File photo of the barn at 2 Litchfield Road, Londonderry. (Photo by Tim Jean, Eagle Tribune)
Historic barn in Londonderry receives demolition approval
The owner of a historic barn located at 2 Litchfield Road has received approval from the Historic Heritage Commission to tear it down.
And at least one member of the commission wasn’t happy about it.
“I’m a little emotional about this,” said member Laura Schenkman. “I got on the commission to preserve history. They met the requirement. That’s what we’re voting on and there’s nothing that supersedes that. If we allow our emotions to get ahead of us, then we will be here until midnight.”
The public hearing was held after the commission had previously dismissed the demolition request in July. At that meeting, the commission said barn owner Richard Flier could request demolition again after getting a licensed engineer’s report regarding the safety of the building.
On Friday night, Flier and his lawyer Laura Gandia submitted the report to the commission, saying the findings were extremely similar to what Zoning Administrator Nick Codner and Assistant Building Inspector Brad Anderson had previously submitted to the commission.
“He said, because of these issues, any attempt at remedial work would be unsafe for those involved due to the existing deterioration in structural instability and is not recommended,” Gandia said.
The report noted several major areas of concern, including the stone foundation being reduced to rubble, the majority of the roof being rotted, and roof beams sagging to the point of imminent structure failure.
The main reason Flier needed permission for the barn’s demolition was because the building is in a Commercial III zone, a town historic overlay, and has a historical easement that was placed in 2006.
The easement became the subject of discussion at a June 2023 Town Council meeting, where the town ultimately kept it. This makes it more difficult to update the exterior of the barn and building because renovations must meet the preservation standards of the easement.
Attendees of the public hearing defended the structure. Elizabeth Gillis, a resident and business owner in town, spoke about how the barn had initially attracted her to the property years ago and she had originally thought of purchasing the land to make it into a business space.
Former Town Councilor Deb Paul had previously owned the building, and said during public comment that she had spent approximately $70,000 in fixes for the building. She urged the commission to demand Flier build a similar barn in its stead, saying she had to face stipulations like that when she had been the owner.
“One of the things that I was hoping is that you would put restrictions that he must replace it with a barn that looks exactly like the barn that was taken down and hopefully encourage Mr. Flier to use some of the pieces of the beams within the new structure that he plans on using,” she said.
Commission member Jim Butler said he agreed the building needed to be demolished, and knew that he could not speculate on what the property would be used for, but hoped that Flier would not use the vacant land to build commercial property.
“That intersection is extremely dangerous and I’m concerned about having that barn taken down,” Butler said. “I’m concerned that if we take that barn down, something could go in there that would create more traffic for that intersection.”
The next step in the process will be with the Demolition Delay Committee, who will also have to grant approval for the demolition. — Katelyn Sahagian, Eagle Tribune
A slide showing the approximate location of the roundabout at the intersection of Bicentennial Drive and River Road. (Photo by Andrew Sylvia)
Neighbors weigh in at NHDOT’s Derryfield Roundabout meeting
The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) held a Congestion Mitigation Air Quality (CMAQ) Project local concerns meeting at the Derryfield School on Thursday night to solicit any local concerns from local residents on a proposed roundabout in front of the Derryfield School.
The proposed roundabout would be placed near to the eastern entrance of the Derryfield School on Cougar Drive, taking a part of Cougar Drive and Bicentennial Drive and River Road from Chase Way to the Derryfield School tennis courts.
Thursday’s meeting marked the first stage in the process to create the roundabout, which aims to relieve traffic queues in the area, which can back up during school pick-up and drop-off periods.
Eighty percent of funds for the project will be provided by the federal government, with the Derryfield School agreeing to the other twenty percent of the roundabout’s cost. The Derryfield School is also expected to maintain the island in the middle of the roundabout. Design and planning for the project will be a joint venture of CMA Engineers, the Derryfield School, NHDOT and the City of Manchester.
Although additional analysis is possible to explore other methods to keep traffic moving, NH DOT civil engineer Tony Puntin said that an underpass/overpass was impractical, a traffic light would require an MUTCD warrant analysis, and it was unclear if additional lanes would alleviate the problem.
Several residents living on or near the Derryfield School on River Road expressed that they cannot leave their homes near the beginning and end of each school day due to backed up queues of cars. Sue Cashin, who lives on the corner of River Road and Union Street was one of those neighbors.
“We have at least two or three good accidents every year because we have people flying down Union trying to make it toward school and they just don’t make it,” she said. “And as soon as the traffic starts, we can’t back out of our driveway.”
Following Thursday’s meeting, a follow-up meeting with proposed actions stemming from Thursday’s suggestions is scheduled for sometime in January. Design will take place from early 2025 to early 2026, with the hope of advertising the project to construction companies in early 2026 and construction in summer and fall of 2026. However, this timeline is subject to change. — Andrew Sylvia, Manchester Ink Link
From interns to career-builders
Rebekah Gebru and Sarah Foy have joined Hoyle Tanner’s team as full-time employees after completing their internships with the firm.
Rebekah Gebru studied civil engineering at the University of Massachusetts – Lowell and interned with Hoyle Tanner in its aviation division in 2022. Now, she’ll learn from the company’s airport design experts and bring her fresh perspectives to designs.
Sarah Foy recently received her environmental engineering degree from the University of Vermont. She interned with Hoyle Tanner in summer 2023 and again starting in January 2024. She’ll start her start full-time position in the firm’s municipal engineering division, where she’ll work on stormwater and wastewater treatment projects as an environmental engineer.
