Click image for Haverhill City Council agenda.
Twenty-seven rental apartments could be coming to a vacant lot near Lafayette Square.
Haverhill city councilors hear a request tonight for a special permit from developers Steve and Caprice Pascoe of Danville, N.H. They are proposing 21 one-bedroom, 550-square-foot and six two-bedroom apartments at 235 Essex St., adjacent to O’Reilly Auto Parts. The project has the blessing of the city’s Planning Board and Economic and Planning Director William Pillsbury Jr.
“There is a demonstrated need for this type of unit. the infill project will also provide public access to Little River,” Pillsbury told WHAV.
In a letter to councilors, the Pascoes plan to build a three-story, wood-framed building and pledge to provide a 25-foot riverfront easement to the city. They also said they have adequate on-site parking for all future residents and patrons of O’Reilly Auto Parts—a total of 66 spaces. Although the units are small, the developer said, there are shared work and entertaining spaces in the common areas as well as shared roof deck/green space.
During an earlier Planning Board hearing, members learned the site, and most of the adjacent area, was home to multi-family apartment buildings from 1828 to the 1920s.
Stephen Stapinski of Merrimack Engineering and Matt Juros of Fishbrook Design Architects are expected to describe the proposal and answer questions.
The Haverhill City Council meets at 7 p.m., tonight, in the Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. City Council Chambers on the second floor of City Hall.