The Restaurant Coming to Mack's Apples Is Waiting on Water

The plan for the back of the Mack's Apples farm market on Mammoth Road is simple to describe. The rear and side walls are concrete and wood. They would be refurbished and painted red, with new windows, signs and lighting. Inside, a 99-seat farm-to-table restaurant would fill the rear section of the building. The plans also mention possible new landscaping by the building, perhaps lilacs.

Pick-your-own apples and pumpkins usually wrap up by November 1, so the farm is heading into its quiet stretch. The restaurant has town approval, a one-year extension, and permission to start work on the building. What it still needs is a confirmed supply of drinking water. That question has gone on longer than the zoning fight, and it now sets the timeline.

The zoning question got answered first

In most of Londonderry this restaurant would not be allowed. The address is 230 Mammoth Road, in the Agricultural-Residential AR-1 district. As the Londonderry Times reported in August, a restaurant would normally be barred on agricultural land. The applicant has relied on a state law that gives agritourism uses more room under zoning.

The Planning Board held a conceptual discussion on January 14, 2026. New Hampshire Commissioner of Agriculture Shawn Jasper spoke for the project. TownUnderground's write-up of the meeting quotes him telling the board it could "save this farm to help it grow and expand" or "just say goodbye to another farm." Members raised concerns about public safety, traffic and the environment near a nearby pond. The board's consensus was that the project counts as agritourism but still has to go through formal review. Chair Jake Butler was opposed to that consensus.

The formal application was accepted as complete on March 4. On April 8 the board approved the site plan. The town's description of the project is narrow. About 3,998 square feet of existing space inside the farm market building becomes an accessory restaurant, with "no expansion of the existing building footprint." The town lists MHO Acquisition, LLC as owner and applicant. The Londonderry Times identifies the farm's owner as Kyle Christensen, represented by attorney Laura Gandia.

Butler explained at the April hearing why the vote was harder than usual. "We are so far off what our regulations are to make this work that I can't even explain it," he said, according to the Londonderry Times. He also said the board "has been doing everything they can to find something that works."

He also asked what happens if the farm is sold years from now. Gandia answered that the agritourism protections would not carry over to a regular commercial restaurant. Any such use would have to go through standard commercial site plan review, "starting with a variance." So the approval is tied to the restaurant being part of a working orchard.

The number in the engineering memo

The town's review memo for the April 8 hearing, filed in the Planning Board packet, puts the water question in one figure. The septic design calculations show daily water demand at the building rising sharply once the restaurant opens.

A farm stand that sells cider, doughnuts and produce uses relatively little water. A 99-seat dining room with a commercial kitchen uses far more. So the issue is more than whether the existing well works. The town wants to see whether the well can carry roughly nine times its current load and still meet state drinking water rules for a business serving the public.

The well is on someone else's lot

Board member Tony DeFrancesco raised the problem directly at the April hearing. "The well is not on this lot?" he asked, as reported by the Londonderry Times.

The memo lays out the details. The boundary plan shows the well on a lot the applicant doesn't own, and that well already serves at least two other buildings. Those buildings' water demand wasn't provided, so the total load on the shared system wasn't known either. The applicant had not provided documentation of an easement or joint-use agreement for the well. The memo called it unknown whether the well had enough capacity, and unknown whether the applicant had obtained a well permit or state approval for a small drinking water system.

The memo raised one more open question. It noted that Londonderry has built or is building new water lines to deal with PFAS well contamination elsewhere in town, and that it was "unknown if the existing well for this project has been assessed for contamination for this new public use." The applicant's response said a new well is proposed. At the time of the memo, the new well's location and the state approval it needs were not part of the submission.

Parking got a close look too. John Trottier, the town's Director of Engineering and Environmental Services, explained that the standard is half a space per seat, which means 50 spaces for 99 seats. He added that the count has to include the rest of the farm as well: the ice cream shop, the storage barn, retail sales, picking and planting. The applicant said the warehouse is no longer in use and that there is parking beyond the gravel lot. An earlier town review counted 92 existing spaces and planned no new ones. Parking can be handled by counting spaces and adding surface. A well that serves several buildings can't be fixed that way, because the answer depends on permits.

Building first, permits still pending

The approval came with 120 days to meet its conditions, which set a deadline of August 6, 2026. Gandia wrote to the board ahead of the deadline. As quoted by the Londonderry Times, her letter said:

"Due to project permitting, specifically for the well and septic, we are not able to satisfy the conditions."

At the August 5 meeting the board granted a one-year extension of the conditions quickly. A second request needed more discussion. The applicant wanted to start work on the building before the permits were finished. Gandia said there would be "no site work at all." Exterior work would be limited to a new roof, new windows on the side and back, paint and new siding.

DeFrancesco described the interior work involved. "For interior fittings, you're talking about a commercial kitchen the hoods, the fire suppression systems, all of those things a couple hundred thousand dollars of stuff," he said. Gandia acknowledged the risk of spending that much before final permitting is done. She also noted that the plan still has to return to the board for signature, and all the conditions have to be met by then. Town staff had no objection beyond asking for a preconstruction meeting, and the board approved the waiver unanimously.

That means the work the town allowed can go ahead. Opening the restaurant still depends on the water and septic permitting.

Where things stand heading into November

Here is the order of the remaining steps, based on the public record:

1. Well and septic permitting has to be completed. According to the town memo, that includes state approval of the water supply as a small drinking water system.
2. The remaining conditions of approval have to be met. The extension gives the applicant a year from the August 6, 2026 deadline.
3. The plan returns to the Planning Board to be signed.

The project is not on any of the Planning Board agendas for September 2, September 9, October 7 or October 14, 2026. The most recent public coverage is the Londonderry Times report from August 16. The coverage to date gives no opening date or construction schedule, and the Mack's Apples website doesn't mention the restaurant.

In the meantime the farm market works as it always has. The family history on the Mack's Apples site begins in 1732, when John Mack came to what was then Nutfield from Londonderry, Ireland, with his new wife, Isabella Brown. The farm calls itself the oldest orchard in New Hampshire. The farm stand lists homemade cider doughnuts, apples, pumpkins, squash, local maple syrup, honey and fresh pies. In spring, Mack's Ice Cream opens with locally made Richardson's Ice Cream. The site lists farm market hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and directs visitors to its social media for updates. The farm also keeps a hotline for picking conditions at (603) 432-3456.

The next public sign of progress on the restaurant would be the plan reappearing on a Planning Board agenda for signature.

Mack's restaurant shows how much of a Londonderry property's future depends on its well and septic records, especially on the farm side of town. If you own land here and want to know what your own records say about what the parcel can support, Pat Clancey Realty can go through them with you. Work With Us — Get a Local Market Consultation.