8A.0Downtown Industrial Adaptive Reuse Overlay District
8A.1Downtown Industrial Adaptive Reuse Overlay District Location.
The Downtown Industrial Adaptive Reuse Overlay District encompasses the lots located in the Industrial District southeast of Forest Road, south of Main Street, north of Gibbons Highway, and north and east of Island Street, and west of the Milford boundary line. The identified lots include Tax Map D, Lot 94, Tax Map J, Lots 105, 110, 110-01, 113, Tax Map K, Lots 165, 167, 168, 169, and Tax Map L, Lots 64, 65, 66, and 68.
8A.2General Provisions.
A building or structure may be erected, altered or reused, and a lot may be used or occupied in accordance with the following provisions: proposed developments must demonstrate that the proposed use or mix of uses can be accommodated on the site harmoniously and that sufficient accommodations for access, parking, circulation, traffic, stormwater management and open space are provided.
8A.3Permitted Uses.
The following uses shall be permitted in Downtown Industrial Adaptive Reuse Overlay District developments:
8A.3.1Residential Uses.
Multi-family housing, subject to Section 8A.4 below.
8A.3.2Commercial Uses.
The following commercial uses are permitted if the entire structure is used for commercial use only. For mixed uses, refer to Section 8A.3.4.
Food Service. Establishments, including restaurants, taverns, cafes, commercial kitchens or commissary restaurants/cafes, but not including drive-through services;
Retail Services. Establishments engaged in selling goods or merchandise to the public for personal or household consumption and rendering services incidental to the sale of such goods, including retail stores and banks. Also, establishments primarily engaged in providing services involving the care of a person or his or her apparel (such as barbershops and beauty salons, spas, tailors and dry cleaning);
Business and professional offices;
Community buildings, social halls, clubs, lodges, fraternal organizations, theaters, recreation facilities, and amusement centers;
Wholesale establishments in connection with permitted retail establishment, warehousing or merchandise for retail sale within the district;
Houses of worship including, but not limited to, churches, synagogues, parish houses, mosques, convents, and other accessory uses;
Medical offices, which provide health services to people on an outpatient basis including doctors, dentists, physical therapists, massage therapists and chiropractors;
Adult day care facilities: Any person, corporation, partnership, voluntary association, or other organization, either established for profit or otherwise, which provides for the daily care and supervision of an adult person from the person’s home, and which requires licensing by the State of New Hampshire;
Light Industry. The assembly, packaging, and/or finishing of products carried on completely within a structure and involving no outside storage of equipment or materials. Light Industry shall not include any industry, the operation of which could (1) pose a danger of fire or explosion, (2) create significant objectionable vibration, noise, smoke, fumes, odor or dust, (3) produce chemicals, radioactive or other potentially dangerous waste, or (4) adversely affect other private or public properties. The following commercial uses are permitted if the entire structure is used for commercial use only. For mixed uses, refer to Section 8A.3.4.
8A.3.4Mixed Uses.
Mixed Uses. The development of a tract of land or building or structure with two or more different permitted uses such as, but not limited to, residential, office, retail, public, or entertainment in a compact urban form. Individual uses within a mixed- use property must conform to any requirement within their class of use. Mixed use with residential buildings is defined in Section 8A.5 below.
8A.4Multi-family Housing.
Multi-family dwellings shall be served by both municipal sewer and water systems;
Average square footage of all units in a multi-family dwelling shall not exceed 1,200 square feet;
Density shall be no more than 24 total bedrooms per gross tract acre for all dwelling units.
8A.5Mixed-Uses.
Mixed-use residential/commercial developments may include any commercial use listed in Section 8A.3.2. Required office/retail uses for a mixed-use with residential building are as follows:
One-story Building. A mixed-use with residential use is not allowed in a one-story building;
Two-story Building. The entire first floor must be office/retail/light industrial;
Three or Four-story Building. The entire first floor must be office/retail. Alternatively, office/retail uses may be located anywhere on the first, second, third, and fourth floors provided that (1) the amount of office/retail equals or exceeds the square footage of the first floor, and (2) where the building fronts on a public road, not less than 70% of the first floor of the portion of the building facing the road must be office/retail to a depth of at least 50 feet except where adequately screened ground floor parking is provided.
8A.6Site Plan Review Required.
Any change or expansion in use in an existing structure in this district must have prior approval from the Planning Board under the Site Plan Review Regulations, with the following exception:
8A.6.1Change to Permitted Commercial Uses.
Site Plan Review is not required for a change from any commercial use within the same use class listed in Section 8A.3.2, provided that there is an existing approved site plan for the property and the change does not result in any exterior changes on the property with the exception of changes to signage, paint color and other minor cosmetic alterations.
No buildings or parking areas are permitted within the front setback or in any setback which abuts a residential or residential/agriculturally zoned parcel;
Parking areas are permitted up to ten (10) feet of the side or rear lot line of a commercially zoned parcel where it abuts another commercially or industrially zoned parcel; and
Parking areas shared between two (2) adjacent commercial or industrially zoned parcels may be developed up to the common side or rear lot line if all other conditions of the district are met.
8A.7.4Percentage of Lot Coverage.
There is no maximum building coverage (subject to any setback requirements), except that the site must be designed to dispose of all runoff and drainage without impacting other properties.
8A.7.5Access.
Access to lots within the Downtown Commercial District shall be as follows:
>Access to any Town road or State highway shall require Town or State permit approval.
8A.7.6Parking.
Parking requirements shall be as follows:
All non-residential uses listed in Sections 8A.3.2, 8A.3.3, and 8A.3.4 are exempt from the provision of off-street parking facilities standards established in the Site Plan Review Regulations; and
Any residential use listed in Section 8A.3.1 is required to have on-site or fee ownership parking with at least one (1) parking space per residential unit.
8A.7.7Structure Height.
Except for small wind energy systems and personals wireless service facilities permitted in Chapter 15 or Chapter 15A of this Ordinance, respectively, no structure shall exceed 45 feet in height.
8A.7.8
The following uses are not permitted in Downtown Industrial Adaptive Reuse Overlay District developments:
The design standards in this section shall be applied to development within the Downtown Industrial Adaptive Reuse Overlay District.
8A.8.1Buildings.
Existing Buildings. Existing buildings shall be rehabilitated in a manner that restores the building’s exterior façade to its original profile to the extent possible within reasonable engineering methods and cost.
New Buildings. New building(s) may be constructed as part of the Downtown Industrial Adaptive Resue District if the Planning Board determines thatt he number, type, scale, architectural style, and use within such new building(s) are compatible with the character of the Downtown Industrial Adaptive Reuse Overlay District.
All buildings shall have a principal façade and entry (with operable doors) facing a street or open space. Buildings may have more than one (1) principal façade and/or entry.
Building finish materials shall be appropriate to traditional New England architecture and may include but shall not be limited to brick or high-quality brick face, wood, stone or high-quality stone-face. The use of vinyl, unfinished metal or fiberglass as a primary finished surface shall be prohibited.
Blank walls adjacent to streets, alleys or open spaces shall not be permitted. Where windows are not possible or appropriate to the intended use, vertical articulation in the form of raised or recessed surfaces shall be used to break up blank walls.
Street level frontage shall be devoted to entrances, lobby areas, shop windows or other activated spaces such as fitness centers, rental/management offices, or conference rooms to the extent possible. Ground level parking is permitted if adequately screened from street view.
Clear pedestrian pathways shall be provided between buildings on the same lot and between buildings on adjacent lots to ensure a continuous pedestrian pathway throughout the district.
Where residential neighborhoods abut commercial, office or mixed-use developments, appropriate transitional features shall be used and may include landscaping, open space or parks, or streets with clearly designed pedestrian features.
Where a site abuts the Souhegan River the applicant shall ensure that existing public access to the river is preserved and maintained. Where public access to the river does not exist, the applicant is strongly encouraged to provide access.
