He’s back.

Jay Campion, a long-time Upper Valley developer, has resubmitted an ambitious plan to build 600 residential units, offices, a child-care center and recreational fields on more than 200 acres of vacant land off of Route 120 in Lebanon.

Campion, who has pushed for years to develop the property in the northern area of Lebanon, announced he was resuming his quest to build “Signal Park” after the City Council earlier this year rejected a recommendation to rezone the entire Route 120 corridor to make it easier to construct large-scale housing projects.

Undaunted by the council move, Campion has said he will seek approvals under current zoning rules to build 216 market-priced condominium units and office space in the initial phase of the multi-year Signal Park development.

Also included in the first phase would be two new soccer fields, as well as tennis, basketball and pickleball courts, all of which would be donated to the city if and when the project is approved and finally built, Campion said.

Later phases of the Signal Park project would include construction of about 400 additional condos, apartment units, townhouses and single-family homes.

“It’s a pretty ambitious project – and exciting,” Campion recently told The Registry Review. “It’s exciting. It’s large – and it’s complex.”

And it still needs city design and building approvals.

Development Seeks TIF District

The biggest sticking point might, however, be Campion’s proposal to create a new tax increment finance (TIF) district to help fund initial infrastructure costs at the site – as well as fund construction of new recreational facilities.

A TIF is a public financing mechanism that allows municipalities to capture future property tax revenue increases within a designated area – and then use, or lend, those funds to pay for a project’s various upfront costs.

At a Lebanon City Council meeting in March, city leaders expressed concern about what they characterized as a lack of information from Campion about all phases of the project and lack of financial details tied to the TIF request.

Campion is expected to meet with city planning officials next month to review updated development plans.

Lebanon is not known for knee-jerk NIMBY opposition to major new housing proposals. Indeed, it’s considered one of the more pro-housing municipalities in the state.

Since 2024, Lebanon has approved construction of more than 1,500 residential units across the city, hundreds of them in the same area along Route 120 where Campion hopes to build his Signal Park, according to data from the city’s Planning Department. The road connects downtown Lebanon, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and downtown Hanover, home to Dartmouth College.

Currently under construction in Lebanon are developer Brady Sullivan’s 117-unit Prospect Hill project and Saxon Partners’ 204-unit Marek II development, among other housing projects under way in the city.

Another 494 housing units are currently in the city’s review pipeline, according to the Lebanon Planning Department.

The mayor and various city councilors could not be reached for further comment on Campion’s plans.

Calls for More ‘Missing Middle’ in Lebanon

David Brooks, deputy city manager in Lebanon, said city officials are eager to learn more about Campion’s plans, particularly his idea for creating a TIF district.

“We continue to be interested in exploring the concept of a TIF district and determining its potential benefits to the town and the developer,” he said.

But Brooks stressed city officials need far more information before they can adequately assess Campion’s proposals.

He also said the city hopes to bring in an independent consultant to help analyze various TIF plans and options.

Some say that they like general plans to develop more housing within the Route 120 corridor.

Yet they add that the city has recently built a lot of high-end housing, on one extreme, and small affordable housing units, on the other extreme, but not enough owner-occupied housing that’s sized and priced in the middle.

“There’s still a strong need for new housing in this area,” said Gordon Boddington, marketing and administration manager at the Upper Valley Business Alliance, the Lebanon-Hanover region’s chamber of commerce.

“But we specifically need what we’re calling ‘missing middle’ housing, or appropriately sized starter homes with three bedrooms. We just don’t have enough of that type of housing.”

Could Designs Satisfy Voters’ Demands?

Another community source said sentiment within Lebanon has recently shifted a bit against construction of more so-called “big-box” residential buildings – with people instead wanting more smaller-scale single-family homes, duplexes and townhouses.

Campion said he’s trying to address many of those concerns, including the desire for more owner-occupied new housing.

That’s why the first phase of his Signal Park project calls for construction of new market-priced condominiums, he said. “It’s what the market needs,” he said.

As for single-family homes, the second phase of the project tentatively calls for 16 new single-family homes, he said. “But that [number] could totally change because the demand may change. We’ll see.”

Campion has been pushing to develop the same site off of Etna Road for years now.

He once proposed building a liquefied natural gas distribution facility on the site, before switching plans late last decade to a mix-use project that included hundreds of new housing units, offices, and even a village store and café.

But he put the evolving Signal Park plans on hold in 2024 after the city launched a study on the future of the Route 120 corridor.

A later recommendation to change the zoning in the area to make it easier to develop multifamily housing was ultimately rejected by the city council earlier this year.

So, Campion has since resubmitted his Signal Hill proposal under existing zoning rules.

Technically, current zoning does allow mixed-use development – both commercial and residential housing – and so Campion may be able to build a lot of what he wants, said one official.

But it’s questionable whether he can build as many housing units as he’s publicly outlined.

For his part, Campion said he’s put forward what he thinks is a thoughtful plan – and is optimistic it will win final approval.

Among other things, he said Lebanon desperately needs more recreational fields and facilities – and that his plan meets that demand.

“I think they need the fields and that they want the fields,” he said. “But if they don’t want them, it will just mean I have 39 acres to sell off to others.”