From: Michael Behrendt Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2016 11:35 AM Subject: Mill Plaza - email from Scott and Heidi Bogle To the Planning Board, Please see the email below from Scott and Heidi Bogle. Michael Behrendt Durham Town Planner Town of Durham 8 Newmarket Road Durham, NH 03824 (603) 868-8064 www.ci.durham.nh.us From: Scott Bogle [] Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 6:47 PM To: Michael Behrendt Cc: Heidi Bogle Subject: Mill Plaza Revised Proposal 2/10/16 Dear Members of the Durham Planning Board My wife and I are unable to attend the meeting this evening (2/10/16) on Colonial Durham Associates revised proposal for the Mill Plaza property. We have not yet reviewed the proposal exhaustively, but we'd like to submit some initial questions and comments and ask you to consider them in the design review discussions with the developer. * With the recent spike in supply of student apartments downtown, do we know what the vacancy rate is in the new units - both during the school year and during the summer? Is there adequate demand for this many new student units in the downtown along with all of the other recent expansion? If inadequate market exists and units are vacant, what happens when the town is asked to lower the assessment due to loss of income? * Similarly, will the new residential development be able to sustain the proposed new ground floor businesses? Has all of the other new ground floor commercial space been leased in other new mixed use projects in town? Durham has always had a difficult time sustaining year round businesses, due in part to most of the student population leaving in the summer. Will additional businesses in new ground floor retail be able to survive year round if most of the new apartments more or less function as dorms and are empty in the summer? * Bicycle and pedestrian accommodation - We'd like to see better attention to pedestrian and bicycle access through the site. The earlier site plan featured a good pedestrian route down the center island of the parking lot, as well as a network of paths through the back of the site. A similar pedestrian path with trees could be placed along Building B. Would like to see more detail on the proposed path along the brook. * Height of Hannaford building & addition abutting Mill Road - Given the height of the proposed new buildings, maintaining the current Hannaford building at a single story seems like it will look out of scale. The suggestions put forward to move the grocery store to the ground floor of either Building B or Building C are interesting, and would allow a 2-3 story structure where the grocery store is now. This would allow shifting of more residential units to the northern half of the site. This would also potentially also allow the proposed two story addition (Building A) abutting Mill Road to be kept at 1 story immediately on the street, with the increase to two stories stepped back somewhat. That would make the transition from no development on that side of Mill Road to the 3 story buildings on Main Street more gradual. That space could make an appealing roof deck cafe if the main Hannaford building became 2 stories. * Bike parking - It would be good to see well designed covered bicycle parking near the entrances of the grocery store and other retail areas, and bike parking areas inside the parking structures. Bicycle parking for the current plaza is substandard. * Location of residential vs. commercial uses - Adding a second floor to the Hannaford building would allow shifting of more residential units to the northern portion of the site (per the settlement between the developer and the Town) and away from the back yards of houses along Faculty Road. * Mixing target audiences - What would be the potential to have apartments in one or both of the back buildings (say E which has the best access to green space and faces Faculty neighborhood) be designed as somewhat larger units to target seniors and or young family workforce housing? Downtown has more of a need for housing units for those markets than for yet more student apartments. Are there examples in other college towns of different residential types like this functioning well in close proximity? * Chesley Drive - The plan doesn't call for opening up through traffic on Chesley Drive. Let's ensure that this remains the case. Thank you for your consideration of these points. This development has the potential to be a significant improvement to downtown if designed well. We appreciate the task you face in working with the developer, abutters and other townspeople to help ensure that happens.. Cheers, Scott & Heidi Bogle 4 Croghan Lane, Durham