EASTHAMPTON — The former Notre Dame du Bon Conseil Church at 35 Pleasant St might be finding new life as a housing development.

Five Star Building Corp., of Easthampton, is looking to turn the old church building into nine apartment units, while other buildings on the site including the rectory and former Roots Daycare will be demolished and become an additional 33 units across seven buildings. These units will be two stories with two or three bedrooms, with 87 parking spots including single-car garages and driveway spaces at the townhomes in the seven detached buildings.

At a city Planning Board meeting Tuesday night, residents and board members expressed excitement about the possibility of a new, dense housing development filling a housing need in the city. However, concerns were raised about the amount of parking — which could leave as few as three parking spots for visitors — and potential impacts on traffic.

The development, called Riverview Place, would aim to preserve the church’s facade as well as “capture all the stormwater on site” using infiltration drains and porous concrete, according to Doug Serrill of Berkshire Design Group, who is working on the project.

“We’re working with the church building as much as we can and we’re trying to preserve the exterior as much as we can,” said John Winslow of Winslow Architects, who is also working on the project. He said that the church “feels like a building that deserves a lot of respect,” and through the use of strategic design work, the architecture company hopes to “disguise” the density of the development so it fits in with the feel of Easthampton.

Winslow explained that the church is not a designated historic building, allowing this project to move forward. The church closed in 2010.

In addition, Jeff Squire of Berkshire Design Group assured the board that the city’s public works department confirmed that there is capacity for the project’s added wastewater flow and utility needs.

A handful of area residents attended the meeting to voice both their hopes and concerns for the project.

Kathy Wauczinski spoke up to “strongly encourage” a traffic study for the project considering the “damage to our traffic flow” from the nearby Tasty Top housing development off Route 10. That 33-acre development at 93-97 Northampton St. will include 200-plus apartments, as well as several retail and office developments.

She emphasized the notion that these new housing developments cannot be considered alone when looking at traffic impacts.

Wauczinski also expressed concerns about how the development’s porous asphalt would impact the aquifer recharge area with regards to salt and other components seeping through the ground into the aquifer. Finally, she noted that there should be attention paid to the “very old” sewer pipes and water mains in the city when developing new housing.

“If we add to the volume, we add to the risk of failure,” she said.

City Councilor Felicia Jadczak, who represents Precinct 2, where the church building is, expressed excitement that this “sorely needed” housing could be coming to the city. She encouraged the developers to include native plants in the development’s various plantings.

However, she also raised worries about the lack of parking on site, which she noted could potentially be offloaded onto neighboring homes and businesses.

“We have a lot of small side streets that are already pretty tight,” she said.

Similarly, Robert Parker, who lives on Pleasant Street, said that he thinks “a traffic survey is very warranted” for the project, and that the development’s parking situation “seems to offload much of the guest parking onto neighbors and neighboring businesses.”

The project is still in the permitting process, and a proposed construction timeline was not available at the meeting.

The Planning Board asked those involved in the project to return with more information about site maintenance plans, parking availability, environmental impacts and more. The project will come before the Conservation Commission before returning to the Planning Board on June 17 at 6 p.m. for a continuation of special permitting consideration.

Alexa Lewis can be reached at alewis@gazettenet.com.