Merrimack's Planning Board is scheduled to meet tonight with representatives from Thurloe Kensington Corp. and the Merrimack Premium Outlets to discuss an application proposing construction of three restaurants in a single building and separate bank on Premium Outlets Boulevard.
The larger building would contain a 2,514 square-foot, 70-seat restaurant; a 2,906 square-foot, 50-seat restaurant; and a 1,765 square-foot restaurant with a drive-through window.
The proposed bank would be 4,515 square feet and would have a drive-up window.
This is the second planning board meeting this month to discuss development at and around the Merrimack Premium Outlets site.
On April 3, the planning board met with Jim Petropulos, vice president and principal engineer at Hayner-Swanson in Nashua, and John Motta, owner of Merrimack's Dunkin' Donuts restaurants, to discuss the construction of a new Dunkin' Donuts with an attached retail space similar to the restaurant at Exit 11 with a dry cleaner attached to it. The location for the new restaurant is proposed on Continental Boulevard near the intersection with Industrial Drive on the property of the old Home, Health and Hospice.
The crux of the conversation about the proposed 1,956 square-foot restaurant with a 1,500 square-foot retail space attached was parking.
The applicant requested a waiver for the number of parking spaces required at the building, as the current regulation would require 57 spaces, a number that was arguably many more than necessary for a business that conducts more drive-through business than it does walk-in service.
The applicant requested the planning board consider waiving the space requirement and permitting 25 spaces that could be shared between the restaurant and retail space, however, a couple of planning board members had their reservations about the numbers being presented to them as typical for one of the town's other Dunkin' Donuts.
Town Council representative to the board Tom Koenig said he was hesitant to approve less than half of their required spaces for the project because he believes the restaurant's proximity to the Merrimack Premium Outlet will set the restaurant apart from the norm.
Additionally, Chairman Robert Best was not convinced the adjacent retail space wouldn't need more parking.
“I think 57 is a crazy-high number,” Best said “Obviously a waiver of some variety is appropriate.”
That said, Best was unconvinced that the adjacent retail space would need only eight spaces, as presented by the applicant for consideration, because he believes the proximity the mall would generate interest from a company that does more business than say a dry cleaner.
Motta and Petropulos argued that the peak traffic for a Dunkin' Donuts is early in the morning, generally before 9 a.m. and by the time the morning rush was over, a retailer would likely just be opening its doors. However Allistair Millns was unconvinced that this would be traditional traffic driver.
“I think you're going to do very well, it's going to be a bumper business,” Millns said, adding that he “fundamentally disagrees” with the projection of peak traffic from 7-9 a.m., saying that its more likely going to see steady traffic all day and perhaps a late afternoon or early evening spike.
The board continued the parking discussion to its May 15 meeting to give the applicant more time to consider ways he might be able to add more spaces parking spaces to the property to allay concerns that 25 spaces is too few for the site.
They also continued a discussion about a waiver for adding a sidewalk in front of the restaurant.
The Planning Board meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Meeting Room.
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