30 new condos part of big housing project in Rochester

ROCHESTER — Thirty condominiums in five new buildings may soon be added at 86 Church St., where plans also call for upgrading 12 existing apartments into condos.

The city Planning Board on Monday night voted to advance the project, which will total 42 condo units, according to Scott Lawler of Norway Plains in Rochester, the engineer for the project. The development is being proposed by Stabile Companies of Nashua.

The development has been revised since it was initially presented as a conceptual plan in April.

Details of 86 Church St. development in Rochester

Lawler said the existing apartments were developed sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s and will be upgraded.

Each unit will feature two bedrooms, with a one-car garage on the ground level and two floors above it with living spaces, Lawler said. They will be rentals, with prices not yet determined.

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Lawler told the board the project will need three permits from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, partly because of the project's proximity to the Cocheco River. He said they will need to seek a shoreland permit, an alteration of terrain permit and another for the handling of wastewater.

"We will also be seeking a federal EPA construction permit," Lawler said.

The 4.88-acre site, which is in the city's agricultural zone near Rochester Country Club, will be accessed via Route 125. The development will use municipal water and sewer.

A public hearing for the project was part of the Planning Board agenda Monday night, but no abutting property owners attended to comment.