The future of the Rivco business complex in Penacook, which manufactured doors and windows for more than 45 years before closing a decade ago, remains a mystery following a meeting Thursday between residents and its principal owner.
A passionate crowd filled the cafeteria at Merrimack Valley High School, bringing with them skepticism and questions for owner John Wolters, who holds a large piece of the village’s identity in his hands.
It was clear long before the meeting that nothing had yet been decided on what to do with the buildings and land at 77 Merrimack Street, but that didn’t stop residents from grilling Wolters on a wide range of possibilities, none of which went over well.
The issue that caused the biggest uproar was the possibility of bringing two six-story apartment buildings to the area. As one woman asked during the discussion, “Would Mr. Wolters want a six-story building in his front yard?”
To which Wolters said, “I guess I would look at my options, I would look at currently what I have across the street. I have an industrial park, an industrial zone that can allow anything. Today we are not here with an application.”
Wolters and his attorney, Philip Hastings, minimized the effect a few hundred apartments would have on traffic flow and parking, an opinion that one resident called laughable.
Wolters’s strategy is to ask the planning board at a meeting on Feb. 20 to amend zoning ordinances, giving him the flexibility to bring multiple uses to the site, including apartments, retail and, potentially, industry.
“All this is going to do is allow that opportunity to present itself,” Wolters said. “It does not mean it’s going to get rubber stamped and approved.”
At times, though, that did little to calm the voices from residents, who realized that whatever construction occurs in the area will change the neighborhood forever, prompting one resident to say she’d move if things got too congested, and another to say she, too, feared that the quiet nature around her home would be disrupted.
“There’s Morrill Farm and the cows, which makes it a great neighborhood,” said Cathy Lord. “And I love the cows.”
Lord is a key figure here. She’s on the ground floor of a group called Bog, a neighborhood watch organization that she helped start two years ago to monitor illegal activity, such as drug use and burglaries, while also creating a communal climate to help nurture a bond.
Bog members have met several times to discuss the rumors and buzz concerning the fate of Rivco. She said at a recent meeting, most of the 35 members who attended had no information on any proposals, adding they learned that a letter from the planning board to residents was scheduled to be mailed just one week before the Feb. 20 meeting.
“They’ve been working on it for a while and there was no discussion with the neighborhood,” Lord said Friday. “We were angry about that.”
While Wolters and his partners discussed some possibilities for Rivco on Thursday – focusing on walking trails near the Contoocook River, shops and apartments – residents were clearer on what they didn’t want at the site than what they would like to see.
Nobody wanted low-income housing. That much was clear. And no one, of course, wanted a smelly chicken factory.
Some said they’d rather see the site remain as is – mostly abandoned, except for the recently added newspaper printing press, owned by the Monitor’s parent company – than see tall buildings or a new business with hundreds of employees.
Some future uses could generate more noise and parked cars, but in its heyday, Rivco itself employed about 300 people.
“Rivco was not bad,” Lord said. “I lived across from there. At 7 in the morning they came in quietly and at 3 they left, and the trucks went slowly up the street.”
The zoning ordinances Wolters seeks include a switch on the northern side of Merrimack Street, from an Industrial Section to an Opportunity Corridor Performance, which would allow multi-family housing and commercial use; and a change to existing residential properties on Merrimack, from Medium Density to Neighborhood Residential, which will open the street to attached dwellings and townhomes.
Lord suggested senior housing.
“That would not be a huge traffic impact on us or have an impact on the schools. And I would not mind talking about some townhouses,” she said.
Kris LaBrake mentioned 14 single-family houses on a three-acre lot rather than 200 apartments, an idea that garnered applause, then a rebuttal from Wolters.
“If it makes sense economically, that would be one issue, but I’m saying it doesn’t,” Wolters said. “It’s not going to work, so we need something that is going to work for all.”
Reached by phone Friday, LaBrake said, “He said no and he is right. You can not build houses and make back (your investment), but whose fault is that? He’s trying to sell this wonderful idea to the neighborhood and painting the best-case scenario.”
The Rivco property sold for $5.25 million in 2006 and is currently assessed at $1.65 million, according to town records.
Wolters declined to comment after the meeting, referring questions to Hastings, who said the opportunity to build market-rate housing could come off the table with a change in the housing market. That could leave Wolters with no choice beyond bringing industry back.
“He has the right to put in a food processing plant, subject to a site-plan review,” Hastings said. “That would have an impact on the river, the environment and the neighborhood. That is less attractive than what’s being offered, in our opinion.”
One more factor to consider: Rivco has been available – through sale or lease – for years and remains silent, similar to what happened to the tannery site a few years ago.
“I’m a capitalist,” LaBrake said, “but it looks like it was a bad investment.”