WINCHESTER MAKES LIST
WINCHESTER — A statewide preservation organization has thrown its weight behind local efforts to save a dilapidated 200-year-old house on Winchester’s Main Street from demolition.
The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance included the Wheaton-Alexander House, at 71 Main St., on its “Seven to Save” list for 2011.
Two buildings in the region made the list this year: the Winchester house, which has been surrounded by controversy of late, and Charlestown Town Hall, a two-story 1873 building that needs repairs to bring the second floor up to code. A small group of volunteers is advocating to return the hall to full use, according to the alliance. See related story below.
The Winchester building, which lies within the boundaries of the town’s historic district, is slated for demolition to make way for a new Dollar General store. But preservationists think it should be kept in place for the benefit of the historic district as a whole, said Maggie Stier, a field service representative for the preservation alliance and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
“It often requires a little creative economic thinking, but we would welcome the opportunity to work with the owners and the planning officials in Winchester to make this work,” she said.
The attempt to remove the Winchester house is an example of what the preservationist group considers a statewide trend of buildings at the edges of historic districts disappearing to development, Stier said. “What happens is the next building becomes the de facto edge of the historic district. ... Pretty soon you have something like a domino effect.”
The house in question was once the residence of doctors who treated the people of Winchester in the 1800s, but it has since been renovated into a duplex and in recent decades it has changed hands several times. The current owners bought it in 2008 and it is now vacant.
The historic district commission in July denied an application by a developer hoping to purchase the property and replace the house with a new building designed for Dollar General, a national chain of discount stores.
But earlier this month the town’s zoning board voted unanimously to overturn the historic commission’s decision.
The house would cost the owners more to fix up than it was worth, board members said, and they questioned its historic value.
Stier challenged those conclusions.
“People often confuse the condition with the historic significance and they are two different things,” she said. “With the loss of that structure the character of that district would be changed significantly.”
Members of the historic commission are researching what they have to do to appeal the zoning board’s decision, according to Julia Ferrari, commission vice chairman.
The house’s position on the Seven to Save list will help, she said.
“This means that someone else — a major preservation group in New Hampshire — has looked at the building and decided that that is a major historical building of interest,” Ferrari said. “These are people who really know their stuff.”
The list names historic properties across the state that the organization considers endangered and in need of attention and resources, and “highlights the challenges that are facing New Hampshire citizens as they work to protect their historic landmarks, villages, main streets and rural communities,” according to the alliance.
41 comments:
Isn't it a little late? I thought that the only way to appeal a ZBA ruling, is in superior court. Hasn't Winchester spent enough money in that department already?I hope that the preservation people have deep pockets.
677:2 Motion for Rehearing of Board of Adjustment, Board of Appeals, and Local Legislative Body Decisions. –
Within 30 days after any order or decision of the zoning board of adjustment, or any decision of the local legislative body or a board of appeals in regard to its zoning, the selectmen, any party to the action or proceedings, or any person directly affected thereby may apply for a rehearing in respect to any matter determined in the action or proceeding, or covered or included in the order, specifying in the motion for rehearing the ground therefor; and the board of adjustment, a board of appeals, or the local legislative body, may grant such rehearing if in its opinion good reason therefor is stated in the motion. This 30-day time period shall be counted in calendar days beginning with the date following the date upon which the board voted to approve or disapprove the application in accordance with RSA 21:35; provided however, that if the moving party shows that the minutes of the meeting at which such vote was taken, including the written decision, were not filed within 5 business days after the vote pursuant to RSA 676:3, II, the person applying for the rehearing shall have the right to amend the motion for rehearing, including the grounds therefor, within 30 days after the date on which the written decision was actually filed. If the decision complained against is that made by a town meeting, the application for rehearing shall be made to the board of selectmen, and, upon receipt of such application, the board of selectmen shall hold a rehearing within 30 days after receipt of the petition. Following the rehearing, if in the judgment of the selectmen the protest warrants action, the selectmen shall call a special town meeting.
Source. 1983, 447:1. 1988, 131:4. 1994, 116:1. 1995, 243:3. 2000, 144:2. 2005, 105:1, eff. Aug. 14, 2005. 2009, 266:2, eff. Sept. 14, 2009.
Make no mistake. This is a battle for the soul of Winchester----The old boy crony Winchester vs the newer more transparent Winchester....
I am amazed that those fighting to save the Doctors' House made it this far...
Well done...
From one who had fought and lost two previous preservation battles ---Winchester's Elm Street bridge and Ashuelot Village's Polish Catholic church.
Steven Lindsey
state rep
Keene, NH
This is a joke, Are you trying to say this group is going to pony up the money and buy the place themselves? I doubt it. Do people not know this is privately owned property? There is no way any one from this group came and toured the property, they are most likely getting the info from Alternate Ferrarri.If they came and say how deteriorated it was and how many changes the structure has gone through I doubt they would be getting involved.
Once again, This is private property with no historical value to us as a town, It is very ugly and we need something else to take its place to help our tax base and maybe even create jobs
Just who in hell is this "us" you keep referring to? At the hearings there was less than 7 people for this demolition including the lawyers. These comments from the Margaret Sharra peanut gallery are getting really old. If this statewide group is willing to help fix up the place then what's the big deal? Sharra and her brother's could use the financial help to make this the "Bed & Breakfast" they dreamed of putting in there and WE as a town would preserve our heritage.
At all of the meetings, people kept spouting that if people really wanted to save the building they should do something about it (Sherman & Joan Morel included). I would say that someone called their bluff!
If this group is going to buy this place and restore it on their dime this is great news. But untill they actually do buy it there is nothing people can do with what these property owners need to do,
Didn't the HDC already spend over 4000 dollars in legal fees about this house. None of these legal fees were authorized by the town and the HDC only has a 1000$ budget. Because of this carelessness by certain HDC members the town had to issue a new policy to all boards about using the town lawyer without authorization. So how do they intend to appeal this to superior court? Private donations I hope, we tax payers have spent to much money on this group already.
The HDC and any other board in town has the right to seek guidance form the town's attorney in any matter that comes before them. That our so called town administrator, who by the way knows nothing of the law, continues to try and control what these boards can and can not do in promoting her own agendas and those of certain others is testament to just why it is ever so important that the town's attorney is involved in decisions.
You ask a question and then to give it merit you provide your own answer to what you claim is outrageous. Perhaps if you had given the whole story, that the people who called Bart got erroneous information from our town administrator that resulted in the call being made and the truthful guidance they were seeking was given. The fact that Barton Mayer over charges the town constantly and that we have unqualified people in positions they should not be are the real issues to be concerned with; not someone seeking the proper advice to make the right decision. As a taxpayer, I feel that was money well spent for a change. What's this appeal to Superior Court you keep bringing up? The next step in the process as the Informer has shown is an appeal to the ZBA to reconsider their decision, that costs nothing fool.
Your statement doesn't make sense and doesn't matter. The HDC has a 1000 budget and has already spent 4000 without knowledge or authorization from the town. leaves them -3000. I would love to know who took it upon themselves to contact the lawyer so many times, was it a alternate?
You above are an idiot and obviously have a personal agenda. Is this Ed Lake? Where are you getting your facts? As the poster above you said, if the money was spent getting correct answers to legal questions to save the town from going to court, then it was money well spent. If you have an issue that it cost the town as much as it did, go petition the select board to hire a cheaper lawyer and stop trying to stir up controversy over people doing their jobs correctly. WE wish more at town hall would follow their example.
It seems to me that Julia had her ducks lined up and took charge. Now, the smart thing for Margaret and her brothers to do is to sell this property to the state. Now, mind you they will not make enough to retire as millionaires but they should cover the debt with a little profit.
That would be in the best interest of the town. The legal fees will
get expensive and of course S&S will not have to pay we will. The question of the day is this: "Have you ever known Maraget and her brothers to not be selfish and look at the best interest of all parties?" Please resign now Margaret and this time you have met your match!
Have a nice day!
As a budget committee member it disgusts me how little our elected officials, town employee and their cronies appreciates our good will.
As a budget committee member I can only conclude there is to much damn unaccounted-for money in the town’s budget if the slectmen can spend our tax dollars willy-nilly. As a budget committee member it is our job to count the pennies and the dollars will follow.
The people that we have elected and certain town employees have destroyed any hope of bring any meaningful business tax base or jobs into this town. It disgusts me how this town’s selectmen can find money to hire an airplane to fly Selectman Gus Ruth and Land Use Margaret Sharra around Winchester and take pictures of citizen’s private back yards or find money in the budget to take another long time tax payer who has a known illness of collecting machinery stored around his home and knowingly destroy the families bank account, destroy their family and marriage all while using your tax payer dollars. It disgusts me to no end how the selectmen can spend thousand of your tax payer dollars in legal fees defending a devious developer Van Dyke a person that willfully will not adhering to the rights or usual course, procedures, or standards or rules or can find tax payer dollars in their budget to defend Margaret Sharra’s actions against another elected official.
As a budget committee member I can only conclude there is to much damn unaccounted-for money in the town’s budget. You are on notice! The elected officials, town employees and cronies thinking that no one is watching of listening but we are.
There aren't any entitlements here in Winchester! As you will see...
Bob Davis again? You mean we actually have to vote this guy out a second time. if we do will morons just appoint him again, This is so wrong. Cant wait for March buh bye Bob
Go Bob!!!!
Vote him out? Why, because he wants people to be accountable for their actions? Because he wants to see where all of our tax dollars have been spent and who's spending money on what? Because he wants to make sure that every dollar is spent wisely. That department budgets are trimmed of all the unnecessary line items that have been added over the years to placate the little group that runs the town and used to insure votes for each other to keep certain people in office? Because he wants to break the cycle of spend,spend ,spend and create an honest budget to run the town and provide services and not continue with the bloated, go for it all attitude we have been subjected to for so long? Because he wants to make cuts, hard choices and streamline spending that will help people pay their taxes and keep their homes?
Well he has my vote and I can only hope that idiots like you who want him gone are a minority, because without people like Bob, coming forward, volunteering his time and caring about his neighbors and the people of Winchester,we are doomed to continue to being a town paying one of the highest tax rates in the state and getting nothing for our money in return.
March is coming, March is coming.
We the people will once again vote out Bob Davis and also have a chance to git rid of this historical district commission, As more of us find out every day this board is holding the town back and keeping it ugly and run down. I cant wait till I can paint my house the color I choose and install new thermal windows, It will be so nice.
It's obvious that there are some people at town hall that have just too much time on their hands and are wasting it by reading and posting on this blog. Ever notice the influx of new posts every Monday morning right around 8;30 - 9am, the Margaret Sharra supporters, all 5 of them.
Wouldn't it be great if we all could do exactly as we please? No rules to follow, no cares about offending our neighbors or ruining other people lives, just damn well do as we please and not care about anything but our selfish little selves? Wouldn't that just be a great world to live in? Thus is the mentality of these few flea-brained, airheads who keep posting this crap on this blog. Maybe the selectmen can find a few thousand unspent tax dollars to buy these idiots a bus ticket to la-la land and send them packing we don't need lawbreakers and troublemakers here in town, we already have a bad enough reputation without people actually seeing the idiocy in print.
Way to go Bob Davis!!! We all know the selectman's and their cronies know your not to be intimidated. The selectman's cronies can try voting you out but we know they can not shut you UP! Keep up the good work we the good people are behind you and the idiots Well, they will always be the idiots.
Well Mr Town, as we proved 2 years ago we are not a Minority, We voted Bobs off of the B.C. and now because of Idiots we have to do this again. Its got to be so wrong to be voted out of your position then be appointed back in anyways.
Just checked out the web site for this seven to save, They don't have deep pockets, It doesn't look like they are doing anything but putting this house on a list,I don't see that they are going to bring any money in to fight the ZBA's vote or any funds to restore the building, Its just a list. Looks like this Winchester house is the only private property on the list also. Who is Jen Bellan
she has nothing to do with this property.
Ah yes,the election process with 23 violations of state election laws and certain selectmen controlling absentee ballots though they are not on the election committee it's no wonder Mr. Davis' competition got voted in. We're wise to the ways of the crooked and will be watching and documenting with photos this year and gathering all the proof we need to show just what goes on in Winchester on election day.
How in hell do you know so much? How would you know how deep this organizations pockets are? Sounds to me that you're a bored small minded individual with a big mouth and nothing better to do than write nonsense. Go get a job and leave the thinking to those of us better equipped.
You must have banged your head when you were rolling on the floor, Go to the web site yourself. Alternate Julia can cry and whine all she wants but this is not her house, I'm sure she is welcome to buy it. The ZBA did the right thing and it will not be over turned. I think she just loves seeing her name in the papers. She should wake up and smell the coffee The selectman were smart enough to keep her a alternate while making Gene Park a full member, Ha, what a slap in the face.
Gene Parks is Sherm's stooge; but he took the high road and voted 'no' and Sherm got all pissy with him and screamed at him in public for not voting as directed. That's why they made Parks a full time member. Julia can't be bullied is why she's an alternate. You aren't anything but a windbag and no one cares what you 'think' will happen.
I attended that ZBA hearing and you could tell even before they made their decision known what it was going to be. They all fell right in line with Sherman's directive and made a ridiculous announcement that it would be costly, in their opinion, to fix this old building up. They had absolutely nothing in writing from the town's own engineer, or any independent engineering or contracting firm. They took the testimony from the foxes in order to justify giving permission to tear down the hen house. They went against sound legal advice given to the Historic Commission from the town's own attorney in order to give Sharra, one of them, what she wanted. The members of this board have proven once again that the ZBA needs to be an elected board by the people, not an appointed BOS bunch of puppets as we have now. Just go back and look at all of the really bad decisions that this board has made and how much it has cost this town in lawsuits over just the past few years. Add this latest foolhardy one and think just how much this one is going to cost all of us. Once again, Sharra, the BOS and the ZBA have combined to send us all back to the court house and cost thousands in lawyers fees defending another stupid act of taking care of one of their own and not enforcing the rules. The Historic Commission was right, the ZBA was foolish and so very wrong.
Let me get this straight. First we have someone who is suppose to be smart, working in our land use office and who supposedly knows all the rules and regulation governing the Historic District, correct? This person and her family goes and purchases a building in this district knowing full well what they can and can not do under regulations that she helped write and approve, correct? I also understand that both of her siblings are contractors, so they not only knew of the condition of their purchase but had an idea beforehand what it would cost to renovate the building, correct? Then according to some, they did some work in order to have tenants living in this crumbling, falling apart building ( their words )and collected rents, correct? Guess it wasn't too shabby then to have tenants. Then suddenly they evict their tenants and claim that they have an interested buyer from out of state; yet no one, not even local real estate agents can find any listing locally for this property, is that correct? Then we have a public hearing in front of the HDC by some group that doesn't even own the building yet, requesting that they be given permission, despite regulations that so no, to allow them to tear this home down so they can build another dollar store in town less than 1/4 mile from one we already have, correct? The HDC says no, this out of state group appeals to our ZBA and those idiots say the HDC was wrong and in their opinion the building can't be saved, despite testimony to the contrary from people who appraise these historic old buildings for a living and despite the fact that there were people living in this building in the previous months before the hearings all started, correct? Seems to me that there is really something fishy with this whole thing and now we have a state organization willing to work with these owners to save this old home and preserve the town's heritage and some people are upset? This smacks of cronyism and underhandedness and other more despicable dealings. Why is it that Winchester is always embroiled in some turmoil because of decisions like this from our ZBA and Planning Boards? Could it be that the same idiots are on both these boards and that besides not being capable of making sound decisions they ignore regulations to help friends get what they want? Most definitely time for changes to be made if we want to avoid paying large sums of money to defend court actions brought against the town because of biased decisions such as this.
"So obvious..." You got it!
Do you think this crap has anything to do with the selectman's and administrators offices being closed for 3 days this week? Everyone knows how Sherm and that Joan feel about Margaret and how they protect her every time she does something questionable. Wish I had a high paying job I could decide not to show up for whenever I felt like it and still get paid. This crap is unacceptable, they are obligated to be open on the days the town hall is scheduled to be open to provide us service.
I went to the town hall today and it was open and John Gamarlo was taking care of the offices While the Admin and her assistant were gone to training. I dont understand your comment, it was open and I was able to take care of my business.
Taken right from the Town's website ..
The Assessing and Selectmen's offices
will be closed from noon - 5:30 p.m.
on October 17th, 18th and 19th, 2011
The Clerk and Tax
Collector's offices
will be closed
for training on Wednesday,
October 19th, 2011.
.. guess you got there earlier or just got plain lucky.
Why is it these people take these training classes on our dime and not their own? Why should we not only pay for their training but also pay them while they are away from town hall?
SO OBUIOUS--That's it in a nut shell. Every time they cry, it cost to much to fix this house, they are either saying the contractors in the family were to stupid to see this or they are lying about there original intent.
Sharra is fit to be tied, threatening to sue someone for the mess she is in. Poor Margaret, if she just followed the rules like she makes others do there would have been no issues. Funny how the queen of grants couldn't come up with some help to fix up her old house. How come she didn't look into the Small Business Bureau for a loan to make her dream bed and breakfast a reality? We all know the answer to that, there never was any bed and breakfast going in there. Margaret was hoping to flip the house for a huge profit, selling it was her sole intent. Her lies have now caught up to her.
If anyone should be mad it should be all of us. She obviously planned on doing just this from the very beginning. She is not an honest person or someone we should be trusting by working for the town. The selectpeople should fire her immediately for all this controversy she has started and for lying to the public and the newspaper person. This is so wrong that someone should act this way towards all of us.
Perhaps Margaret and her brothers should watch PBS's This Old House. They are showing how to renovate and rejuvenate a house in a historic district. It seems to me that if they are contractors then they should have no trouble following what Tom Silva and his crew are doing. But oops I forgot the name of their game is to lie,, cheat and have tantrums until they get their own way. Way to go select board keep this kind of person working for you.
Perhaps you should get a clue. If you want to save that heap of dung, pick up your checkbook and dive right into it. If you are not willing to pay the price, and rehab it yourself, close your self righteous trap.
Mr. Ed
Another Sharra supporter heard from, what's that make 5, 6 or maybe it's Margaret herself letting off some steam?
If it's such a piece of dung why did the 3 blind mice go and buy it?
Mr. Ed can't even afford his own "heap of dung" so he too can be "self righteous" all he wants.
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