Planning board approves 30‑unit ‘Bedford Cottages’ at 54 Runlet Hill, grants school‑fee waiver

The Bedford Planning Board on Jan. 5 approved a conditional‑use permit and site plan for a 30‑unit cottage‑court development at 54 Runlet Hill Road, and granted the applicant’s request to reduce the school impact fee while denying a reduction to the town recreation fee.

The board’s vote followed a presentation from Scott Cole of Beals Associates and John LaRiviere of the applicant, Petrendezza LLC. Cole said the project would place 30 small, two‑bedroom cottage units in three clustered pods centered on shared courtyards, with two parking spaces per unit, 24 detached garage stalls available for purchase or rental, subsurface drainage, and two bioretention ponds to manage stormwater. “So we have a proposal here of the cottage design of 30 units, with associated drives and open areas,” Cole said during the presentation.

The board and applicant spent more than an hour on technical details: unit footprints and elevations, driveway widths and parking proximity to Runlet Hill Road, stormwater design and two proposed bioretention ponds, and a septic and pump system sited on a knoll that will be accessed by a temporary wetland crossing and a forestry‑type bridge. Cole said the septic design follows state criteria and will require New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) review and approval; he also confirmed a precedent condition requiring a flow/pressure test. “There will be an alarm system,” he said, and maintenance responsibilities would fall to a condo association.

Neighbors raised concerns during public comment about wildlife, trail access and potential blasting or construction impacts. Leah Scapatullo, a nearby resident, asked whether endangered species surveys had been done; Cole said the team had a wetlands scientist and had queried the New Hampshire Natural Heritage Bureau with no hits. The applicant estimated construction would begin relatively soon after permits and take roughly two years to complete.

After deliberations, the board voted to grant the applicant’s waiver request for the school impact fee — to be calculated using the townhouse rate rather than the single‑family home rate — but denied a request to reduce the recreation impact fee. The board then moved to approve the conditional‑use permit and site plan “in accordance with the engineering plans prepared by Beals Associates” and a set of precedent and subsequent conditions including the required pump/flow test and any outstanding state approvals. The motion carried by voice vote; no roll‑call tally was recorded in the meeting transcript.

Why it matters: The project adds a form of compact, lower‑square‑footage homeownership to Bedford’s housing mix while preserving roughly 14.9 acres as open space out of the 22.7‑acre parcel, according to the applicant’s materials. The board’s split decision on fees preserves the town’s recreation fee revenue levels while recognizing reduced school impacts based on unit size and occupancy assumptions.

What’s next: Final signatures and permits are contingent on satisfaction of precedent conditions, including the DES review of the septic/alteration‑of‑terrain permit and the pump/flow test. The applicant said it anticipates the first house closing within about six months of construction start and roughly two years to complete the full buildout.