Manchester shopping center expansion plan shelved

MANCHESTER — The Development Review Board will not be hearing a proposal tonight for redeveloping a shopping plaza on Depot Street.
The board had received an application for a design review of a proposal that would have expanded the size of Price Chopper at Manchester Shopping Center Plaza but Lee Krohn, planning director and zoning administrator for the town of Manchester, said the engineering firm that submitted the plan asked that the hearing be continued.
It was not clear Tuesday whether the proposal was being withdrawn or if the applicant needs more time to work on the proposal.
The plan has attracted some interest because Price Chopper officials said the plan was not submitted on their behalf. A company spokeswoman said there are no current plans to expand the Manchester store.
Speath Engineering of Manchester submitted the proposal but company staff would not say on whose behalf the plan was created. They said that information would be revealed at tonight’s Development Review Board meeting but that was before the request for a hearing was postponed.
Shelley Gibson, who owns Manchester’s only movie theater, the Village Picture Shows, said last week that she hadn’t heard anything about the proposal, although it would have involved demolishing the space where the movie theater is located.
Gibson said she didn’t believe other tenants of the plaza had heard anything about the proposal either before being contacted by the media.