A developer has told the Planning Board he wants to revitalize land at the corner of Colby Court and South River Road.

The area today is marked by the old Bellemore heating oil distribution business and a vacant house. West Street Keene LLC, is proposing a one-story, 15,000- square-foot retail building on the site, which is across from the Hannaford shopping plaza.

“It would clean up an area that is fairly run down at this time,” said Jeff Kevan, a TFMoran engineer who represents the developer.

Kevan and Tom Riley, one of the partners of West Street Keene, presented a conceptual plan at the Planning Board’s Monday, May 19, meeting. Board members appeared to be mainly concerned with the impact on traffic, asking West Street Keene to eliminate the proposed driveway on South River Road and keep two connections on Colby Court.

Route 101/Nashua Road In other business, the Planning Board postponed a vote on a proposed bank out of concern that the developer has not done enough to guarantee drivers’ safety on Nashua Road at the Route 101 intersection.

Board members also said the applicant, Route 101/Nashua Road Realty LLC, has more work to do on an extension of a water main to its property and a back driveway connecting to an abutting real estate company.

The 2,400-square-foot bank would be located on the western corner of Route 101 and Nashua Road. Andrew Smith, one of the owners of the approximately 1-acre parcel of land, said he will not market the site to a bank until the project has been approved.

The bank would not have a driveway on Route 101, instead it would connect to Nashua Road.

Board members still took issue with the Nashua Road driveway. The proposed location of the driveway does not allow northbound or southbound drivers on Nashua Road or provide the bank’s customers enough distance to safely see each other, members said. The town requires 400 feet in both directions, but the developer reserved only about 350 feet. Before the meeting, engineer Nick Golon said he has exhausted all other options for the driveway. He asked the board for a waiver.

Board members were not willing to compromise, however. Member Neal Casale said he is especially worried about high school drivers speeding on Nashua Road.

“This is going to be extremely important that this sight distance to both sides is to the ‘T,’” Casale said. “I will not support this if we’re a foot off from the sight distance.”

Town Manager Russ Marcoux also asked the developer to contact landowners between Nashua Road and Wallace Road to see if they are interested in connecting to the extended water main, which could affect the design of the main.

Another unresolved issued is the second driveway which would connect the bank to its eastern abutter. But the intersection of Route 101 and Nashua Road remained the center of attention for much of the meeting.

The town has asked the developer to contribute about $14,000 in impact fees for improvements to Nashua Road. The town is also expecting nearly $55,000 as his fair share toward an estimated $3 million upgrade of the intersection of Nashua Road and the highway. That project, however, failed in March and state funding for the highway has dried up. Smith asked why must he help pay for something that may never be done, but Planning Board members countered that efforts are still underway to do a scaled-down improvement of the intersection. Smith said he is also hoping that a drainage, grading and access easement he is donating to the town would cover the cost of his estimated contribution to the intersection. Smith calculates that the easement is worth about $54,000, based on a percentage of his property value.

Planning director Rick Sawyer said the town valued the easement at about $9,000, using a different formula.

The next hearing of the project will be on Monday, June 16.