EPPING — A developer has proposed building a new 15,900-square-foot strip mall on Route 125.

The proposal by Jack Murray calls for merging three pieces of property into a 1.5-acre commercial site between Route 125 and Railroad Avenue.

Wayne Morrill, a project engineer with Jones and Beach Engineers in Stratham, offered little about potential tenants when the retail project was presented to the planning board at a meeting Oct. 11.

Morrill said the tenants would all offer “dry goods” and that the building would not include restaurants.

The proposal is the latest retail project planned for Route 125. Construction continues at the new Brickyard Square shopping center where a Michaels craft store is now being added and a movie theater is being built by O’neil Cinemas that’s expected to open next month.

The size of Murray’s project grew from the original plans that proposed a 4,500-square-foot building after he acquired other properties to expand the building, Morrill said.

The plan includes 88 parking spaces with access from Route 125 at the front and Railroad Avenue — a residential street — behind the building.

The planning board took no vote on the plan last week, but heard from several neighbors who expressed concerns about the property having access to Railroad Avenue.

Some residents said they’re worried about traffic on Route 125 cutting through the commercial property to reach Railroad Avenue to avoid backups at the traffic lights at the intersection of Routes 125 and 27. Railroad Avenue connects to Route 27.

Planning board Chairman Joseph Foley said the recent widening of Route 125 around the Route 27 traffic lights should help ease the congestion and create an “incentive” for motorists to stay on the highway, some residents are still worried that access through the new shopping plaza to Railroad Avenue will be a problem.

“I don’t care what they do on Route 125, it’s going to be easier to go out that way,” said Joe Gauthier, who lives on nearby Acre Street.

Brian O’Donnell, owner of the Shell gas station at the intersection of Routes 125 and 27, voiced concerns about the size of the project and water flowing onto his property from the plaza.

“This started out as a 4,000-square-foot building, went to 8,000, went to 10,000, went to 15,900. They’re trying to squeeze as much as they can into this project. They should probably size it back a little bit and not try to shove 10 pounds of something into an 8-pound bag,” he said.

Selectman Robert Jordan, who is also a representative on the planning board, urged project officials to sit down with residents to address their concerns about the access to Railroad Avenue.

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Jason Schreiber may be reached at jschreiber@newstote.com.