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Really fed up said: November 10th, 2008 12:04 pm
You thing this stuff is wrong, you might want to start paying attention to what the historical commission is up to and how much they will cost tax payers and private home owners if some one doesn't start paying attention to what they are up to, a few peoples personal opinions ( Ted Whippie & Dan Carr)are being forced onto entire neighborhoods (Ashuelot Village) People really need to inform themselves on whats going on behind the scenes
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Great, I will but I dont have the time right now. I will have to edit my thoughts down to a couple paragraghs and that is very hard to do Unless you like to read very long blogs.I will reply soon. Thanks for this
Blog away, there's plenty of space here and no need to edit your thoughts.
Really Fed up says,
This is in reference to Julia Ferrari's letter about preserving the historic look of Ashuelot. I am very upset with her using the words "we” and "People of Ashuelot" in her letter stating her personal opinion. She is stating that her neighbors agree with her or are behind her with her "personal opinion" This is absolutely wrong. She and her husband do not like modern building materials and are trying to take rights away from there neighbors under the act called "Historical District Commission" The funny thing is the house she lives in is not under this commission so they may do as they like to there property but are trying to tell there neighbors what they can or cannot do in regards to remodeling or beautifying there homes. Julia and Dan have the right to keep a very ugly storage trailer between there 2 houses, they also have the right to install a very ugly and bright metallic "grain-wood pellet" silo next to there home on "Our beautiful historic main street" but they believe they have the right to tell there neighbors what kind of siding they may or may not use. They seem to be against new thermal windows being used (houses installing these windows save a significant amount on heating cost also reducing our dependence on foreign oil) I was shocked at the last Historic commission meeting that color choices are now being controlled by these very few people. The 2 business men who bought the run down "eye soar" hotel had to jump through hoops at 3 different historical commission meetings in order to continue beautifying the hotel. The hotel has been run down and needing major repair for as long as anyone living can remember, it is private property not a public building. What right do people have in forcing personal opinions upon other people’s homes or businesses? People living next to or around the hotel are very happy with the work going on there and were very upset to find a very small group of people trying to stop or slow them down in this very needed clean up. Another funny thing most of the people who believe in this so called historic district don’t live in it and can go home and do as they please to their houses! Walk around the village of Ashuelot and you will see many homes with vinyl siding inside this so called district, why were they allowed to do so and others not. The Sheridan house "the historical society's own museum" has vinyl siding on it installed in recent years, and these are the same people more or less telling other property owners they cannot use it. The historical district commission says this act passed in 1997 or so, and this is being researched, the idea that people living in other parts of town can vote and have a say on property owners in Ashuelot is wrong and immoral if not illegal. It would be very easy for people to vote yes to a question like that when they themselves don’t live in the Historic District that they are voting on and have the freedom to maintain and re model there homes any way they see fit. Don’t get me wrong I would love to see Ashuelot look like Deerfield or Northfield Mass. But the problem is very few people can afford to do this kind of restoring to there homes especially when rot and decay of clapboards and trim come into play. If a Historical commission mandates that no modern building materials are to be used does this make it taxpayer responsibility to offset the cost to these home owners? I would love to see the whole village look like the bridge and the big yellow house across from it, but with high mortgages and soaring tax bills how do we force people to do this when they are already having struggles making ends meet. I hear the trustees of the Thayer library were facing the problem of not having the funds to properly restore the building with wood and paint (this building is not town or taxpayer funded) The trustees had made the choice to side with vinyl, after taking in many estimates it turned out restoring with wood and paint was double the cost of siding. The small trust fund they have was not enough for the more expensive choice. It was also decided that a warrant article for this would not pass, as taxpayers are maxed out. The Historical Commission feels leaving the building as it is was a better choice than vinyl siding. Being so close to the beautiful covered bridge and town common this is a shame. Now that you know the details I would love to hear the views and comments from the townspeople
Thank you for this opportunity to speak the villages case
Glad you came back and provided us with all of the facts concerning what is going on over in Ashuelot village with the Historical Society and people living in the Village. It's one thing to mandate for property listed in the State of NH Historical Registry; but to dictate what a homeowner can and can not do, as long as they are within current building code restrictions is wrong. Everyone would love to update and improve the appearance of their homes, not only to make them more eye appealing but also as stated in your response to make them more energy efficient and in the long run save themselves money on their electric and fuel bills. However, until Winchester follows it's own rules and becomes a cost affective town, slashing budget expenses and reigning in run away spending, no one is going to have the extra money to put back into their homes.
Well it has been a couple days and no comments. I don’t know what to make of this. The people of Ashuelot have always felt Winchester doesn’t care about us down here and maybe they are right, Or is it that so few people have to deal with this Historical district commission that the general public doesn’t care. You may want to care because there is a group of people researching the fact, who pays for the restoring of these buildings if a Historic commission mandates. Common sense would say "taxpayers" we voted these districts in, we gave the few people on this board the power to tell people what to do, so the town must fund these mandates. Right?
I sometimes don't comment on everything I read here, though I do come by a couple times each day. I don't think it's a matter of people not caring about what goes on in the Village; but probably more about being busy preparing for the upcoming holiday and working all day.
That a group of people would have so much power over a town isn't right and there surely must be a system of checks and balances or a way to appeal one of their rulings or mandates, have you researched any of this?
Yes it is. Found out when the warrent article was voted on it was #3 in 1997 with the wording about the Ashuelot part "from the covered bridge to the Quonset hut, not including the Quonset hut" from the town meeting before the actual vote as recorded in the town offices. But at the last Historic distric commission meeting about the hotel ( this building is not on the Quonset hut side ) Mr. Whippie stated the district was up and down both sides of main st, Through the covered bridge, down back Ashuelot rd, Up old hinsdale rd and up Gunn mnt rd. This is not what was recorded in the town meeting also no areas were discribed on the actual ballot so people were blindly voting. The warrent article passed 332 yes to 325 no I feel that since 657 people do not live in this district how could they have a right to vote about their neighbors houses. Also many houses including the Sheridan house have modern building materials, it seems like the old story if you know or are the right people you can do as you like but if you are not in this little click "watch out"
Thank you Mrs G for your comment having a idea how many people disagree or are concerned with what is going on will help inspire us in our research and battle, if it comes to this
I also do care about the people living in Ashuelot but just usualy don't have time to comment on everything I read. Unfortunitly this is one of those tough situations brought on with a village that is run by a town. I do agree that what the historical sosiety is doing is wrong and there has got to be a way for the people affected by this to stop it. I believe that any decision made about someones house should include the owners of that house. They are the ones paying for the work and the taxes on it.
We would suggest writing your own "warrant article petition" to restrict the enforceable area to the originally proposed area "from the covered bridge to the Quonset hut, not including the Quonset hut" described in the minutes from that town meeting you speak of. Once submitted to the town, your petition would be discussed and voted on at the Deliberative Session in January and hopefully placed on the ballot for voters to decide on once again.If you would like some assistance or more information on how to go about this, contact us.
It would seem that Mr. Whippie and the board needs to go back and check exactly what the was entered into the town record and stick to just that area and not try to mandate other areas in Ashuelot that were not mentioned and recorded originally. If I were you, I'd follow the suggestions about submitting your own petition to clarify the exact area. This way it would be defined and entered into the town records (again?) and there would be no confusion as to what the zone actually would encompass.
Really Fed up wishes
I really wish Julia Ferrari would log back in and try to justifty her and her husbands (Dan Carr) actions. It would be very interesting to hear her point of view on taking her neighbors rights away and how she feels this could be the right thing to do. I will close this blog with a scarey and sad note, her husband was just elected by people around here to represent us in concord. OMG what have we done now.........
It looks like instead of sticking a pin in George Bush, we shot arself's in the foot.
An email was sent to Julia, letting her know that several people had responded to her letter and were waiting for a response from her. In all fairness, we're hoping she returns to answer the questions posted.
Fed up is wondering......Julia where are you? is it that maybe you understand forcing your personal opinion on others is wrong.
Just like John P you can start something but you dont come back and finish it.
Ohhhh Julia where are you??????
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