By Nicholas Brown
Staff Writer

Exit 10 of Interstate 93 in Hooksett is moving ever closer to having two more box stores, as Lowe's and Wal-Mart have each filed site plan applications with the town.

The applications follow recent public meetings during which representatives from Lowe's and Wal-Mart asked town officials for special exceptions.

The two companies plan to construct more than 300,000 square feet of retail space off Route 3A just south of other large retailers including Target, BJ's, Kohl's and Home Depot. The proposed sites combined span 44 acres of an unused gravel pit.

Wal-Mart plans to build a "superstore," while Lowe's intends to build one of their typical home improvement stores, featuring an outdoor garden center.

At a Tuesday, July 19, joint presentation to both the Hooksett Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Adjustment, representatives from the companies asked for special exceptions, while also attempting to address concerns voiced by some would-be neighbors of the stores.

After a presentation to both boards, the planning board voted unanimously to recommend three special exceptions to the zoning board.

Later in the evening, the zoning board voted to allow two exceptions for each company, one allowing direct impact on wetlands area and another allowing impact on wetlands buffer zones.

Construction of Wal-Mart would affect about 22,000 square feet of wetlands, while a Lowe's would affect about 10,000 square feet. Representatives from both companies, however, contended the wetlands impacted are of low quality.

During discussion, zoning board of adjustment member Dan Belanger asked if the proposed projects could be scaled down so as not to have any impact on wetlands.

"The answer is no," said Ray D'Amante, an attorney representing Lowe's. D'Amante cited the limited space afforded by the gravel pit.

David Albrecht of Rizzo Engineering, representing Lowe's, added that a two to one ratio of mitigation to impact, as required by state law, would create higher quality wetlands.

Due to lack of time, the zoning board of adjustment withheld any motion pertaining to the third special exception, one that would allow the stores to have outdoor sales. That exception will be further discussed at a meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 2.

Also at the meeting, representatives from the two companies tried to quell the concerns some Hooksett residents have voiced over the proposals.

Todd Morray, a site development manager representing Lowe's, said he recently had a "very good meeting" with several residents of Goonan Road, a stretch that sits adjacent to the Lowe's site.

Morray said noise and light levels from the outdoor garden center, along with visibility were the main citizen concerns.

He proposed flipping the location of the outdoor center so it would face away from Goonan Road. He also proposed planting two rows of trees and a fence to minimize visibility from the residential street.

Russ Thibeault, president of Concord-based company, Applied Economic Research, presented an analysis of the potential impact of the two proposals on nearby residential property values.

Citing case studies of similar development in several other New Hampshire towns including Hudson, Hillsborough and Tilton, Thibeault concluded that Wal-Mart and Lowe's would not likely reduce the property values surrounding the site.

"Line of site is the critical variable," he said, encouraging the developers to include the visual buffer.

Thibeault added that an effort should be made to prohibit nonlocal traffic from using Goonan Road.

If the two companies are granted the exception for outdoor sales on Aug. 2, they will then approach the planning board with the proposed sites.