Grantham schedules master plan workshop on future business development

Jacob Noble and Grantham’s Master Plan Committee are convening a business-focused workshop that town notices say could directly influence where new stores and services locate in town, and what kinds of commercial development the Planning Board may endorse after the plan is finished in summer 2026. The town’s municipal calendar, last updated April 8, 2026 at 3:58:59 AM, lists the Second Master Plan Committee Workshop for April 13, 2026 from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM and provides a Zoom link for remote participation.

The April 13 notice invites residents and business owners to join in person or by Zoom and includes an agenda and contact information for RSVPs: Board Clerk Amy Monroe, at amonroe@granthamnh.gov. The calendar entry also links to related municipal materials such as Selectmen meeting pages, permit deadlines and transfer station schedules, giving attendees a path to review minutes and agendas before the workshop.

Town officials have named three panelists who will steer the panel-format conversation: the posting lists Bruce Burgeron of Jake’s, Drew Edmunds of Northwind Security, identified in the notice as a major commercial landowner, and Steve Schneider, General Manager of the Eastman Community Association. The town posting spells Jake’s representative as Bruce Burgeron while external business listings commonly use the spelling Bergeron, a discrepancy the notice flags for record and verification.

The Master Plan Committee brings substantive survey backing to the business discussion: a town-wide survey run with the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission ran from early June through mid-October 2025 and drew 587 responses, about 17.26 percent of Grantham’s population. The survey data tables and open-ended comments repeatedly requested local services such as a pharmacy, grocery store, hardware store, coffee shop, restaurants, car wash and a farmers market.

Respondents also registered strong opposition to large-scale commercial formats: survey analysis shows frequent resistance to fast-food chains, big-box stores, cannabis dispensaries, heavy industry and large storage facilities, signaling a community preference for small-scale, locally compatible businesses. Those preferences will be central to the April 13 conversation given the panel mix and the Eastman community’s role; Eastman spans roughly 3,700 acres and is the town’s largest private residential and recreational enclave.

Under New Hampshire law, a municipal master plan guides Planning Board recommendations and helps justify zoning amendments, capital improvement program entries and warrant-article proposals, though the plan itself is not a binding ordinance. Grantham’s 2017 Master Plan set the prior baseline; the 2025–26 update follows a February workshop held at Grantham Village School and is expected to produce a finished plan in summer 2026 that incorporates input from the February and April sessions.

The MPC roster published in the April 1, 2026 meeting packet names Chair Jacob Noble and members Steve Cornish, Adam Gardner, Tod Lloyd, Catherine MacLean, Brenda Molloy and Kelly Spiller, with Al Lambert shown attending online and Amy Monroe listed as staff contact. After April 13 the committee is expected to draft the business chapter for public review, followed by Planning Board consideration and formal adoption steps that could spawn future zoning changes, infrastructure investments or warrant-article campaigns tied to the community priorities reflected in the 587-survey responses. If residents want to shape whether Grantham attracts a pharmacy, grocery or small coffee shop rather than big-box retail, the town notice makes clear April 13 is a rare, consequential opportunity to register that preference.