The Town's Planning Board has been sued in Superior Court by the abutters and several other concerned citizens over their handling of the proposed Robert Van Dkye condominium development on Franklin Mountain off Route 10 next to Shamrock Realty. The board had not only looked the other way on many violations of their own rules and regulations, they have time and time again gone against their own regulations in this ongoing process despite protests from the abutter's attorney and others. Their total disregard for the Town of Winchester's Subdivision and Planned Rural Development regulations and the concerns of the property owners abutting this project has prompted this lawsuit. A hearing will be held on May 12th at 9:00am at the Superior Court House in Keene. Any interested parties are invited to attend.
The hearing has been continued to Friday, May 29th at 1:00pm in courtroom #2 on the second floor of Superior Court.
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5 comments:
Didn't people in Jaffrey take that town's planning and zoning boards to court over another of his projects there too? Seems everywhere this guy goes lawsuits get filed whats up with that? Why do we need a condominium complex in town in the first place, who the hell is going to buy them anyways? Besides that, that whole mountain is one big wet zone, where in hell is he going to put them where water won't affect them? Seems to me money has passed hands here somewhere or some other arrangements have been made. Typical for this town, look at what the Beamans have gotten away with over the years. I hope these people fighting this win and take the town to task for even thinking of something so stupid. We need business to offset our tax base, not more children in our schools to raise our taxes .. fools need to start using their heads.
Perhaps we all need to ask the question is Margaret Sharra still employed by Beaman Real Estate? Then perhaps as the question has been raised about what has gone on in town we need to remove her from office next year. Obviously we do not need or want a conflict of interest. It costs the town money that we can not afford to spend.
While the influence that Margaret Sharra holds sway over the rest of the members of the planning board is a very big part of the problem; the board itself is equally responsible for this lawsuit. From the very beginning, many red flags went up and yet they turned a blind eye? What responsible person purchases a steep sloped parcel of land knowing full well he'll need a special variance before he can do any building on it? What person would buy a parcel of land, cut in two by high tension power lines and streams and seasonal brooks and expect to get waivers to build? What contractor, knowing full well what the regulations are would purchase a piece of property that did not have the required road frontage for a driveway? What contractor would claim ignorance of the regulations and then cry hardship because his parcel does not meet the criteria for a building lot for a sub division?
If you guessed Robert Van Dyke, give yourself a pat on the back.
One of the very first requirements an applicant is suppose to do is submit a COMPLETED application and pay the fee .. Van Dyke didn't and after nearly a year and a half, asked for and was granted a waiver by our planning board. An applicant is required to submit a COMPLETED abutters list with names, addresses and if possible phone numbers; Mr. Van Dyke did not comply and therefore several abutters were never notified when the proceedings started and only by word of mouth from neighbors did they find out months later. An applicant is required to have all permits and pertinent documentation in hand when submitting his application, to this day Mr Van Dyke has not met those requirements.
What Zoning Board grants a waiver for steep slopes and density when there are questions about the actual dimensions of the lot and how the area was computed and the townspeople had voted to establish the steep slopes regulation to protect the forests and minimize erosion? If you guessed ours, give yourself another pat on the back. Who's the secretary for the Zoning Board? Conflict of interest? Despite having strict regulations that protect the abutters and the town from questionable projects, our planning board handed out waiver after waiver after waiver. Why bother to have rules and regulations when you simply have a board that bends over backwards on behalf of a contractor instead of making him comply with the town's regulations? On and on it goes, you had to be present at the meetings to see what a farce this process has become and how every member of the board participated in this charade.
All we abutters ever asked for was to be treated fairly and that the board follow it's own rules and regulations and treat Mr van Dyke like they would any other applicant that came before them and make him comply with the town's regulations; they did not do either. They ignored evidence presented to them, ignored serious infractions by Mr Van Dyke like the flooding of Route 10, not once; but twice the state had to come and clean out the drains because on NO erosion controls and yet the town did nothing.
I could go on and on; but why bother. This will be decided in a court of law and most probably appealed by one side or the other ..
Looks like Margaret's statement, your on my turf now, may come back to haunt her.You laid it out very well i don't see how you can lose, or how Mrs Sharra can keep any creditability after all this becomes public.
Why didn't your planning board dump this guy long ago? He can no longer build in our town because of the things he did, or should I say things he didn't do. He's well know for his shady practices, cutting corners and overall disregard for anything that gets in his way of making a buck. Many towns have followed suit and thrown him out. Looks like he's found a home in Winchester with it's lax boards and no leadership. Good luck in court, too bad it had to come to this; but its par for the course when dealing with Van Dyke and his lot.
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