A Hanover planning board decision to deny a new athletic facility for Dartmouth College may be headed to the state’s highest court.
The board voted last year to deny a permit for the controversial nearly $18 million, 70,000-square-foot building. Dartmouth says it needs the space for athletes to practice in the winter. But local residents oppose it citing the building’s size and appearance and concerns about noise and light.
Dartmouth argues those standards are subjective, but a Grafton superior court judge upheld the planning board’s decision last month.
Now the college is planning to appeal to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Dartmouth argues this case isn’t just about this specific facility, but it’s about local government’s power to interpret and apply zoning and planning rules and how clear and precise those rules have to be.
