Indoor Basketball Complex Delayed Again

The lack of a key recommendation has caused the Hampton Planning Board to once again delay its vote on an indoor basketball facility on Winnacunnet Road.

The applicants behind the next to Seacoast United have made several changes to the plans based on . Although, because the commission hasn't convened since those changes were made and because those changes were presented to the public for the first time Wednesday, the commission has been to the planning board.

Paul Willis, the owner of Seacoast United Sports Club, which is working with applicants Tom Viviano and Peter Maher on their basketball facility proposal, said he understands the need for the conservation commission and the applicants to "be on the same page" before the planning board can make a determination, although he said Wednesday's continuation will likely be the last one for the project.

"Everybody has to be reasonable here," said Willis, who said he's amenable to coming back before the planning board during its Sept. 5 meeting. "But with all due respect, if it's then October the 5th and November the 5th, [Viviano and Maher] will walk away and you won’t have a basketball facility and they will have wasted a lot of money."

The Hampton Planning Board voted unanimously Wednesday to continue both the special wetlands permit and site plan review for the project.

The board asked the applicants to communicate with the Hampton Conservation Commission between now and the commission's next meeting on Aug. 28, and then appear in front of the commission on Aug. 28 in order for the two sides to come to an agreement over several new types of mitigation added to the basketball facility plans.

Fran McMahon, the planning board chairman, said the "mood" of his board would then be to "vote on Sept. 5," and he said he "hope[s] to have a recommendation from the conservation commission" at that time.

"I think you need to sit down with the conservation commission and plow through those details," McMahon said to the applicants Wednesday. "None of them seem insurmountable to me."

Jay Diener, the conservation commission chairman, said it isn't his committee's intention to "hold up this project" and there is "no reason" for them to want to "drag this on," even though the commission did request the planning board .

"Our group as a whole has not been able to see the whole proposal, so we can't make a recommendation for mitigation," said Diener. "We want to have further discussion among the conservation commission about some of the... issues with the plan as it has been revised. We would like the opportunity to discuss this with the applicant."