Monday, October 3, 2011

Winchester historic house issue headed back to zoning board

WINCHESTER — The fate of a Main Street house will be in the balance again at the town zoning board meeting Thursday.

The board has been asked to reconsider a decision by the town’s Historic District Commission, which in July denied an application by a developer hoping to replace the 200-year-old house at 71 Main St. in the historic district with a Dollar General store.

Zoning board members have reviewed the original application as well as new information that was presented in the developer’s appeal and at a public hearing last month, according to Louis Fox, zoning board chairman.
The public hearing has been closed, and only zoning board members will be able to speak at Thursday’s meeting.

“Everything’s been pretty much said and done and it’s up to the board members to decide how they want to go from here,” Fox said.

Previous owners of the house have changed its exterior in a number of ways, eroding the building’s historic value, Zaremba Group of Cleveland argued in its appeal. The company further argued that the board’s ruling violated the property owners’ right to develop the property, which is in both the historic district and the business district.

Historic preservation activists in other parts of the state are following the case with interest, according to Linda Wilson of South Danbury, who retired from the N.H. Department of Historic Resources in June.
Officials within the state historic resources division as well as preservationists with the N.H. Preservation Alliance are “very concerned with the issues that come up with respect to zoning board review of historic district commission decisions,” she said.

Members of Historic Commissions are required by state statute to have expertise or experience in historic preservation, she said, that zoning board members are not required to share.

Wilson also argued against the idea that historic preservation is incompatible with economic development, and offered downtown Keene as an example of historic preservation money — put to use in the Chamberlain Block and Colony Block — working in conjunction with private investment to create a unique and vibrant commercial area around Central Square and Main Street.

  The zoning board will meet on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Winchester Town Hall.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Members of Historic Commissions are required by state statute to have expertise or experience in historic preservation, she said, that zoning board members are not required to share."

Looking at the list of HDC members do any of these members have these qualifications? If so who and what are they?

the Winchester Informer said...

Who are you to question these members? The voters have spoken and these positions were filled by people who are fueled by their desire to preserve historic structures and the history of our town. In reaching their decision, they followed established protocol despite an attempt by our town administrator to block them from having a public hearing. They followed established rules and regulations throughout the proceedings and treated everyone fairly and with respect and lastly sought legal advice before making their decision from the town's attorney. That you are unhappy with the decision and the process gives you no right to question the qualifications of anyone on the board.
Don't like it, then cast your ballot for someone else next year, just be sure their "qualified".

Might we also add, the person who had a hand in writing these regulations and establishing this district is the same one who now wants to skirt the regulations for her own personal gain.

Anonymous said...

Excuse me where does it say I was unhappy? I just want to know what their qualifications are. And no, none of these people were voted in by us, its a self appointed board like the ZBA.
Maybe if we had more qualified members then we wouldnt be having the problems we are having now.

the Winchester Informer said...

You must be unhappy if you are questioning the qualification of these members and then stating they are the cause of any problems resulting from their perfectly legal decision, which they based on current regulations and advice of council.
Get over it. They are not "self" appointed either and were chosen over other candidates for their qualifications. Go bitch to the Selectmen Wednesday night, if you are so concerned.

Anonymous said...

You are so uninformed informer
it is self appointed and there were no other candidates to choose from, This is one of the boards most people don't want to be on and I have been to several meetings in the past when MR. Whippie was begging people to join because of low numbers in members.
My point is if we actually had qualified people on this board it may not seem like a personal vendetta against the property owners. Calling this building a historical asset is a joke its a run down eye soar with no value to us as a town. With Rite aid ,VFW and big Daddys rv sales as its neighbors its hard to see why certain individuals would have a problem with this dump going away.
Its very interesting how no one complained about Mr. Plifka building a dollar store and his lawyer should not have been allowed to talk at the last meeting. That is a huge conflict of interest, he just doesn't want competition. same reason he worked so hard at stopping the gas station going in at the 4 corners.
So people are right when they talk about the good ol boys club in town but its not always with our town government.
Another Question no one seems to be able to answer is how is it some one who is only a alternate can be Vice Chairman?
This board has become way to big for their britches and has let to much of this stuff go to their head, These are the reasons that their attempt to stop this might fail. And with all these strict rules they are forcing on us homeowners one of the only options is to tear down a building and start all over so its not historical. This is whats happening on the property on back Ashuelot rd and Maybe the train depot. They can stop you from maintaining and remodeling but they cant stop you from tearing it down and rebuilding. After all these are private property's we are talking about.

the Winchester Informer said...

So you're attempting to tell me/us that these people just appointed themselves to this board and it wasn't done properly by the BOS choosing the most qualified applicants from the list of people wishing to volunteer? I think not and thank you for pointing out that you are a property owner in the Historic District and have a personal stake in your attack on these members. Your problem with this board and it's members stems from the rules and regulations that they are compelled by their positions to enforce and the decisions they reach because of these enforceable regulations. Why attack the messengers for doing their duties?
You sound like an intelligent person and one who purchased this property of your own volition knowing full well there were certain regulations you had to follow by owning this property. To cry foul now after the fact and not wanting to do so is an issue you caused yourself by making the purchase. Don't point fingers at people living up to the responsibilities of their positions who are just enforcing the town's own regulations. There is and was nothing personal in their decision, they followed advice of council and the written regulations of the town.
For you to question the qualifications of these members because you don't like them or the decisions they have made, sounds very personal on your part. They were chosen for their qualifications and abilities to act fairly and to enforce the rules on the books.

Anonymous said...

Many people have bought property in these districts without being told that it was a historical district I know of 3 such cases. and the fact that a small group of people can tell someone else what the can or cannot do to their own private property should be illegal and its for sure UN American and to think that these board members are not Qualified and most of or none them don't live in these districts is something the voters need to really think about this March when there are some warrant articles dealing with this issue.
If these people came and told you what to do with your property you would be the first one up in arms and using this site to fight it but because right now this group is going after someone you admitt to hating and having problems with you want to call them qualified historical experts (which they are not) and support them in this illegal activity. you Want to tell us how to maintain our homes then come pay our taxes.Fortunately they have stepped on to many toes and people are more aware of how bad this HDC is for our town then they were when this was voted in in the late 90s you will see all this change soon. This group is responsible for many homes remaining run down and even condemned because people cannot remodel or repair with modern materials.

Lot of poppycock above said...

Wow! The poster above is an excellent example of how town hall is unable to do their job properly.

The fact that new homeowners are purchasing in the historic district and are never made aware of this by their realtor goes to show that the Land Use office or Town Administrator is not giving out the proper information. The information should be on the tax cards, and if it isn’t – then there is a serious break down in information.

The fact that buildings are being neglected is not the fault of the town or the historic board, but by the property owner neglecting it. There is a multitude of ways to improve a property in the historic district. Getting it registered as historic is the first step. There are grants and funds for those wishing to improve their property.

In regards to the two properties mentioned, you will find that they were both bought “for a steal” with the intent to capitalize on their investment by tearing them down. Also with the full knowledge that they were historical and in the historic district. They just have the self arrogance to believe that they are above the laws.

Most towns across our beautiful State have historic districts to preserve the historic value and character of their town. It not only adds to the charm and character of the town, but also in many cases brings tourism and dollars. Asking the Town of Winchester board(s) to ignore the voters by not following these rules and regulation is the kind of behavior that is being addressed on this blog on a regular basis.

I inquired about the board members and learned that the Board of Selectman approves all of them. Perhaps you should be asking them what qualifications they were looking for in appointing them.

Anonymous said...

I don't think that it is fair to find fault with the people who serve the historic district commission, but the district itself. The people involved, are trying to do their job as it is spelled out by nh laws. The district itself though is somewhat of a farce. Of Rube Goldberg design no doubt, with a bibliography from Karl Marx. Should the opportunity arise, Winchester ought to organize a bus trip to the Wall St. protest, and pitch in. A lot of people here would be right at home.

Anonymous said...

The whole HDC is a farce. one of the poorest towns in NH cant be dealing with Historical zones we have far to many other problems to face. A very "few" people have this idea of making's us like a northfield or deerfield Mass. and its not going to happen it's Winchester, Low tax base high taxes and people who are losing their house to bank's and back taxes.
Wake up smell the burning coffee and vote this whole group out in March, It is destroying our town not helping it. You may find it very interesting to drive by these board members houses and see how some of them live, These are not the people we want dictating how we live, remodel or maintain our property's

Anonymous said...

The "farce" in all of this is the fact that some people just don't get it and want to go and belittle others for their own personal agendas. Rules and regulations are the guiding force in a society, without them you have anarchy and chaos, which is exactly what we have in Winchester. There seems to be a small minded group, who believe that rules are made for other people and not them and town officials who feel the exact same way. These people aren't willing to follow the law, they want to change it to suit there wants and needs and point fingers and accuse those we have put in place to enforce them. They have the backing of a couple of well known kissa$$ers who come on here and post comments attacking a town committee for doing their job in hopes of swaying the majority of us into believing that these regulations and the people that enforce them are anti-American, that's the farce in this whole matter. We also have a couple of well known town officials who think that supporting the wants and desires of another town employee who is knowingly attempting to circumvent the law is alright because she's one of them. Well that's not acceptable to the rest of us law abiding citizens who can see right through this whole mess. The ZBA better do the right thing and find in favor of the historical committee's decision or there's gonna be hell to pay and no amount of twisting the facts will hide the fact that they bowed to pressure from Sherm and a couple of others to give Margaret what she wants.

Anonymous said...

What's next town hall????? What other dirty deed os up your sleeve? More noisy race tracks that dump on conservation land? Another dirty plant? Time for Clean Power to send another kudo your way? Who gets a ride in an ambulance next? It should be all of you ........ one way trip out of town. How do you all sleep at night? There has to be money exchanging hands on all these disgusting deals that continue to happen and blatantly stuffing it in the faces of the townspeople that continue to oppose your actions.

Anonymous said...

Headlines on the sentinel say that the house can be torn down. Looks like the ZBA with their stacked deck rules. Shame on you Margaret! You knew that this house was in a historic district and how can you allow tenants to live in a house that the ZBA has allowed to be torn down!
The mighty dollar and Gus Ruth win again.

Anonymous said...

Hip Hip Hooray
Looks like we the people are finally being heard. Thank god this run down eyesore will be gone soon and a better Building and or business will replace it and add to our tax base and maybe future jobs.
Between this and the up and running asphalt plant it looks like a new day for us. a small minority of people will not be able to bully the town into not doing the right thing, I hope this trend keeps up and just maybe Winchester will be a better place to live and our taxes will start to go down.
go ahead and file all the bogus law suites you want they will just be dismissed like all the others.

Anonymous said...

Pony up the cash and buy it yourself, pay to restore it, and then pay the taxes. Yeh right!

Anonymous said...

Just thinking:

People who VOLUNTEER their time to serve our town on the HDC are being questioned here right? "What are their qualifications?"; What right do they have to enforce protocol that was established years ago, ... by people who chose to buy property...conveniently on MAIN ST.. etc etc. Who so "generously" found funding for a sidewalk that we have lived without since 1752....after they bought property that would be enhanced by said sidewalk!

These volunteers are now being attacked by people (or their friends and families)for upholding protocal that was established by people on our town payroll.

Far better to question people on the Town Payroll, who REFUSE to abide by protocol set by the town.
Also how about Code Enforcement Officers who do not ENFORCE EXISTING CODES, BUT ARE PAID BY US, THE TAXPAYERS. How about the people who set laws and do not abide by them, but are on Town Payroll. How about services we pay for being abused.

How about ZBA and BOS meetings banning public input regarding HDC decisions?

Really? This is how our town government works? I feel like I am in Cuba!

Come on voters....time to boot out all incubents in our town government...they have made a mockery of Winchester NH.

See you at the Polls.

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately the people who volunteer for this board just are not qualified. doesn't matter where there heart is they just don't have the experience. It seems kinda suspicious that some of these people live in what we would call unmaintained run down buildings and wish to force everyone else to do so also. Not all buildings that are old have historical value and not all buildings that have historical value need to be run down and ugly, Just drive to Deerfield Mass and you will see old buildings beautifully maintained and pleasing to the eye, Winchester has nothing even close to this to offer so why waste time and effort on something we will never be. A few people are griping over this house but we all know its about the owner and not the dump that it is. How do you Justify the VFW and Rite aid and big Daddys RV sales that are the neighbors to this house

get a life said...

And who are you to say that they are not? Just what are your qualifications to criticize them They were hand picked just the ZBA, who are totally dysfunctional and biased as their latest and foolish decision shows. At least these people followed the rules, acted fairly and governed by regulations and advice of town council, Why aren't you attacking the Zoning Board for the farce they are. Not one of them has an iota of what they are suppose to be doing. Course they are all hand picked puppets of our selectboard; but I don't see you complaining about them, why not?

Anonymous said...

To the commenter to posts up. I guess you didn't read where it was stated that the Historical District STARTS with the house and continues up past the junction of 10 and 119. I guess you have been too busy shouting to the world that these people, Sherman Tedford included are total imbeciles and can't make an honest decision, which by the way they did. Rite Aid, the VFW and The RV lot are all in the commercial zone, you idiot and are not part of the Historical District. Now go take you foot out of your mouth and and apologize for you rude remarks to the people of the HDC board. They did a fine job, it's good old boy town politics and catering to Margaret Sharra that has led to this whole problem.

Anonymous said...

Because they decided on the right decision,and it is a good decision for our town.

Anonymous said...

Wouldnt it be easier to list their Qualifications Instead of telling people it is wrong to ask what they are? Asking for what their experiance is is not attacking them Shame on you.

Anonymous said...

Convenient...while siting Rite-Aid, VFW and Big Daddy's...how about the E.L.M.M. Center right NEXT to the house in Question. Isn't that an HISTORICAL Building? How come no one mentions the immediate abutter?

Anonymous said...

Thank you ZBA for using your heads and listening to us towns people and following the rules. people keep mentioning HDC laws and in days of research I cant find laws. Laws or RSA's don't exist for a historical district commission just guidelines and suggestions. Thank god March will be hear soon and we can get rid of this board and get back to business of making our town better and building a better tax base. we seem to be getting of track with individuals worrying what private home owners wish to do with their property that they paid for and pay taxes on.

Anonymous said...

Not sure if the ELMM is in the district. Durkee street is of Parker st and Parker st is not in the district and I always thought that odd, some of the nicest old houses in town are on that street but maybe the homeowners were very smart and found a way to keep themselves off this list in the
90's. I see the bowling alley has a new metal roof, Vinyl siding and new double insulated windows so this leads me to think its not in a HDC district. also need to add that many people in this town do not know the ELMM is not a town building but a Non-Profit that works closely with our town to do what they do.

Anonymous said...

That's because you have no idea what you are talking about. Course the ELMM Center is in the Historic District, you don't have a clue do you?
You don't realize what a big mistake it is to allow this to happen here and what effect it will have all over the state and eventually to other states as well all over the country. Once you allow something like this to happen you set precedence and then other box store companies or businesses can pretty much call the shots and overturn any decisions by using this as an example.
What's next, tear down the ELMM Center for a Big Lots or Cinema Plex, or the Library for a McDonald's or Taco Bell? How about we tear down Town Hall for a Blockbuster, more people would enjoy that then what we have now.
The ZBA has really put their foot into it now and the doors have been opened to turn Winchester into whatever the powers that be wish it to be while ignoring regulations set to promote keeping our past heritage.
If this house hadn't belonged to Sharra and her brothers this never would have happened. The ZBA went against the law ( RSA 677:15 ) to overturn the HDC, shame on them.

Anonymous said...

Whether anyone likes Sharra or not, preventing new business in town will financially destroy us. The historic district is not producing new tax revenue. Did anyone read the article in the Keene Sentinel that showed Winchester as the only school district in the area to have a budget deficit? The ZBA was right in finding a more benificial use for the property. The state cuts in education will be very pronounced in the school budget year, and it is time that we wake up. Let's fix it now, there will be time to apologize later. No one wants to tear down the town hall, churches, library,or other major historic buildings, but lets be realistic about life here.

Anonymous said...

What's destroying this town and has always been at the root of the problem is the stranglehold a certain group of individuals have on Winchester. These few voted in by their families, cronies and others involved with the town with the backing of the Beamans and others who profit mightily by their decisions have turned Winchester into their private little cash cow.
Here we have a public official who not only knew full well what she was buying and what she could legally do crying foul when it was she who had a direct hand in writing the regulations that prevent her from destroying this building. She then gets the ZBA where she actively sits as a secretary on the board to overturn the HDC's denial based on some baseless reports from her brothers nonetheless that it would now be too costly to fix up the building costing hundreds of thousands of dollars; yet they had two tenants living there previously that they kicked out in order to make this sale go through. They don't even pay their taxes like the rest of us and you fools who back this decision think it's good for the town? There are many villages in NH missing their idiots, they all moved here! Guarantee this ends up in court costing the town again for something involving Sharra.

Anonymous said...

No one is preventing new businesses from coming here, however destroying the character of your town and turning it into a strip mall for the sake of a couple of jobs is foolish.
This whole deal smells from start to finish and if this had been anyone else instead of Margaret Sharra none of this would have happened in the first place. Yes, the building is in need of repairs and like other buildings in town needs repairs. We have ordinances and regulations governing things like that and yet owners are allowed to collect rents, not pay taxes and keep their properties looking like crap to keep assessments down. This woman saw an opportunity to make a killing on this property, steered others away and got it for a song and dance. Now she wants to make a large profit on her investment at the expense of destroying part of the town's heritage and there are people in town willing to look the other way just for her. This is wrong.
As for Winchester being the only town in the area to have a huge deficit in their school budget can be explained by the greedy folks who added over a million dollars of new spending to an already bloated budget instead of following the lead of school districts across the country, making hard choices and cuts. Look around, while other towns make cuts in their budgets, laying off personnel, cutting back on spending, Winchester hands out bonuses, gives raises and hires more people. Our town leaders and school district have a champagne taste and it's reflected in how they constantly spend money and add to the burden of hard working taxpayers. Rome is burning folks, wake up.

More concerned said...

re: Anonymouse at 7:55 am... Well said, well said. I for one, am definitely awakening. Thank you.
Very embarrasing to read of our school status of deficit in the Sentinel compared to all other schools in the "black"...Very sad.