Portsmouth vs. Target


	photo: Jacqueline Marque/Daily News staff

By Meaghan Wims/Daily News staff

NDN online 4.9.07

Members of the newly assembled residents' group Preserve Portsmouth find the idea of a Target store - now being proposed for their neighborhood - to be incongruous with Portsmouth life.

They worry about the precedent that would be set if Target, Portsmouth's first would-be big-box development, is allowed to move in. The store is sure to bring lots of traffic and might create burdensome runoff for homes downhill. Most of all, neighbors said, the proposed store is too big, with too many lights and too many parking spaces.

The "upscale discounter" chain is considering building a 500-foot-long store of more than 136,000 square feet, on 16 acres at Union Street and West Main Road. It would be the first Target store on Aquidneck Island and the first enterprise of its kind in Portsmouth.

Target also is proposing to erect an 8,000-square-foot building - maybe a bank or pharmacy - adjacent to the store.

Portsmouth's Design Review Board last week held its first meeting on the Target proposal, and Preserve Portsmouth members said they were dismayed by the plans.

"We were just so surprised to hear about it. Why would they want to build here?" Christine Jenkins said. "It's so rural."

Preserve Portsmouth began with a handful of neighbors in the Union Street area but expanded in just a few days by word of mouth to more than 100 people, including residents of Jepson Lane, Almy Knoll Terrace and nearby Redwood Farm.

"The main concern is it's just two big for a small town with nothing like it," Rich Sipriani said. "It's three times the size of Clements' Marketplace. We all understand that the site is zoned commercial, but no one would expect something like that."

Target is cognizant of neighbors' concerns, said Robert M. Silva, a local lawyer for the company.

"I made them aware that Portsmouth is a very lovely and unique community and it has its standards that Target has to meet," Silva said.

The design board and the Planning Board each will review Target's still-preliminary plans before sending advisory opinions to the Zoning Board of Review, which has the ultimate say on whether to issue the company a special-use permit and what conditions to attach to that approval.

"Target has a right to be here," Silva said. "It deserves and requires close attention and we're prepared to do that."

But many neighbors said they never expected a proposal of Target's size.

"We are pro-business," said Conni Harding, a Preserve Portsmouth organizer. "We envision an office building (there) where people go home at 5 p.m. every day, not a building that's going to change the whole makeup of the town."

Preserve Portsmouth members, 30 of whom gathered last week at the Hardings' Union Street home to talk about Target, said they are worried about the truck and car traffic the store would draw to the area and how the bustle might affect school bus routes and pedestrians. Portsmouth Middle School is off Jepson Lane, not far from the site.

They're concerned about the 637 parking spaces the retailer proposes at the front of the store, and how the parking lot will affect drainage in the Redwood Farm neighborhood, which already suffers from flooding. The Target site also borders the Lawton Valley Reservoir, a drinking water source.

Barbara Peckham has lived in her circa-1790 Union Street home for 15 years. The street already is busy, she said. With Target, Peckham said, "They'll make this a highway."

"This would change the character of the neighborhood," Peter Seidenberg said.

The members of the Design Review Board share the residents' concerns about lighting, architectural style, parking and signage.

Chairman John G. Borden said the board would like to see a shorter, less-boxy building, with a more "New England"-style look, "Colonial" lighting and additional landscaping.

Plus, the town's ordinances allow for only 578 parking spaces. The board would like to see some of the spaces made of a permeable service such as EcoGrid, which from afar looks like grass, Borden said.

Target has proposed two 9-foot-by-12-foot street signs - far larger than the 32 square feet of signage permitted by town ordinances - plus a 12-foot-by-12-foot sign with its signature bull's-eye on the store's front. Borden said the design board would rather see carved wooden signs in the "Portsmouth style."

"We're hoping we're going to see a plan that's more in keeping with Portsmouth," Borden said.

Preserve Portsmouth will be keeping a close eye on the plans.

"We're not going to roll over," Anne Jenkins said.

What's next:

The Portsmouth Design Review Board meets Tuesday, May 1, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 2200 East Main Road, to continue the discussion on the Target proposal.

For more information on Preserve Portsmouth, visit the group's Web site at www.preserveportsmouth.org.