Historic home’s saga not done yet
The town’s Zoning Board of Adjustment met Nov. 17 and decided against reconsidering its decision regarding the house at 71 Main St.
The panel voted not to have a rehearing on its decision to overturn a controversial ruling by the historic district commission, according to Selectman Gustave Ruth.
Members of the zoning board could not be reached for comment.
The 200-year-old house is unoccupied and lies in Winchester’s historic district.
The owners would like to sell it to a developer that would demolish it and build a Dollar General store, but special permission is required to demolish a building in a historic district.
The historic district commission denied that permission in July, only to have its decision overturned last month when the developer, Zaremba Group of Cleveland, appealed to the zoning board.
On Oct. 31, attorney Kelly Dowd of Keene submitted a motion for the board to rehear that appeal on behalf of a group of five property owners, citing a number of alleged procedural errors.
Now that the zoning board has denied the motion the applicants could take their petition to Cheshire County Superior Court.
If there is no appeal, Zaremba still has work to do before the building can be torn down.
When the zoning board gave permission for the building to be demolished it was on the condition that the historic district commission first approve the design of the new building that would take its place.
3 comments:
As one of the very few people in attendance at the ZBA meeting Tuesday night for the appeal of 71 Main Street it was kind of confusing to see such a low turn out on such an important issue. Sitting there just before the meeting was to start and not seeing any members seated at the table or in the hall, as proper procedure dictates, I was wondering to myself what in heck was going on. It was then kind of amusing to watch as the members of the ZBA filed into the hall from the basement of the town hall and took their seats. There was no doubt that they had been downstairs already discussing the issue in a non-public meeting, which by the way is illegal, and that they had already come to their decision. It was so obvious by their demeanor and the sham of a hearing they tried to present. Ken Cole did tell a story about how he had googled and searched a similar case like this one in WORCESTER,MA. You gotta be kidding me! I hope for their sake that Ken and the other members did not use this similar case as the
reason not to rehear. I couldn't really tell what he was trying to say as Ken Cole's voice became so unintelligible you couldn't understand anything he said. Since when do we decide a decision on the merits of another state's opinion? Boy, talk about a stretch! There goes another backroom ... err basement room decision that will cost us taxpayers a bundle defending.
The reason for the low turnout Bob was because the meeting was scheduled with no advanced notice as is required by law to keep people from attending. The ZBA secretary and the Town Admin think that by suppressing notice they will accomplish what they want with the least resistance. What those two foolish women and the board failed to realize is that in their sham of a meeting and unlawful behavior there are people who know exactly what went on and that are willing to stand up to this hogwash and take them to task.
Course those people that do will be labeled troublemakers, outcasts, people who are wasting taxpayer dollars in their pursuit of what's right for all of us. Our town motto has become "Take Us To Court" if you don't like how we do things. Shame on these people who who call themselves public employees; nothing could be further from the truth.
This ZBA board is a complete farce. Over the past several months it has become so obvious that they are controlled by our BOS and their secretary Margaret Sharra.
Their decisions either leave people scratching their collective heads at the absurdity of their actions or lawsuits get filed.
Can we all say hypocrites? Once again they show that this board of appointees has bent over backwards for one of their own and that this latest ruling is absurd.
They have absolutely no integrity and neither does she and her excuse will be that she plum forgot; but that dog don't hunt any more.
page 11 of the "Master Plan"
http://www.winchester-nh.gov/pages/winchesternh_webdocs/masterplan.pdf
Note what it says -
"Honor Winchester's Historic Places"
Page 44 - "To preserve and promote historical buildings, structures and places."
Created by: Danielle Borges
Shemariah Blum-Evitts
Edie Fifield
John Hann
Margaret Sharra
It's time we vote to make these positions elected ones and stop this nonsense.
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