New Marriott hotel gains approval – Seacoastonline.com

Max Sullivan msullivan@seacoastonline.com @MaxSullivanLive

HAMPTON Construction for a new Marriott hotel and office building will soon be in the works on Exeter Road, as the Planning Board approved the projects site plan and wetlands permit.

The Planning Board made the approval at its March 15 meeting. The hotel, a SpringHill Suites Marriott, and the office building are slated to be built at 287 and 299 Exeter Road, which is next to CRs Restaurant. The project is being put forth by AG Hampton Hospitality.

The Marriott will have four stories, 104 rooms and approximately 150 parking spaces with an internal driveway connection to CRs, according to Planning Board meeting minutes. The office building, which does not yet have a tenant secured, will be 40,000 square feet with three stories and 204 parking spaces.

Units in the hotel will each have a living room and a bedroom as well as refrigerators and microwaves, and exterior patio areas will be available for guests. The hotel itself will not contain a bar or restaurant. The building will feature pitched roofs, clapboard siding and other bandings to give it a New England colonial look.

The Planning Board voted unanimously to approve the wetlands permit for the site, then voted 6-1 to approve the site plan. Chairman Brendan McNamara voted against passing the site plan because he believed the board should have waited until its next meeting to make a decision. He said that would have given board members more time to consider the project and allow the newest member of the board to participate.

The projects construction is contingent on the finalization of a sewer association, which would be responsible for a private sewer system used by businesses on or near Liberty Lane. Plans for the hotel and the future site of a neighboring assisted living facility were put on hold last year when the town and stakeholders could not come to terms on who would be responsible for the sewer.

In February, selectmen and stakeholders approved documents for a sewer association proposed by stakeholders and vetted by the town attorney, allowing construction of the assisted living facility to move forward. Selectman Jim Waddell, his boards representative to the Planning Board, asked if representatives from AG Hampton Hospitality had seen the sewer association documents and were prepared to be part of the association.

Attorney Chris Mulligan, representing AG Hampton Hospitality, replied his client is on board with the sewer association. He said the applicants part in the association is still a work in progress, but he said there appears to be an end in sight.

We certainly anticipate that a condition of approval would be (that) everything is done to the towns satisfaction with regard to the Liberty Lane sewer association and the easements that need to be in place, said Mulligan.

AG Hampton Hospitality will have five years to complete the project under the conditions of the Planning Boards approval, the five-year clock starting when the sewer association is finalized. Board members said that would prevent the company from losing time to work in the event the sewer associations formation is delayed by several months.

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New Marriott hotel gains approval - Seacoastonline.com