The Maplewood neighborhood off Buckmeadow Road is quiet. Businesses include Maplewood Dental Group, The Cat Doctor and Captain’s Corner.

NASHUA – Originally slated for a Hannaford grocery store, the property at 8 Merrit Parkway in Nashua has been proposed as a four-story, 160-unit apartment building, and local residents are none too happy about it.

“This will have a direct impact on residents, tourists, the environment and wildlife,” Denise Muccioli, Spitbrook Rd., Nashua said. “Along with the Yudicky Park area, this area is the last stronghold of wildlife that we have in the city of Nashua. We don’t need another Flatley developing every inch of this city.”

A purchase and sale agreement between Robert Parsons and Hannaford Bros. has been entered for a nearly 7-acre parcel of property in the Maplewood condo neighborhood.

Businesses in that area include Captain’s Corner and Maplewood Dental Group.

In a post, Muccioli suggested that a better place for such an apartment complex might be on Charron Ave. in the vicinity of Bellavance Beverage and Delta Education.

“There are empty industrial buildings all over the city,” she said. “The plaza across from Poor Pierre’s is almost empty. Don’t let the developer snow you.”

Last week, Parsons said, “The infrastructure and traffic lights are already there to accommodate this type of development.”

Parsons has already purchased the old Nashua District Courthouse at the Walnut Street Oval and more recently, he bought the TD Bank building on Main Street.

“He says it won’t affect people, but it will affect residents and the environment,” Muccioli said. “It will adversely affect the natural beauty of this area. This is the crowned jewel of the city.”

Muccioli has drawn a petition, which has over 390 signatures already, but she has not presented it to the Planning Board. She found out about the apartment project on the Nashua civic sounding boad Facebook page.

“I live down the street from there and saw these signs that they posted at 8 Merrit Parkway,” she shared. “I didn’t pay much attention at first, until I saw exactly what they were going to put there.”

Many people hike, bike and enjoy nature in that part of the city, but Parsons has pointed out that Nashua is just that – a city.

“It is the city of Nashua,” he said. “This is not a township of Nashua.”

Muccioli and several other residents are against the 160 unit building.

“If two people live there, that’s 320 residents,” she said. “That’s 300 parking spaces. There will be pesticides and ice melt leaching onto the ponds and streams in the area. This should be protected wetlands.”

While a variance is pending, a site plan was to be submitted to the Nashua City Planning board on Aug. 11, but that meeting has been rescheduled to Aug. 25.

“Parsons came in at the last hour to reconfigure things,” Muccioli said. “I think he got a whiff of the opposition.”

Other Nashua residents who oppose the apartment complex include Carolyn Russell, 11 Houston Drive.

In an email to The Telegraph, she stated that she and her family moved to Nashua five years ago from a more rural town in New Hampshire.

“Once the current appeal for a variation came to our attention, we learned just how much planning was involved in creating all of the southwest quadrant but especially our more immediate neighborhood,” she said. “It is meant to be a family neighborhood that accommodates residents while preserving natural settings with many forms of wildlife.”

Russell posed a question to each Nashua resident, as to whether or not they’d be happy to see some new structure erected in their own neighborhood. She added that Hannaford knew what they were getting.

“All of the plans were in place when Hannaford bought the property, so they should have been aware of exactly how they could use the property,” she continued. “Future development of the Merrit Parkway commercial district should be protected and conform to the original planning. An apartment building of any size is the least desirable, least needed, most out of character, and most invasive use of the land.”

Kathy Peterson has resided in Westgate Village between West Hollis Street and Main Dunstable Road for over 30 years.

Peterson said mailboxes are constantly being hit by errant cars and distracted drivers on Main Dunstable Road, as they often drive beyond the speed limit heading into Nashua from Hollis.

“I spoke to the Nashua chief of police last week,” she said. “They’ve been using radar on Michelle Drive to catch speeders. I’m glad they listened.”

Peterson, along with Joan Donahue, also of Nashua, both oppose the proposed new development.

“The thing that bothers me is you have all these people who aren’t working, who are home watching TV, who don’t have any critical thought,” Donahue said. “Their belief is ‘people have homes.’ They think it’s a wonderful idea. Who disagrees with that? Do you want to pay for it?”

Many residents think the postponement of the meeting is because more and more of them are speaking up in opposition to the project.

“My beef is that Nashua used to be a 30,000 person town,” Peterson said. “It was a little, sweet town. Now that we’re 90,000, I think we should shut off. Henry Hanger was purchased last year for apartments. We just put three at the McDonald’s on East Hollis Street. The more we build, the more people come here from other states.”

At one point, Muccioli set up her own sign and sat at 8 Merrit Parkway on a recent Sunday.

“I sat on the corner with a huge sign,” she said. “I talked to a lot of people who are opposed to this. And I think we have momentum. It’s beginning to snowball.”

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