester Coastal Preservation Association, said yesterday his group is still concerned that the single driveway to the project is inadequate and that the stormwater issues have not been addressed.
The Trustees of Reservations, which controls the nearby Coolidge Reservation, worries that the 8,000-gallon septic system planned for the project could have a negative effect on neighboring wetlands.
The Zoning Board of Appeals' next public hearing on Coolidge Commons is scheduled for June 25.
Patrick Anderson can be reached at panderson@gloucestertimes.com.
