Planning board members were left disgruntled Wednesday night when the applicant of a proposed casino and his consultants failed to produce an adequate emergency services assessment per the request of the board, further delaying the application.

The report did not provide site-specific estimates and projections regarding potential demand for fire, police and emergency medical services for the proposed development near Exit 3 od Interstate 393 in Concord and did not review the suggested comparable venues as requested.

Instead, the report included historical data from local police departments, the history of the state law regarding charitable gaming and comparisons to smaller venues, which was not what the board asked to receive.

“It wasn’t just emergency services from police departments, we expressed interest in fire services and EMT services,” said City Councilor Byron Champlin, who sits on the planning board. “I know you did the best you could but I would have been more satisfied had you followed more closely the advice of our staff, which reflected what the board is looking for.”

Continuing, Champlin said the emergency services report disregarded the board’s request for an analysis of the entire completed project to include a casino, a restaurant with a microbrewery, hotel and conference center. Instead, it focused only on phase 1, which doesn’t include the hotel and conference center.

“You decided that phase 2 was off the table when we specifically asked you for both,” Champlin said. “Data collection takes time and I would just suggest that’s probably why we recommended you hire someone that had the ability and expertise to do all of that legwork. I appreciate that you gave us 92 pages, some of which was of interest and a lot of which was not, but to me as a board member, you didn’t really listen to what we want and you gave us what you and your client wanted to give us.”

In response, attorney John Cronin argued that he and the applicant, businessman Andy Sanborn, who owns the Draft Sports Bar and Grill and the Concord Casino at the same location, felt it was a waste of time and money to study something that is not guaranteed to be built.

However, Champlin argued that the largest number of public comments received about the project were relative to the impact on public safety and residents want to see accurate projections for both phases.

In March, Concord Fire Chief John Chisholm and Police Chief Bradley Osgood raised concerns that the proposed 43,000-square-foot casino, bar and hotel on the city’s East Side would bring crime to the city and draw increased traffic that could restrict public safety access on Loudon Road in an emergency.

Neither the fire department nor the police department could anticipate how calls for service might be impacted, which led to the request of the emergency services assessment and analysis of the public safety impact on local casinos comparable in size. Champlin suggested the applicant hire a third-party consultant to complete the assessment to the board’s satisfaction, which passed.

Additionally, board members were asked to approve a waiver that would not require the applicant to build sidewalks along Break O’Day Drive or Loudon Road frontage, a request staff did not support. Rather, they suggested the applicant not only adhere to the sidewalk regulations but add crosswalks to the south side of the intersection and connect it with existing sidewalks.

“I understand you are not supporting the waiver but as part of our comprehensive development plan, they don’t need to be installed now and we feel it’s an excessive cost given the amount of improvements that have already been made,” said Nick Golan, principal of engineering firm TFMoran. “The expectation was to build a standalone facility with opportunities to see further improvements that would include sidewalks.”

As a solution, board member Jeffrey Santacruce suggested approving the waiver under the condition that the applicant will be required to relocate the construction of the sidewalks from the frontage of Loudon Road and Break O’Day Drive to the driveway of Break O’Day Drive that will then connect with Loudon Road.

“If you measure their driveway to the end of Break O’Day Drive, it’s about 400 feet. Take that and use those funds to build on Loudon Road,” he continued. “I understand that piece isn’t impactful but this piece is for the residents and their usage. Theoretically, we could require you to put it there and make you pay whatever it costs as opposed to putting the money there.”

During public comment, Ronald Rayner of Concord noted that the only people in support of the proposed casino are the nonprofits who benefit from them.

“There are a number of people opposed and perhaps it would be prudent to request the city put this on a referendum and request that the applicant go along with the city public at large and put this to a vote in November,” he said.

His suggestion was not addressed by board members.

The public hearing was continued to the next board meeting on June 21 pending the submission of an independent third-party emergency services assessment.

As part of the charitable gaming operations, the state of New Hampshire requires 35% of gross revenue be donated to charities every 10 days. Since the launch of Sanborn’s first casino in 2019, he had donated to more than 36 local charities and plans to expand to 72. Charities include educational funding, animal welfare, addiction services, homelessness, veteran supports, food pantries, elderly housing, children’s programs, sports teams, retirement homes and more.

If approved, the first phase of the project, which was determined complete and granted conditional approval in January, would be a 24,000-square-foot gaming room with 634 seats and an 8,500-square-foot restaurant and brewpub that  can hold up to 150 diners. The new building would be located near the intersection of Loudon and Sheep Davis roads close to Interstate 393. The second phase of the project calls for a hotel and event center.

]]>