CLAREMONT — A neighboring property owner of Granite State Packing is asking the Zoning Board of Adjustment to rehear the company’s request for a variance for a slaughterhouse across from the city’s airport.

Abutter, Brian Gobin — who owns and rents out a mobile home on 2 acres at 445 Sullivan St. — filed the appeal on Jan 28.

Gobin cites several reasons, including allegations of a conflict of interest by one of the board members and a comment that City Manager Yoshi Manale is alleged to have said to an opponent of the project, indicating the approval was agreed upon before the public hearing and evidence was presented.

“I am very concerned about how the presence of this slaughterhouse will impact both the physical nature and market value of my real estate here in Claremont,” Gobin, a Maple Avenue resident, wrote in his eight-page motion for appeal.

Since 2023, Granite State Packing has been processing meat at the plant. Now, it wants to slaughter 250 pigs a week at its Sullivan Street facility.

After hearing from opponents and supporters of the variance on Jan. 6, the board deliberated less than 10 minutes before approving the variance.

The company still needs site plan approval from the Planning Board before it can construct and operate a slaughterhouse.

The noise, traffic and environmental pollutants from the operation will harm the health of his renters and impede his ability to earn an income, Gobin said.

He alleges a conflict of interest by board member Aran Lafontaine, who voted on the variance on Jan. 6. He asserts that Lafontaine “was likely obligated by New Hampshire law to recuse herself from the January 6th vote, making the board’s approval of the variance entirely invalid.”

RSA 673:14 “asserts that board members will be disqualified from a vote it they (1) have a clear conflict of interest or (2) fail to meet the standards that would be required of a juror.”

The law states no member of a zoning board can participate in a proceeding if they have a direct or pecuniary interest which differs from the interest of other citizens, Gobin argued.

Attempts to reach Lafontaine were unsuccessful by last week.

“While Ms. Lafontaine raises birds, and thus, doesn’t have a material interest in granting a variance for this project, the personal bias she brings as a producer means that she cannot be ‘indifferent’ to the decision to grant the variance,” Gobin said.

He also said Lafontaine may have personal relationships with farmers and producers who “will significantly benefit financially from the presence of Granite State Packing.

“Though I am in no way accusing Ms. Lafontaine of misconduct, the board has a duty to address these concerns prior to a vote.”

The appeal also alleges that Manale, who wrote a letter to the zoning board urging it to approve the variance, told resident Meg Hurley, a staunch opponent of the slaughterhouse, it was “already a done deal.”

Hurley backed up Gobin’s claim in an email. She alleged the city manager made the comment while she spoke to him just outside his office.

“When I raised/protested the plans to open a slaughterhouse in Claremont, the possibility of which I had just learned about last September or early October, with Yoshi Manale, he said: ‘It’s a done deal. It’s already in operation,’ ” Hurley wrote.

The city manager denied Hurley’s allegation on Friday.

“I’m not going to get into the back and forth and the he said, she said because I don’t believe it is really helpful,” Manale said by phone. “I can tell though that I never said that.”

If Manale made the statement to Hurley, Gobin said it appears that Granite State “may have intended to circumvent the legal and administrative requirements necessary to approve the expansion of their facility.”

Gobin said the law requires the board to disclose the “real basis for their decisions,” which he doesn’t believe it did.

“In our present case, evidence suggests that members of the ZBA may have already determined to approve the variance, indicating that the time spent conversing at the recent public hearing was not indicative of a genuine analysis but rather a predetermined agreement,” the appeal states.

“Due to clear conflicts of interest and an inability to ‘remain indifferent’ the Claremont ZBA’s January 6th decision should be considered wholly invalid,” Gobin wrote in his conclusion.

Monday’s board meeting begins at 7 p.m. in City Hall council chambers.

If the ZBA approves Gobin’s request, it has 30 days to schedule a rehearing.

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.