First and foremost: good news!

I am pleased to report that on Wednesday night, the Lebanon City Council supported our request to reconsider the 2011 Council decision to reject the River Park streets on the then-City Staff’s position that they “served no public benefit.”

That decision had disqualified River Park from pursuing State and Federal funding opportunities for Advance Transit, the West Lebanon Greenway, and more.

I am grateful to the City Council for their engaging questions and statements of support for River Park, and look forward to returning to the Council later this year to advance River Park and West Lebanon priorities.

The Council gave clear direction that it was time to fix past mistakes and move forward, and we hope that Monday’s hearing at the Planning Board and Tuesday’s hearing at the Board of Appeals are similarly productive.

Next week’s hearings determine if there’s a path forward for River Park.

The delays and legal issues resulting from the City Planning Staff’s erroneous and overreaching conditions have now stretched from November into July; have been unnecessary and costly to River Park and Lyme Properties; and now constitutes the fourth (2016, 2018, 2020, 2023) stoppage of 1 River Park due to issues beyond our control.

The recent actions by City Staff to add additional hoops to jump through, make erroneous statements in formal communications to the Planning Board, and withhold information from the Appeal Board in an effort to block our formal appeal of their actions… ignores the City’s own rules and flies in the face of an approved project that citizens voted overwhelmingly in favor of.

Unfortunately, there continues to be a disconnect with the Lebanon Planning Department under the new Planning Director who said we’re “difficult” because we push back against costly mistakes.

Enough is enough.

It’s clear that this is a different City Council than the one that opposed River Park in 2011. Is it a different City Administration? We’ll find out Monday at the Lebanon Planning Board (7/10 - 6:30pm - City Hall or Livestream) and Tuesday at the Lebanon Building Code Board of Appeals (7/11 - 7:30pm - City Hall or Livestream)

We would appreciate your attendance, in person, or via Microsoft Teams.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Chet Clem
President, Lyme Properties
chet@lymeproperties.com
603-676-7106 (direct)

“continuation of the construction work under the Building Permit is practically and economically unfeasible, as it would entail substantial investment of resources and efforts without assurances that the Building Permit will not be revoked.”

– Appeal letter from XYZ Dairy, LLC’s attorney

LOH Hootenanny @ River Park a huge success!

Another special thank you to the awesome team at Lebanon Opera House for pulling off the (1st Annual!) Hootenanny at River Park featuring Beecharmer, Cold Chocolate, and The Jacob Jolliff Band. Despite scattered showers we had over 574 people come out for a great afternoon along the riverfront.

This was a free, family-friendly event thanks to LOH and the incredible support and sponsorship from: Claremont Savings Bank, Simple Energy, Lebanon Paint & Decorating, Purcell Properties, Snyder Donegan Real Estate, T-Mobile, West Lebanon Feed & Supply, and Woodsville Guaranty Savings Bank.

10 Things To Help Advance River Park

“City Hall has asked Lyme to provide a list of 9 items to justify that we’ve commenced construction and been “working in good faith” or forfeit our 1 River Park building permit. In response, Lyme Properties is asking the City for 10 things to help River Park succeed before we move forwards.”

1. River Park is fully-aligned with the U.S. DOT’s top priorities: “focus on safety, jobs, equity, climate, innovation, and organizational excellence” but can’t qualify for unprecedented funding opportunities unless the City qualifies our fully designed and approved infrastructure.

2. Since 2010, we have committed to re-locating the 4-line Advance Transit hub at River Park. But, River Park is missing transportation funding opportunities without City support.

3. Estimated construction costs of our first building— the LEED Gold 1 River Park— have escalated 74% since Elkus-Manfredi designed the building for the initial groundbreaking in 2015. To off-set that cost escalation, we’ve identified cost-savings opportunities the City can help facilitate through assistance and coordination.

4. In the hypothetical situation in which River Park proceeded in 2016 as planned, and the first three buildings were constructed according to the initial schedule, River Park would have contributed over $4-million in taxes to the City to-date. Costly infrastructure and delays constructing it prevent tax producing development from being achieved. The past decade has cost us a lot of money and missed opportunities, but it’s also cost the City a lot in lost tax-revenue. Absent new smart growth, residents keep seeing tax increases to cover growing budgets and heavy municipal debt. As counter-intuitive as it may sound, we’re asking the City to help River Park pay the City of Lebanon a lot of taxes by assisting in the execution of infrastructure, and we’ve offered to back-stop it to limit risk to the taxpayers.

5. Reverse the 2012 decision that River Park Drive “serves no public benefit,” which prevents the road network serving the project, the Advance Transit hub, and the trail network from qualifying for funding.

6. Adopt the 2030 Future Land Use Map included in the City’s Master Plan, to create a Mixed-Use District to enable smarter growth and achieve shared future goals.

7. We’ve already invested millions in municipal infrastructure and transferred it to the City. If the City wants to see more investment in West Leb, then vest our approvals instead of keeping our investments at-risk.

8. Holding River Park to tight deadlines doesn’t reflect the reality of conducting business these days, turn off the shot clock so we can focus on building great places, not hitting unnecessary deadlines.

9. River Park’s 2011 approvals have restrictive conditions that conflict with the present realities of the real estate industry, eliminate costly and restrictive conditions that make financing commercial and housing development unnecessarily complicated and expensive.

10. Utilize Current Use penalty fees as a source of substantial funding for onsite public recreation improvements to advance the River Park waterfront park and trails as part of the West Lebanon Greenway.

Think I’m crazy? Think this is asking for too much? Well, all 10 of these concepts are already utilized elsewhere in Lebanon, we’re just asking the City for equal opportunity, and believe we can demonstrate unprecedented community benefits if the project receives municipal support.