BY JENN McDOWELL
Candia’s Exit 3 Committee has compiled a preliminary draft to send to companies, delineating the financial, architectural and land use specifics to begin accepting proposals for the 12-acre parcel off of Route 101.
Before it goes out, committee members said, the draft will be submitted for approval to the board of selectmen and to town counsel and then put on display at the Town Hall and public library for public review.
Still a work in progress, the booklet contains information about the town’s intent for the piece of land, namely that it be a grocery store, that it architecturally complies with the town’s rural character, a map of the site and details about what the town seeks in a proposal and developer.
It also provides the evaluation criteria, which includes a section stating that any potential developer must be able to assure their ability to fund the project.
The committee plans to add more to the draft, including comprehensive traffic statistics for the streets surrounding the parcel.
According to the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission’s Average Annual Daily Traffic statistics, about 7,900 vehicles per day passed the property on Route 43/Old Candia Road, south of Adams Road, in 2004. Statistics for that road in 2005 were not listed on the Web site,
www.snhpc.org.
Also, thousands of cars per day went down Deerfield Road, which turns into Old Candia Road at the intersection of Route 27, in 2005. According to the SNHPC’s averages, 5,800 vehicles came down Deerfield Road per day heading into Old Candia Road.
Route 27 also gets its fair share of traffic, according to the statistics. In 2005, the portion of road west of the intersection with Route 43/Deerfield Road/Old Candia Road saw about 5,400 vehicles daily.
In addition, according to the state Department of Transportation, more than 36,000 vehicles crossed the Candia/Raymond line on Route 101 in 2005.
Committee member Larry Twitchell provided those statistics to the rest of the committee at a meeting on Friday, Oct. 26.
Twitchell also presented statistics from the Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau about the populations, average salaries and average ages of Candia and the surrounding towns of Auburn, Deerfield, Raymond and Chester.
Candia had the oldest median age at 37.6, with a median household income of $61,389, both of which were calculated using numbers from the last census taken in 2000.
Committee member John Cole said those statistics would need to be added into the project specifications because it is important for companies wishing to develop the land to understand what kind of market they can expect to draw.
“I firmly believe that location there would be an extremely successful store,” he said.
Cole also suggested the committee request conceptual drawings before they take an entire proposal from a company to make sure the design fits the lay of the land, saying the wetlands portion of that parcel may interfere with certain plans and that runoff from the Exit 3 ramp is often an issue during bouts of rain.
“The map is clear enough to get a conceptual drawing. I wouldn’t want to take an application that we know won’t fit there,” Cole said.
Committee Chairman Joe Duarte said he though that was unnecessary, but that they should leave it to developers to come up with the best plans given the map, which includes the wetland boundaries.
Selectman Fred Kelley, an observer at the meeting, agreed with Cole.
“If a developer goes in there and says ‘I can’t do anything with this,’ we’re dead,” Kelley said. “This committee is responsible for making sure what’s going in there is right.”
Duarte also pointed out at the meeting that any designs for the land submitted take into account the railroad trail system near the site, and that access to the trails for hikers and bikers be included in plans.
The committee’s next meeting is on Friday, Nov. 2, at the Candia Town Offices.