ENFIELD — Developers are proposing building 162 apartments off Route 4 in Enfield.

The one- and two-bedroom market-rate apartments would be spread evenly among three new buildings on the 77-acre Laramie Farms property on Route 4 and Maple Street, between downtown Enfield and the town line with Lebanon. The proposal comes at a time when the Upper Valley is struggling to meet a rising demand for housing.

John Dibitetto, of Bradford, Mass., Stephen Doherty, of Haverhill, Mass., and engineer Karl Dubay, of The Dubay Group, in Londonderry, N.H., presented their preliminary plans during a conceptual hearing at Wednesday night’s Planning Board meeting. They have not submitted a formal application and the board did not make any decisions about the project.

Dibitetto and his brother, Michael, purchased the property in 2005 from developers Tomasz Jankowski and Paul Pender, who in 2001 proposed building 68 single-family homes on the 77-acre property, according to an article in the Jan. 26, 2012, edition of the Valley News. That was scaled back to 54 homes.

“I don’t think I stood alone in my position that that wasn’t the perfect plan for the property,” Dibitetto said during last week’s meeting.

After purchasing the property, the brothers proposed using the land for around 150 apartments spread over seven buildings instead of trying to build single-family homes.

“We thought it was a better use for the property as well as a better design for the property,” Dibitetto said.

The project then sat in limbo due to the collapse of the housing market in the mid-2000s.

Now, Dibitetto has joined forces with Doherty for the new development. If the project goes through as first presented, each 3½-story building would have 28 one-bedroom apartments and 26 two-bedroom apartments. Each apartment would have a balcony.

There would also be two parking spaces per apartment, with 33 spaces for each building in an underground garage and the rest in a parking lot.

The developers estimated that around 500 people could live there.

“That’s a substantial increase to our town,” said Kate Plumley Stewart, the Selectboard representative to the Planning Board. Enfield’s population was just under 4,500 people according to the 2020 census.

A private road would lead from Route 4 to the development and the developers would be responsible for taking care of it.

“The town doesn’t have to get up there maintaining all that stuff and all the cost that goes with that,” Dubay said.

They described the design of the buildings as “urban farmhouse.”

“You’re going to be seeing more character on these buildings,” Doherty said.

While the Planning Board was generally receptive to the proposal, they did express some concerns.

The proposal calls for using town water and sewer and the board asked that the developers work with the town to make sure the system could handle the additional demands.

The scale of the project and its proximity to Lebanon would likely make it a “development of regional impact,” which means that neighboring towns and the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission would also have a say in the project, according to Enfield officials.

The development would take up between 15 to 20 acres on the property, according to a GIS calculation done by Rob Taylor, Enfield’s land use and community development administrator.

The developers would need to apply for at least one zoning variance.

“They want to put three buildings on a single lot so they need to obtain a variance from the zoning regulation,” Planning Board Chair David Fracht said in a Friday phone interview.

In the zoning district the development is proposed in, the minimum lot size for one building on town water and sewer is a half acre.

When the Doherty asked the board for their initial thoughts, members indicated that they were receptive to learning more.

“I like that you respected the topography and the general nature of our community,” Stewart said.

Added Fracht, “I think generally you’re headed in the right direction.”

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.

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