DERRY — The Planning Board approved a two-lot subdivision on Hillside Avenue, but urged the property owner to address parking issues at the existing property that were raised by several abutters.

Applicant Steve Delaney won approval to subdivide the 23,000-square-foot lot at 15 Hillside Ave. into two lots. The existing lot has one house and will be cut down to 12,000-square-feet.

Plans are to build a new single-family house at the 10,200-square-foot lot at 12 Everett St., according to project surveyor Greg Jeffrey of Jeffrey Land Survey. The new lot has 100 feet of frontage and municipal water and sewer.

Hillside Avenue resident Charlie Crompton said he understood the subdivision was legal under town regulations, but said he hoped the new house would keep with the character of the neighborhood.

“This is a humble neighborhood with small houses,” he said. “I want to go on the record that I do not want to see a duplex because it is not in the character of the neighborhood.”

Town Planning Director George Sioras said duplexes are allowed in the zoning district but that the plan presented to the Planning Board calls for a single-family home. If those plans change, he said, the developer would have to come back before the Planning Board.

As the land surveyor, Jeffrey said he does not have control over the final size of the house, but he said he understood the concerns of the neighbors and that was why a proposal for a single-family home rather than a duplex was brought before the town.

Another Hillside Avenue resident said she was concerned about a sudden increase in on-street parking at 15 Hillside Ave.

“They don't have adequate parking for the people they have there now,” said Brenda Gile. “There are four or five cars at that single dwelling, and there is going to be the potential to put more cars there.”

Crompton said the parking issues are in part because there is a gate on the property that makes it difficult for vehicles to get into the parking area.

Town Administrator John Anderson asked whether it was possible to include a condition in the approval limiting off-street parking at the address.

According to Sioras, the town's Highway Safety Committee would have to make a recommendation to make the whole area a no-parking zone and then have that recommendation approved by the Town Council.

Although it was not a formal condition of the approval, Anderson suggested the property owner address the gate issue at 15 Hillside Ave. to improve the parking situation.

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