Special Meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen - Road Hearing

SPECIAL MEETING

BOARD OF MAYOR AND ALDERMEN

(ROAD HEARING)

July 7, 2026 at 5:30 PM

Mayor Ruais called the meeting to order.

Mayor Ruais called for the Pledge of Allegiance; this function being led by Alderman Kantor.

A moment of silence was observed.

The Clerk called the roll.

Present: Aldermen Kaw-uh, Goonan, Dexter, Fajardo, Bonilla, Kantor, Trisciani, O'Neil, Terrio, Sapienza, Burkush, Barry, Vincent

Absent: Alderman Thomas

Mayor Ruais advised that the purpose of the road hearing is to hear those wishing to speak in favor of or in opposition to the proposed street discontinuance petitions, followed by viewing the areas petitioned and a determination of the action to be taken on such petitions. The Public Works Director will be requested to make a presentation, following which, those wishing to speak in favor will be heard, followed by those wishing to speak in opposition. Anyone wishing to speak must first step to the nearest microphone when recognized and state his/her name and address in a clear, loud voice for the record. Each person will be given only one opportunity to speak, comments are to be limited to three minutes and any questions must be directed to the Chair.

1. Petition to discontinue a portion of North Church Street.

Mayor Ruais: Before we hear from the public, I'd ask Director Clougherty to please make a brief presentation on North Church Street.

Tim Clougherty, Director of Public Works: The portion of North Church Street to be discontinued was first dedicated as an unnamed 20-foot-wide passageway on the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company's plan of lands in Manchester, on file at the Manchester Department of Public Works. We found no formal acceptance of the dedication or return of layout for the road in city records. The road became a public street by prescription or implied acceptance, and requires a discontinuance with road hearing and abutter notification should the board choose to move forward. The city built and has maintained the road for over 100 years, and there are no public utilities in the area proposed to be discontinued.

Mayor Ruais called for those wishing to speak in favor of the petition.

Daniel Muller, Cronin, Bisson & Zalinsky: I am with Cronin, Bisson & Zalinsky here in the City of Manchester. Our address is 722 Chestnut Street. We represent the petitioner. We had filed this petition to allow for the discontinuance of that portion that, frankly, runs between two properties belonging to my client. He owns to either side. One of the items that had come up previously when we were before the committee was an effort to try to see if we could address some concerns of both the Department of Public Works and the Fire Department. Those discussions, from my client's perspective, are still ongoing. He has some alternatives. Some initial presentation was not acceptable to them. He has come up with some alternatives that he'd like to discuss. We did put in a request to table this matter so that we could have further discussions. Outside of that, those are my only comments.

There were no other speakers in favor of the petition.

Mayor Ruais called for those wishing to speak in opposition of the petition.

There were none.

Alderman O'Neil: If this is to be tabled, do we still need to go out to the petition site?

Matthew Normand, City Clerk: You do. You need to satisfy the road hearing requirement. You can table it at the site, and if it were to come back, you're not going to need to reschedule another road hearing.

Alderman O'Neil: And those conversations between the petitioner and the departments will go on.

T. Clougherty: Mayor, prior to moving on to Caron Street, does the Board find it necessary for us to publicly express our objection to this discontinuance or relay the information contained in a letter from the Manchester Fire Department at this time?

Mayor Ruais: Please.

T. Clougherty: The Public Works Department does not support the discontinuance petition as it's currently presented, as it has not been demonstrated that it will not negatively restrict vehicular access necessary for street maintenance, solid waste collection, and/or emergency purposes. In simple form, there's no benefit to the city to discontinuing this. And we do find a deficit associated with that. This is from Chief Cashin, who is here: Please find this letter as documentation that the Manchester Fire Department does not support the proposal for discontinuance of North Church Street from Myrtle Street to Myrtle Street East Back. This decision is based upon the operational needs of the Manchester Fire Department to quickly and efficiently respond to and mitigate emergencies in all areas of the city. By discontinuing this portion of North Church Street, this will not allow fire apparatus to utilize currently accessible routes, and such access will be restricted to a point that could jeopardize citizen, visitor, and fire department member safety. It's signed by Chief Cashin.

2. Petition to discontinue the Caron Street turn-around.

Mayor Ruais requested that the Public Works Director make a presentation on Caron Street.

T. Clougherty: Relative to Caron Street. Dear members of the Board, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Manchester laid out the Caron Street turnaround as a 25 by 50-foot area adjacent to Caron Street on March 8, 1961, as part of the Queen City Avenue widening. The layout is recorded in the Hillsborough County Registry of Deeds in book 1678, page 111. Having been formally laid out, this discontinuance petition needs a public road hearing with abutter notification. The turnaround was created to allow maintenance vehicles to reverse direction after Caron Street became a dead end. The City of Manchester never built or used the turnaround in the proposed location. There are no public utilities in the area to be discontinued. The Department of Public Works does not oppose the discontinuance petition, provided the Department is granted an easement over the proposed driveway so that city vehicles can reverse direction while maintaining Caron Street.

Mayor Ruais called for those wishing to speak in favor of the petition.

Andrew Sullivan, Law Office of Andrew Sullivan: I am the attorney for the owner of the property. Just a quick reference to the easement we've already submitted to DPW. They approved it and we've recorded the easement. So, the town still has the right to use the proposed driveway there to turn around and back out. It's just not a layout. The reason we need the discontinuance is there's a proposed, and the variance was granted, building with 23 units here, and it overlays a section of the layout. By discontinuing it, that won't be a problem, but at the same time, we provided the city an easement to replace it. That's it in a nutshell.

Alderman Sapienza: When you say that it's already been recorded, are you saying that therefore it's a done deal because it's been recorded?

A. Sullivan: That has been done in good faith. We submitted a proposed driveway easement to DPW because it looks good to them. So, we signed it and recorded it.

Alderman Sapienza: Recorded it where exactly?

A. Sullivan: Hillsborough County Register of Deeds.

Alderman Sapienza: And so therefore, in your opinion, that finalizes it?

A. Sullivan: I'm saying they have a replacement in place right now with that easement.

Alderman O'Neil: This received some approval from the Zoning Board, or maybe the Planning Board. Is this a condition if it was approved by the Planning Board?

A. Sullivan: No.

Alderman O'Neil: Was it approved?

A. Sullivan: I haven't been to Planning Board. It was the Zoning Board. We had to get a variance for the number of units in one building, because the new zoning allows up to nine units per building. You can put multiple buildings there. We wanted it for aesthetics and cost to put it all in one building.

Alderman O'Neil: So, you have not been to the Planning Board yet?

A. Sullivan: Not yet.

Alderman Kantor: I actually have a question for Chief Cashin.

Mayor Ruais: Is it on the prior street?

Alderman Kantor: It's about when he says his concern is the safety of people.

Mayor Ruais: We can cycle back. If there's any opposition to Caron Street, we can address that and then come back to you.

Mayor Ruais called for those wishing to speak in opposition of the petition.

There were none.

Alderman Kantor: Chief Cashin, can you repeat what your recommendation is and why?

Ryan Cashin, Fire Chief: We're not for the proposal because the access into that alley, the best access is from that North Church Street access point. In order to get a ladder truck in the alley, that is our best access point, as opposed to the other areas to get in there and get behind those buildings in that alley.

Alderman Kantor: I guess I'm a little concerned because you said when we were discussing Karatzas Avenue a while back, that no matter what, your guys would get through and push through to save anyone's lives. I'm just wondering why we can't have a discontinuance when he's asking for a discontinuance. If you're saying no, we have to save lives, but you were ready to save lives up on Karatzas Avenue no matter what. But now, you're saying you can't, this is essential. So, is one street more important and privileged than another street?

R. Cashin: No, it absolutely is not. This gives us the best access. It doesn't mean we won't get back there. It's just going to make it a lot harder. And this is our best access to that point.

Alderman Kantor: I think the best access would have been, for Karatzas Avenue, is for the parking to be gotten rid of. I guess my big concern here is what's fair for one property should be fair for the next property, and all lives matter. I am just bringing up a point.

Alderman Terrio: Maybe I misunderstood your position. I know you're against the North Church Street petition, but did you have no position on Caron Street?

R. Cashin: No, just North Church Street.

On motion of Alderman Trisciani, duly seconded by Alderman Sapienza, it was voted to recess the hearing and proceed to view the area identified in the North Church Street petition as presented.

Mayor Ruais called the meeting back to order at the North Church Street petition site.

Director Clougherty explained the petition and physically demonstrated its area. He explained the difficulty for vehicles to navigate the area.

Attorney Muller stated the petitioner is working with DPW and the Fire Department to try to come to an agreement.

On motion of Alderman Dexter, duly seconded by Alderman Barry, it was voted to table the petition.

On motion of Alderman Sapienza, duly seconded by Alderman Dexter, it was voted to recess the hearing and proceed to view the area identified in the Caron Street petition.

Mayor Ruais called the meeting back to order at the Caron Street petition site.

Director Clougherty explained the petition and physically demonstrated its area. He stated as long as DPW can work out an easement with the petitioner, the department is not opposed to the discontinuance. There would be no impact to services such as garbage pickup, emergency response, etc.

Joseph Wichert, Petitioner, stated the proposed building will have 23 units. He explained its layout, and that it will be composed of mostly two-bedroom apartments. There will be 39 parking spaces for tenants.

Alderman Dexter stated he had received communication from the neighborhood in opposition.

On motion of Alderman Dexter, duly seconded by Alderman Terrio, it was voted to table the petition.

This being a special meeting of the Board, no further business could be presented and on motion of Alderman Barry, duly seconded by Alderman Bonilla, it was voted to adjourn, with Alderman Sapienza being duly recorded in opposition.

A True Record. Attest.

City Clerk

Meeting Start Time: 5:30PM Meeting End Time: 6:17PM Minutes Prepared By: Michael Intranuovo