Planning Board 'Looks for Conclusion' to Woodmont Process

The Londonderry Planning Board has been reviewing plans for the proposed Woodmont Commons development for many months. Now, it appears the board is close to concluding the lengthy approval process.

Woodmont submitted its master plan to the town last week, and presented that plan to the board in great detail on Wednesday night.

[Watch the full presentation here.]

At the outset of the meeting, Planning Board Chairman Art Rugg made it clear that the board is ready to move forward and wrap up its review of the massive development project.

"There's been many frustrations back and forth, many frustrations with the public," Rugg said. "I think we've taken things carefully, but I think we're approaching the time to finish, because some of it we've seen over and over and probably gotten somewhat bored with… I think we're looking for a conclusion to this in the not-too-distant future."

The board spent nearly three hours discussing the Master Plan on Wednesday, with several residents voicing their concerns about the project.

John Wilson of Tranquil Drive expressed numerous concerns, including the impact Woodmont and other housing developments could have on the Londonderry school system.

"There's not a lot of capacity left in the schools as it is," he said. "I think there's also a quality of life in town that has to be considered. We have paid dearly over the years putting money into schools, and we basically stuck with a concept of local neighborhood schools. If you start talking about redistricting the school system in order to accommodate the busing… people don't like that."

Wilson said it's very possible that a new school would have to be built to accommodate all of the additional students, which he said would take the development "from a tax positive to a tax negative."

Given that several board members were not in attendance Wednesday and even those who were on hand only had a week to review the 246-page master plan, the board voted to extend Woodmont's 65-day review clock from Aug. 16 until Aug. 28 and continue the public hearing until its Aug. 28 meeting.

"At times, it's fair to say this process has been frustrating for all of us," said Ari Pollack, a representative for the Woodmont developers. "Now that an end may be in sight, I think we can start to get excited about what we're trying to accomplish here."

The Woodmont Commons development calls for the construction of more than 1,400 homes, three hotels and 800,000 square feet of commercial space on more than 600 acres in Londonderry.