Duprey To Concord Officials After Land Transfer Vote: City Can Carve Out More For Future Development

CONCORD, NH — What a difference 48 hours makes sometimes.

At the Concord City Council meeting Monday night, to consider spending $370,000 to put more than 135 acres owned by developer Steve Duprey into a conservation easement, as well as selling 18 acres to the city for future development, I made a lengthy presentation to the council suggesting the deal was not good enough. More land between Penacook Street and Granite Place should be developed.

Specifically, there are about 30 acres of a flat basin area, part of which is the former plan for the third leg of the Langley Parkway-Northwest Bypass, which can be developed, but, for whatever reason, city staffers either did not realize it or looked away from the opportunity to not only expand housing in the area, which is badly needed, but also tax revenue, which is also badly needed. The land is zoned for housing, RS, and RO — meaning, it can have a lot or a little housing.

The proposal requested councilors either amend the proposition before them to remove the developable area, or send it back to city staff to negotiate with Duprey.

Backstory For A Better Deal

As a native of Concord, whose family has been an abutter to the parcel for more than 45 years, I have been tracking the parcel’s ownership for many years, hoping that part of it would be used for housing and that more of it would be turned into accessible space without people trespassing.

My late brother and I spent a lot of time hiking and exploring this property when we were in our teens, before understanding the definition of the word “trespass.” Initially, tracking this parcel was part of a new Patch series of articles I have been toying with called “Reimaging Concord,” in which I would examine an issue, project, parcel, or problem and explore solutions. One of these problems is the need to expand its tax base and provide more housing, at whatever cost, and that is where this parcel fits in.

As we all know, property taxpayers and renters are staring at nearly half a billion dollars in capital projects on the horizon, with no way to pay for them, with already astoundingly high property taxes. Having nice things, like cool places to visit in Downtown Concord, like the Rooftop Social, were way overdue, too. Duprey’s sale of Granite Place to the state and Bouton Street property for a new police station also left a huge tax revenue hole to fill — one that will not be filled with just the 18 acres received by the city. This requires maximization of every opportunity for development to expand the tax base — something nearly every candidate for city council and mayor said they would do.

In the presentation, I offered four potential development proposals that could be explored, as a start, for the basin land, including large projects, like two Isabella Apartments buildings or Hollis Commons-like buildings, or a smaller development, about 20 single-family homes, similar to Samuel Drive and Pond Place Lane, mere feet from the parcel off Little Pond Road.

The presentation showed there was plenty of room, given the setbacks of an intermittent brook that runs through the north end of the property, and that grades and sightlines were better than those on Samuel Drive and Pond Place Lane. A three-way stop sign or a small roundabout, similar to ones proposed for the third leg of the Northwest Bypass, could be installed at the entrance of the parcel.

Potential assessments for the proposals ranged from $10 million to $22 million, or from $290,000 to $638,000, per year in tax revenue. With 3,000-square-foot single-family homes selling for between $800,000 and $1 million, and few available, there is a market for the types of homes at Samuel Drive and Pond Place Lane.

And most important of all? Duprey no longer wanted the land and was giving a parcel valued at $2.8 million to the city for less than $400,000.

Why not maximize this opportunity?

Better Deal Rejected

Several of the councilors asked pertinent questions about the four development concepts forwarded to them for consideration of the potential uses.

Some also made relevant comments during the decision phase, though one was clearly miffed by a reference to townhouses being sold on Fisherville Road for $429,000, totally missing the point. The comment was not meant to denigrate anyone in that ward but, instead, to show just how high new home prices had become in the city — and opportunity, too, at this parcel, for higher prices, due to housing bordering 100 acres of conservation land, not a fast food restaurant or a dollar store.

One councilor also commented on the need to have proposed this during the planning process, while another wished they had known about it in advance. Both comments were relevant. But the proposal was just sprung on everyone and only added to the Dec. 8 docket the week before. Abutters to abutters are also not invited to planning and zoning meetings. So, unless a person is reading up on every agenda posted (try doing this while writing for many news and community websites), it is impossible to track everything.

Also, my last correspondence with Duprey was in April 2024, when he sold Granite Place to the state, and in late October, when he said there might be a deal in the future after city officials contacted him requesting that the land be donated, following CATCH Housing’s interest in buying it.

The councilors also feared Duprey would hand the land over to the state if he could not get a deal by Dec. 31, something he was considering if the city did not want to buy it.

Strangely, though, few councilors wanted to talk to Duprey about a better deal. It is odd, considering how many deals he has done with the city and councilors, and his relationship with them.

In the end, councilors rejected the request to improve the deal, and the original proposal was approved by a 14-1 vote, with Ward 5 City Councilor Stacey Brown, the councilor of the area, voting against it.

Duprey Says City Can Carve Out For More Development

On Monday morning, Patch received a tip that a city councilor had contacted Duprey about the alternative proposal and he had contacted Matt Walsh, the deputy city manager for development, and said he would be OK with the city carving off some of the land for a second development project.

Duprey confirmed this to me at the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours fundraiser for the Capital Region Food Program on Tuesday night, explicitly saying the city should consider carving out some of the basin property for a second development.

On Wednesday morning, after viewing the PowerPoint presentation, Duprey said the 0.62-acre parcel on Penacook Street was already a preexisting lot and he wanted it unless the city was willing to pay him more for it. That lot, though, is not needed, since there is about 410 feet of frontage on the street even without it.

He also confirmed he gave the city a “take-it-or-leave-it” position, in that he wanted the deal done by the end of the year to offset the tax liability. Duprey added if there were any housing in the basin, he did not want it to detract from the large park concept he was proposing, and he did not want to see from his home, which would not be an issue, since his 10-acre parcel is nearly a third of a mile away and surrounded by trees.

Those were his only conditions.

Duprey said there might be an opportunity to explore larger apartment structure concepts despite potentially higher costs than estimated in the presentation, noting that the fill beneath the ground and ledge blasting were more significant than in the past.

“The bottom line, however,” Duprey said, “is that we will work with the city to give them flexibility if there’s another, partial (area) they want to identify, and I’m going to use this (the PowerPoint presentation) as a guide.”

Since Duprey is open to allowing the city to carve out a bit of the property for a second development, moving forward should be easy: Renegotiate a rough boundary for the basin parcel, hold another city council meeting, the council will vote to rescind its earlier vote, and then, vote on the new proposal. If, after several years, no developer bites at the opportunity, the land could be rolled back into the conservation easement later. Any councilor worth their salt, especially those who campaigned on expanding the tax base, should direct staff to revisit this and get a better deal for the city.

Concord NH Patch will reach out to all the city councilors for follow-up comments for a future update.

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