Latest development plans for State School include grocery store

LACONIA — Pillsbury Development’s plans for the former Laconia State School Property, including three neighborhoods and a grocery store, will be up for display and analysis at the meeting of the city’s Technical Review Committee on Tuesday, April 15. The meeting is held at City Hall and will begin at 10 a.m.

The proposed development would represent the biggest, and most significant, project in the city’s recent history. Pillsbury won the opportunity to develop the property after submitting the development plan most favored by the governor and Executive Council last year.

In exchange for the 217-acre parcel, Pillsbury agreed to pay the state $10.5 million. Of that, the state has only received a $500,000 deposit; the balance won’t be due until after the developer has sought the necessary permitting and approvals to pursue the project, which promises to create a bustling new neighborhood that utilizes Right Way Path as its main street.

The project is ambitious by local standards but not to the development firm, which recently developed the much larger Woodmont Commons in Londonderry.

Documents attached to the Technical Review Committee’s agenda show Pillsbury plans to create three contiguous neighborhoods on the property. The project would add a total of 2,050 residences, ranging from apartments to single-family homes, as well as 375,000 square feet of commercial space and 75,000 square feet of structures for civic purposes, such as city offices. The plan specifies the inclusion of medical, recreational, commercial and retail spaces, including a 67,000-square-foot grocery store located along Parade Road.

The Technical Review Committee includes representatives from the city’s planning, assessing, public works, code enforcement and public safety departments. After that committee, the developer will need to receive approvals from the city Planning Board. Documents show Pillsbury is pursuing approvals based on performance zoning, which allows the city to consider how the property will perform in relation to the rest of the community, instead of following stricter site review standards.