HANOVER — The Hanover Consumers Co-op is seeking permission from the town to convert the Lime Road Co-op Food Store into a commercial kitchen to produce prepared foods for other retailers.
The small market, just north of the roundabout on Reservoir Road, first opened in the 1990s and for a long time was a loss-making market for the co-op.
“To date, we have incurred losses in excess of $2.6 million,” General Manager Amanda Charland said in a letter attached to the co-op's permit application.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment is scheduled to hold a public hearing July 11 on the co-op's request to allow a change of use for the 0.68-acre site at 43 Lime Road, which is in a retail zoning district that prohibits commercial manufacturing.
“Our ultimate goal is to transform the Community Market, currently an unsuccessful and unsustainable retail business, into a new home for our kitchen facilities,” Charland wrote.
For more than 20 years, the co-op has rented a 9,000-square-foot kitchen in Wilder where it makes sandwiches, salads and other prepared foods for its stores in Hanover, Lebanon and White River Junction, as well as for its catering division.
Overall, the co-op employs about 400 people and operates supermarkets in Lebanon, Hanover and White River Junction, as well as two auto service stations in Hanover and Norwich.
Hanover City Planner Bruce Simpson, in comments to the Zoning Commission on Tuesday, said residents are disappointed by the loss of Lime Road Market and are concerned about the impact it will have on nearby commercial space.
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“Many people who work in Hanover rely on the Co-op Market as a place to get coffee, breakfast and lunch, especially the firefighters who live across the street,” Hanover resident Russell Muirhead wrote in a letter to the town last month. “After school, children flock to the market for snacks and ice cream.”
Muirhead urged the board to oppose any changes.
“If the co-op cannot operate a retail business profitably, it should sell or lease the premises to another retail business,” he said.
Staff at the Lime Road market are “working incredibly hard” and the store has a loyal customer base, spokesman Alan Reetz said Monday, “but sales are about $500,000 below what is needed to break even.”
In December 1995, the co-op opened an auto service center at 43 Lime Road, located where a gas station and auto repair shop had previously been located.
The service center operated until 1997, when the co-op, plagued by staffing shortages, converted the site into a “convenience store-type market,” Reetz said Monday.
The co-op moved from its original store to its current building in 2008.
“We understand that this was a community hub for people and we care about this area,” Reetz said. “We don't take it lightly in any way.”
The co-op doesn't plan to change the size or appearance of the building's exterior, and the change to commercial use won't change the character of the neighborhood, it wrote in its application to the zoning board.
“Deliveries will remain steady and there will be no significant increase in noise, traffic or other disruptions to the surrounding area,” Charland wrote. “Instead, traffic and associated noise will be significantly reduced,” she added.
The co-op went a step further, saying low traffic at the site “would not support a convenience store model” and that refusing would create “unnecessary hardship,” Charland's letter said.
The Lime Road building is owned by Hanover Consumers' Co-operative Society, but the land it stands on is owned by Hanover resident Catherine Manchester, who approved the variance application.
Manchester could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
A public hearing on the co-op's permit is scheduled to be held on Thursday, July 11th from 7pm to 9pm in the City Hall conference room, both in person and remotely via Zoom.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment will meet on July 18th when a final decision on the request could be made.
Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com or 603-727-3208.
