Construction continues on the Viewpoint North Conway LLC hotel in Intervale. (Photo by Rachel Sharples)
The Conway Planning board is looking at a proposal that would create a new “commercial core” zone, which would limit hotels and big box stores to the southern end of the North Conway Strip. As currently envisioned, the one would house large commercial buildings greater than 15,000 square feet and hotels in an area that would extend from Village Way, just north of Four Your Paws Only, south to the bottom of Bowling Alley Hill, just south of Burger King.
Motels and smaller stores would be permitted throughout the already existing highway commercial zone — which would encompass mas well as the new commercial core zone.
The planning board — comprising chair Ben Colbath, vice chair Ailie Byers, selectmen’s representative Steve Porter, secretary Erik Corbett, Dr. Eliza Grant, Bill Barbin and Ted Phillips — is working to define hotels versus motels as part of that effort. They next meet next Thursday, Aug. 22, at 6 p.m. at Conway Town Hall.
The idea of the commercial core zone, notes Town Planner Ryan O’Connor and planning board members, would be to encourage small businesses and to have more control on large-scale development of hotels and big box stores, as they listen to input received by voters, including in the updating last year of the town’s master plan.
To give time to the planning board to work with consultants to update the town’s previously outdated master plan, Conway voters in April 2023 enacted a one-year moratorium on commercial buildings greater than 50,000 square feet and on hotels.
They then extended that moratorium in April 2024 by another year to give the planning board the opportunity to work on updating the town’s zoning ordinance to reflect the goals of the master plan.
But the pressure is on the board because the moratorium expires in April 2025 and cannot be extended, according to planners — which leaves many fearful that without enacting tougher measures, other areas of the valley could be ripe for more hotels and commercial development, especially the section from the River Road and Route 16 intersection in North Conway north to Intervale.
Hindsight is 20/20, as the saying goes — and they are hoping to prevent another Viewpoint Hotel from happening along that opportune stretch of Route 16.
Motels? No problem. Big four-story hotels? There’s the rub, especially for selectmen’s representative Porter, who along with Colbath and Grant in board meetings championed the need to protect that stretch from that possibility.
As many have lamented, no one foresaw the zoning changes that were needed to protect that stretch as it is zoned highway commercial just like the entire Route 16 commercial strip — so the town had to allow that Viewpoint project because it met the existing regulations, even though through a year of negotiations, it was scaled back from its initially proposed 105 rooms and four stories to three stories and 70 rooms.
For those who haven’t noticed the large, new hotel going up across from the Intervale Scenic Vista, it is located on the former site of the modest, one-story Intervale Motel, and its 100-year-old maple tree.
The board also received a lot of criticism for allowing the 90-room, four-story Hilton Garden Inn that is nearing completion close to Route 16, just south of the Christmas Loft on the North Conway Strip. But again, it met existing town zoning regulations so they could not stop that project, despite its location on a small lot and the placement of the building close to Route 16, much to the public’s dismay.
Both of those hotels are being built by Opechee Construction of Belmont, the firm that also built the 88-room Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott that opened at the base of Cranmore Mountain Resort in February 2023.
Asked about the new Cambria North Conway Hotel, which opened in June, Colbath expressed praise for the way it is set back from Route 16.
“In terms of the recent proposals of hotels, I think that of the three, Cambria is certainly the most fitting. You know that where it is, the size, the scale, the setback, you know, there are some really nice plantings in there — they’ve done a really nice job. And that’s an example of some scaling that feels more appropriate and set back from the road, in comparison to the other two projects you mentioned, especially.”
Both the Viewpoint and Hilton Garden Inn are set close to the road.
All three add to the valley’s bed base, which according to Lisa Eastman of the Mt. Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce, stands at 2,500 rooms including hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfast inns, but not counting Conway’s estimated 850 short-term rentals, according to the town zoning officer Nick DeVito.
The board is now addressing what changes could be made to plan for the future redevelopment of the town. The planners say they believe it is not a lost cause because properties could be bought and existing structures razed to make way for bigger buildings — something the board is trying to control.
The planning board is also addressing setbacks and increasing greenspace requirements. The board in the past year has increased greenspace in the highway commercial zone to 35 percent but for structures greater than 10,000 square feet it is now 45 percent.
They are also exploring mixed-use measures to increase housing stock. At next Thursday’s planning board meeting (at 6 p.m. at Conway Town Hall), they also are encouraging low-impact stormwater controls as an incentive for reduced greenspace.
They will also discuss greenspace requirements in the villages of Conway and North Conway, as the master plan outlined the need to promote the village feel. Should buildings in the village be destroyed, planners want to ensure that they could be rebuilt to the way they were, which would be a violation of existing zoning.
Because a major issue reported through the master plan process was the lack of housing, which is tied to the employees needed to work in all of local businesses, including hotels, they also will hold a public hearing on adopting the master plan Housing Opportunity Planning Project as an appendix to the 2024 master plan.
The report outlines a plan to amend Conway’s land use regulation and ordinance language to support the development of housing. The planning board will use this document as a guide for amending the zoning ordinance to reflect the vision of the master plan, according to O’Connor.
As to the “commercial core” and hotels and big box stores, O’Connor said the board is in the process of defining what all the uses are in the commercial core and will then define the boundaries of the district. They are also discussing protecting viewsheds.
As a tourist town, Conway still needs hotels. It’s just a question of how many, how big and where to locate them.
“There still will be motels permitted outside of that commercial core,” said O’Connor, adding, “The highway commercial district would allow transient occupancy and motels, but at a smaller scale.
“The district would allow motels at a size more traditionally in line with existing development — that is, the motel that we might traditionally think of, rather than the multi-story hotels …
“So we still want to support the tourist economy, but (we want to look at) where in the community will those uses fit best to accommodate them at scale, and where do we want to make sure that we are holding on to the local community housing and supporting thoseat more walkable, pedestrian friendly area,” he said.
Is it too late to address growth? O’Connor was asked.
No, he said, and the planning board members echoed that sentiment.
“There might be things, developments that folks don’t care for as much right now, but we can protect our spaces to make sure as we redevelop the town, it’s aligned with our master plan,” said O’Connor, adding, “It’s all a balance, but I would never say that the community is too far gone to still make an impact. As long as we have an engaged community, we and can make positive change.”
Grant, Barbin, Phillips and Corbett were not individually interviewed for this article due to deadline constraints, but their input has been reported on at past recent planning board sessions.
“The mindset of the current board is we have to preserve the natural beauty of what we have left,” said Porter in an interview this week.
“I’m not trying to turn back the clock to the (North Conway) Strip of the ’60s that I see on Facebook,” he said, allowing that growth has not always brought good change to the community, citing in particular the recent revaluation in which commercial properties enjoyed an advantage over residential properties.
Added Byers, “So, basically, what we’re trying to do is line up the expectations of the community with the (zoning) code, because the expectation, like the code, isn’t where the people, the community, think it should be. We kind of broke it down in the master plan.”
“It’s not us trying to control anything,” said Colbath.
“It’s us trying to adjust the ordinances to make it more palatable for the people who live here regarding what they expect to see in this town and what they want to see in the town.”
He added, “Everything (zoning and the master plan) should be working documents that we adjust over time. I think that is what didn’t happen in the early 2000s — there was not enough effort put into adjusting the ordinances as the town grew. I am sure after we are all out of our seats they will be adjusting them again as that is what’s needed over time.”
For more, check out the master plan at storymaps.arcgls.com or conwaynh.org or find videos of past meetings at the town of Conway’s Facebook page.
This article is being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.
