MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Manchester Planning Board held their first meeting of the year last week, focused on a pair of proposals looking to re-envision properties in the heart of the city.
One of those proposals sought to transform the Ash Street Inn, located at 118 Ash St., from a bed and breakfast into a hotel with a dining service in the C-1 Zoning District, with a conditional use application allowing nine spaces where 22 are required as well as approval for a site plan application to modify the property.
Civil engineer Brian Pratt of Fuss and O’Neill told the board that the reservation-only dining experiences proposed on the property would seat approximately 12 people. The Inn would also host six rooms for guests, with the transition from a bed and breakfast into a hotel removing the on-site owner-occupied unit which had once been inside one of the proposed six rooms.
“This is intended to be a very small-scale, intimate experience,” Pratt said, calling it a “cool boutique hotel” that would be a benefit for the city.
Pratt noted that last month, the Manchester Zoning Board of Adjustment allowed a use variance to allow the hotel within the C-1 district as well as a variance from the normally required 10-foot buffer from the property line in the C-1 district given the existing grandfathered exemption from the requirement with the prior use as a bed and breakfast.
Without the on-site resident operator, guest services would be routed through a digital system with off-site property managers. Pratt compared the system to that found at the Butler House in Stowe, Vt.
Members of the board expressed concern with the conditional use application request, which would add one to two more parking spaces above the current seven on the property, believing that the number of guests in the hotel rooms and dining area could overflow into the surrounding area.
There were also concerns about accessibility, particularly given the building’s 19th-century design. Pratt said bringing the entire structure into full ADA compliance would require extensive reconstruction beyond the project’s scope, though the applicant is coordinating with city departments on curb ramps and sidewalk improvements.
The other primary proposal during the Jan. 8 meeting sought to transform a former law office at 15 High St. into a community-focused art hub.
Located near the corner of Lowell and Chestnut streets, conditional use permit application and site plan application approval were also requested. The conditional use permit application sought reduction in on-site parking to allow five spaces where nine spaces are required. The site plan application provided details on the renovation of the 4,250 square foot office that would add a new art gallery, private artist studio, three artist in-residence apartments and a landscaped courtyard along other changes to parking and traffic flow.
Board members expressed strong support for the project’s design but raised technical questions about traffic visibility at the alley entrance, snow storage, bike parking and striping clarity within the shared courtyard space. Designers said the parking area would function as a “shared street” environment, using materials and patterning rather than traditional striping to guide vehicle placement.
The board requested more details regarding parking layout, a two-foot property line buffer and sidewalk treatment for the Ash Street proposal. On the High Street proposal, additional information was needed on snow storage plans and bicycle accommodations.
Both proposals are expected to return before the board at their Jan. 22 meeting.