MANCHESTER, NH – Some wanted the Sununu Youth Services Center (SYSC) property to remain as it is, others wanted it to feature starter and smaller homes for seniors, still others complained River Road couldn’t take any more traffic and others wanted to know how the state could sell the property, given covenants on it.
It was standing room-only in the first-floor café of Brady Sullivan Tower, 1750 Elm St., as city residents and abutters voiced their opinions concerning the 157-acre River Road property Thursday night.
The meeting was hosted by Executive Councilor John Stephen, R-Manchester – the sale would have to have the approval of the 5-member Executive Council – and included information provided by Mayor Jay Ruais and New Hampshire Administrative Services Commissioner Charlie Arlinghaus, who legislators have ordered to sell the property.
The irony is the proceeds are to go to refurbish a fund established to pay Youth Development Center victims, who were sexually and physically abused on the property.
Arlinghaus explained that the first step in selling the property is to hire a broker to market it.
He said a sale could take years to complete and he expected children housed there would not ultimately be moved to a new facility being built in Hampstead until the end of 2026.
He said they wanted to market the property widely enough to “get a lot of interest” while at the same time provide the “best and highest use for the city of Manchester.”
Two residents spoke about “covenants” attached to the property. Robert Olivier said he attended a meeting 15 years ago at which the covenant was discussed. He said the property was given to the state for the benefit of youth and if it were sold for any other purpose, the property would revert back to the heirs. When that issued was raised, talk of selling the property ended and the SYSC was built, Olivier said.
Arlinghaus said attorneys had reviewed that and it is no longer an issue.
Olivier told Manchester Ink Link that over the past 10 years, lawyers have “massaged” the issue to say it is no longer a problem. “Who knows, maybe the heirs are all gone,” he said. “There’s a lot of things we could do for the kids with that property.”
He said he’s a “lonely voice in the wilderness screaming.”
In November, the aldermanic board is set to vote on a new master zoning plan. Under the proposal, the property, which is currently zoned for single family housing, would become mixed use. That would allow for small business and various types of housing, including duplexes and 9-unit buildings
That concerned some residents as well, one who asked if people were concerned about what would be directly across from their million dollar homes and Gary Simmons, the former assistant chief of police, who pointed out if someone purchases the property and the mixed-use zoning is in effect, then they will argue that they could build what they wanted.
Karen Nord, who lives on McCarthy Street which abuts the property, was concerned about that zoning. She said everything surrounding the property is single family homes.
“This would be a mini-downtown,” she said. Nord, who has lived in the neighborhood for 24 years and is a retired licensed massage therapist, said she wants the property to be single-family homes surrounded by an unchanged Heritage Trail.
Residents also expressed concern that the zoning was already in place, given the vote set for next month, and legislature was already passed assuring the sale of the property before residents’ concerns were aired.
Ruais said the city had meetings in each of the 12 wards so residents could voice their concerns with the Master Zoning Plan. Residents also were sent letters concerning the master plan, he said.
The overriding concern citizens voiced, city officials said, was for the need of affordable housing.
The land where SYSC is located was originally owned by Revolutionary War hero Gen. John Stark’s family. The subsequent owner deeded about 100 acres to the state on the condition a reform school be built. Additional parcels were later deeded to the state making the total 157 acres.