Voters in Merrimack head to the polls tomorrow (Tuesday).
And one issue they are going to decide is whether they want to change the zoning on a large parcel of industrial land to allow for some type of commercial development.
The debate over Article 2 has divided the town into those who want Merrimack to be home to a large outlet mall.....and those who do not.
NHPR Correspondent Avishay Artsy has more.
Nancy Harrington lives a stone?s throw away from the site of the proposed outlet mall.
From her living room window you can see the spot where Chelsea Property Group wants to build 135-stores.
But Harrington says she?s been talking to Merrimack residents from other neighborhoods about what the mall would mean to them.
T2, 3:06 ?If it was just the neighborhood it?d be our problem, not the town?s. But the facts we?ve been able to present have been town wide impacts.?
And one of the biggest impacts says Harrington would be traffic.
Chelsea Property Group estimates the outlet mall would receive about six million visitors annually.
Ken Hatton, is a member of the Concerned Citizens of Merrimack Alliance which also opposed the Mall.
T2, 3:40 ?The backup at exit 10?s gonna be enormous with the toll, so people are gonna find alternatives to that, and that?ll quickly involve exit 11 and then soon after that 7, 8 and 12. So all of those roads are of course gonna be clogged from the exit to the mall, so it involves everybody in this town.?
The land is currently zoned for industrial use.
Its owner, Thomas Monahan, says he has tried for years to find an industrial tenant?but he's had no luck.
So when voters go to the polls, they are going to decide whether to allow for commercial development in the zone.
That would allow the mall to come in.
Supporters of that proposal say they would like to have more shopping choices in town.
They also say they would appreciate the tax relief the mall could bring.
The developer estimates the outlet mall could bring in 1.4 million new tax dollars for Merrimack.
Opponents say that estimate doesn?t factor in the costs to municipal services.
They say the mall would likely attract crime and cause an extra burden on the town.
But developer Chelsea Property Group's Mark Silvestri says those estimates do take those concerns into account.
T7, 3:54 ?That number is based on actual analysis of what we paid other Centers, offset by the actual cost of the services. In addition we?ve offered a development agreement here with Merrimack that would pay for additional services like police, fire, EMS. So that truly is a conservative estimate of what the town would see.?
Silvestri says he?s heard Merrimack residents complain about the tolls at exits 10, 11 and 12 on the Everett Turnpike.
So he met with Governor Lynch and Transportation Commissioner Carol Murray to discuss possibly paying to remove or reduce the tolls near Merrimack.
So far Chelsea has agreed to pay 100,000 dollars to study the issue, if voters approve the zoning changes.
Silvestri says there?s no timetable and there are still plenty of things to look at.
T7, 2:04 ?There?s three different interchanges, there?s bondholders, there?s ongoing revenue streams. One of the ideas we?re exploring is the creation of a business improvement district which would fund the lost toll revenue through a special tax on the property. That?s very preliminary, but I think the solution?s gonna run into several millions of dollars.?
According to a 2001 study, removing the toll facilities and fixing the ramps at the three exits would cost about 11 million dollars.
Those tolls generate nearly 1.3 million dollars a year in net revenue.
But Bill Boynton, at the Department of Transportation says state officials would likely oppose removing the tolls? especially if they can make extra money.
T8, 3:30 ??we are talking about an additional loss in revenue there, so that would be a shortfall that we would have to make up somehow.?
Abutting homeowners opposed to the mall proposal filed a protest petition to the Board of Selectmen.
The petition would require a two-thirds majority of town residents to pass.
It is unclear if the petition has enough signatures.
If between half and two-thirds of the town vote in favor of Article 2, it may not be clear until the end of the month whether the zoning change was passed.
In a new development, the NH State Building Trades Council and the local AFL-CIO has written a letter in support of the development.
According to the letter, the Chelsea Property Group has promised to use union labor to build the mall and that means local construction jobs.
For NHPR News, this is Avishay Artsy.
