On May 16, 2010, a Hackett Hill-related article by Beth LaMontagne Hall appeared in the Manchester Union Leader. It's title was: "Does Hackett Hill Finally Have a Buyer."

The article revealed that Manchester developer, Richard Danais, had made an offer to buy all12 lots of the planned Northwest Business Park at Hackett Hill, at a cost of $2.8 million dollars.

Thoughts of a previously envisioned "Research Park" for this area seemed to have vaporized. Instead of buildings that would house research and development projects, the Danais-proposed buildings would serve various and sundry purposes. Some of the proposed undertakings would involve manufacturing, warehousing and distribution. The appearance of buildings serving these purposes seemingly would be similar to buildings typical of an industrial park.

Hall reported that part of the deal between the City and Danais would include the construction of a large Hooksett-shared fire station near the site of the small fire station currently located on Hackett Hill Road.

The article suggested that arrangements for the plan had apparently been pieced together over a 4 month period by the City Economic Development Department, Mayor Ted Gatsas, and Ward 12 alderman, Patrick Arnold.

The Union Leader published a number of comments by readers of the article. Nearly all of them opposed the development plans.

A sample of the comments and the names furnished by their writers, are as follows;

James, Candia wrote:

"Is this the same Danais Realty that bought all the land at Exit 3 in Candia, cut all the trees down, made it into a wasteland, and then hasn't touched it in 2 years?"

Jason Entres, Hollis wrote:

"So Hackett Hill loses all it trees, and gets a bunch of prefab steel warehouse buildings. Great. Let's just pave all the undeveloped land in southern NH, like Amherst did, and then wonder what happened and why it's so ugly now."

Pat Mattson, Manchester wrote:

"The Manchester-owned land on Hackett Hill should be left "as is" and used for outdoor environmental education for the city's school children.

Currently, a coalition of NH science teachers, wildlife educators and environmental organizations is putting together an Environmental Literacy Plan to obtain government grants for such projects. The funding is part of the upcoming revision of the No Child Left Behind Law and has bipartisan support in Congress.

J Frost of Londonderry responsed that such a happening was doubtful and noted that "the town councils in all towns cannot see a patch of tranquil woods without wondering how it would look with a Walgreens, Rite-aid or CVS on it."

However, Jim, Manchester, Ward 9, noted that "people need space to live and work and suggested to Jason and Pat that they demolish their houses, reforest the lots, and go live in trees."

On May 12, 2010, Matthew Normand, City Clerk, provided each member of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen with a copy of the Danais development proposal and associated changes from previous zoning requirements.

On May 17, the aldermanic Committee on Lands and Buildings (Aldermen - Osborne, Lopez, Shea, Roy and Greazzo) met and considered the Danais plan as explained by Jay Minkarah, Economic Development Director.

The next day, Beth LaMontagne Hall reported in the Union Leader that the Committee had given the go-ahead for the proposal, with only Alderman Osborne, the Committee Chair, opposing it.

The cost of the property ($2.8 million) would be paid for in part in exchange for building the new fire station. Hall's article also mentioned that Danais felt that "a few amendments to the zoning" would be required, and that the project might take nine years to complete. (His estimate of the creation of 3500 long-term jobs by the project seemingly was in keeping with this time period).

It was noted that the building design would be similar to those the Danais Realty Group has constructed at 1050 and 1070 Holt Avenue, off East Industrial Drive in Manchester's Industrial Park.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen were made aware of the Committee's decision, but at their next meeting, the BMA sent the proposal back to the Committee on Lands and Buildings for further consideration at their upcoming (June 1) meeting.

Meanwhile, Alderman Arnold arranged a public forum, primarily for Ward 12 residents, in which the development plans were presented briefly and questions answered by Richard Danais and Jay Minkarah. The forum was held on May 27 at the Northwest Elementary School in Ward 12, the Hackett Hill Ward.

Expressed concerns such as clear-cutting, traffic congestion and blasting of the property during the development were played down by the presentors.

Via arrangements made earlier with Alderman Arnold, Pat Mattson, representing the New Hampshire Sierra Club, spoke briefly about the Club's opposition to development of the Hackett Hill property.

She noted the proximity of the development to highly sensitive portions of the Manchester Cedar Swamp Preserve - an ecological preserve that is owned and managed by the Nature Conservancy of NH. She likened the placement of the Danais-planned development to the placement of BP's deep water drilling platforms near the Gulf coast, and noted that development-related "accidents" can severely damage nearby environmentally sensitive areas.

She also noted that the Manchester-owned land would be more appropriate to use for outdoor environmental education programs. In the near future, Congress will consider the rewriting of the "No Child Left Behind" Law and plans are underway to replace it with a "No Child Left Inside" Law. Among other things, the new law will provide federal grants for outdoor education programs. Each state will write an Environmental Literacy Plan for K-12 students and the grants will provide funding for the plans, primarily for needed teacher training.