What is the Old Boy network?

Well, in Winchester it’s clear what it is.

Some years back the voters of Winchester decided to have a Historic district. This was done to try and preserve some of the town’s historical character and value.

Here’s the problem with what just happened recently in Winchester.

We’ll take one town employee who bought a piece of property at a bargain before the crash of the real estate market. Yes, this is the yellow house on Main Street. The Historic District Commission did its job correctly by saying “no” to tearing down the historic building. 

By the way - after the Historic District Commission voted on this matter, a member of this board and a town official yelled at another board member (boss to both the owner of the property & the board member) for voting no on removing the house in question.

Now for the really fun part: The town zoning board of adjustments (that by the way has a very big tie to the employee who owns the property) votes to override the Historic District Commission’s decision and decides to let the owner tear down the historic house. They now say that the Historic District Commission must approve the prints before the house can be taken down. Well some of us know what that means. If they bring 2 or 3 prints to the Historic District Commission, (whatever they are), they will bring it back to the zoning board and say the Historic District won’t approve anything.  And yes, at that time, the zoning board will over ride them again.

 Let’s make this matter even better - other businesses have tried to do things in the Historic District and were turned down.

 That’s what makes this an Old Boy network.

Brian Moser, 

2168 Clark Road. 

Winchester

 

Town board faces lawsuit over plant

WINCHESTER — The town’s planning board faces a legal challenge to its handling of a new asphalt plant operating on Route 10 near the Winchester-Swanzey border.

A group of four residents, three from Swanzey and one from Winchester, filed an appeal of the planning board’s decision in Cheshire County Superior Court last week.
In the appeal the residents allege the Winchester Planning Board failed to enforce some of the 23 conditions it put in place when it granted permission in January for Mitchell Sand and Gravel to operate a hot mix gravel plant in an agricultural district.
At a Sept. 19 compliance hearing, however, the appeal charges the board overlooked many of its own conditions — starting with one that required the compliance hearing take place before the plant started operating. The plant started making small batches of asphalt on Aug. 26.
Other allegations in the appeal claim that the planning board failed to enforce the standards it had set for water quality monitoring, and that the plant has been working at night without notifying the town of Swanzey or other abutters, as required in the conditions the board laid out in January.
According to the appeal, the town’s building inspector has stated that enforcing 12 of the 23 conditions is the “responsibility of others.”
“It is unlawful and unreasonable ... for the Planning Board to impose conditions on the approval of a site plan application, as it did on 3 January 2011, and to decide, thereafter, not to enforce the conditions or to decide that determining compliance was the ‘responsibility of others,’ ” Joseph S. Hoppock, attorney for the petitioners, wrote in the appeal.
The petitioners are F. Michael Towne of Winchester, and Arthur Beckman Jr., Rodney Plummer and Mary Ryan, all of Swanzey.
The town of Winchester must file a written appearance form in court by Dec. 6 and has until Jan. 6, 2012, to respond to the appeal.

A Fine Example For Our Winchester

Historic Harrisville turns 40

HARRISVILLE — To mark its 40th anniversary this month, Historic Harrisville will host an “Open Doors” tour Saturday, giving visitors a chance to see inside some of the key historical buildings in town.
“It’s a great way to see what’s been done with the buildings, how they’ve been restored, and what they’re being used for now,” said Jeannie Eastman, vice chairwoman of Historic Harrisville.
Historic Harrisville is a nonprofit organization that works to preserve the mill village as a thriving community after Cheshire Mills closed in 1970.
“The mill was a major source of income for a lot of Harrisville people, so after it went bankrupt and closed, several people got together and formed this nonprofit as a way to inject new life into the town,” Eastman said.
A small group, including David Putnam, Jim Putnam, John Colony Jr., John “Chick” Colony 3rd and Robbins Milbank, began exploring plans for the recovery of Harrisville.
“They had some choices — they could have tried to turn the town into a living history museum that told what it was like to live in a mill town,” Eastman said. “But, Harrisville was always a living, working, breathing town, and we wanted it to stay that way.”
Rather than turning the town into a tourist attraction the group bought six of the mill buildings and restored them so they could be rented, Eastman said.
Rental income would pay for the upkeep — taxes, heating bills, repairs — and at same time, it would provide employment opportunities in town, she said.
The group also started an affordable housing program so people who lived, worked and rented an apartment in Harrisville would get a 20 percent discount on rent, she added.
“It was a way of encouraging people to live and work in town,” Eastman said.
Slowly, the organization began acquiring buildings throughout the town, restoring them, and giving them new purposes, Eastman said.
Much of the mill and the original storehouses are rented out and used for storage today; the general store retains its original function; many of the old homes are still private homes; and a few of the buildings are rented as office space, according to Linda Willett, executive director of Historic Harrisville.
“Today, Harrisville Village is recognized nationwide as the best example of a working mill town,” Willett said. “It’s one of the only industrial communities of the early 19th century in New England that survived in its original form.”
The village was made a National Historic Landmark District in 1977, joining only two other sites in New Hampshire: The MacDowell Colony in Peterborough and Canterbury Shaker Village.
Ten of the historic buildings will be open for the free self-guided tours on Saturday, from 1 to 3 p.m., including the Cheshire Mills complex, the Cheshire Mills Boardinghouse, the general store, and the Twitchell House, which is the oldest building in the village, built in 1774.
“There will be a representative from Historic Harrisville in each building to tell visitors about the old function of the building,” Willett said. “It’s an opportunity for people to see inside buildings that aren’t usually open and accessible.”
It will also provide businesses in town with an opportunity to showcase what they do, Willett added.
“This organization set out to save the town, and they did it in a very creative and successful way,” Eastman said.

Information: Historic Harrisville at 827-3722, or historicharrisville.org.

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Neighbors blast asphalt plant

WINCHESTER — The asphalt plant isn’t the only problem with Mitchell Sand and Gravel, according to neighbors of the business.
An explosion detonated last week at the gravel pit on Route 10 on the Winchester Swanzey border shook windows and raised ire in both towns.
“It is very loud; it is very powerful,” said Arthur E. Beckman Jr. of Swanzey, whose home abuts the pit.
Beckman has owned his house since 2004, he said, but never had a problem with the gravel pit before it changed hands about two years ago.
In addition to the blasting, which he worries is shaking his propane tanks and could affect the groundwater and his well, he also reports an increase in dust in the air from rock crushing.
“I think the previous owners took a little more precautions,” Beckman said.
But the company isn’t doing anything that hasn’t happened at the pit for years, according to Robert Snedeker, spokesperson for Mitchell Sand and Gravel.
The new attention to the sand and gravel operation is a side effect of the publicity generated by a new asphalt plant, which attracted vocal opponents even before it started operating at the pit in August, Snedeker suggested.
The rock crusher is also in a new spot in the pit this year, he said, which might make it louder in neighbor’s homes.
The blasting is measured on seismographs, Snedeker said, and only register at a tenth of the legal limit.
“I think that they’re actually feeling an air blast, I don’t think they’re feeling a tremor,” he said of the worried neighbors.
The asphalt plant is a benefit to the region because it has driven down prices local towns and the city of Keene have to pay to pave their roads, Snedeker said. He also suggested that the complaints are coming from the same group of people who opposed the asphalt plant.
“The greater Winchester community seems to be happy,” he said, adding that the company has not received a written complaint from the town about any of its operations.
But there’s no shortage of written complaints about the company coming in to town hall, according to Winchester code enforcement officer Leroy Austin.
In addition to complaints that were already on file about odors and noises attributed to the asphalt plant, by early this week there were also new complaints from two residents about last week’s blasting, he said.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen. All I’m doing is compiling the information and passing it on to the planning board,” Austin said. “At some point the planning board is going to have to do something.”
As a property owner, Austin said he is also concerned that the blasting could affect the well at his own home.
“I don’t blame these people for complaining,” he said.
Snedeker said concerns about the groundwater supply are unfounded.
Other residents have different concerns.
Walter Hamilton lives far enough away from the pit on Route 10 that he can’t hear or smell anything, he said. But he has noticed that the birds that usually populate his yard have been absent since the asphalt plant fired up.
Vocal Mitchell critic Michael Towne has previously reported the same phenomenon.
But Snedeker dismissed the suggestion that the gravel pit or asphalt plant could be driving away birds.
“I wish we had fewer birds at the plant, because they kind of nest all over the place,” he said.

SEVEN TO SAVE WINCHESTER MAKES LIST

SEVEN TO SAVE

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.

Winchester, Asphalt plant isn’t bad

Another "opinion" letter from someone who clearly doesn't have clue what he is talking about.


Asphalt plant isn’t bad

Now hear the truth about Westport folks!

All complaints about the asphalt plant being real bad are very false. And here is why: All of the other plants in the state are way out of date and very old; they don’t pass air quality standards at all. Plus the fact that all of those plants are at least 30 years old! This new plant is state of the art and has better emissions than your own car.
There are no bad smells or big dust clouds at all. Truck traffic on Route 10 will not stop and will continue to increase no matter what. I own a business that is 30 feet from Route 10 and there is no way to remove or stop dust from entering my building.
Now, the folks in Westport are at an advantage because they are thousands of feet away from Route 10. Now, Mr. Towne has only lived in this area three years and has no clue about birds or wildlife in this part of state and he should talk to N.H. Fish and Game. None of the claims being made about birds can be proven because that takes a very long time to do.
Now for the real punch: Just about all the residents in Westport village burn wood or fuel oil, which will pollute the air quality more than the asphalt would ever dream of. To add some more facts to the story, the owners of the plant have permits in place to mine minerals, crush stone, dynamite ledge, and possess all of that material, which will be taking place no matter what the asphalt does or does not do.
I, personally, feel that this is the greatest thing ever for the entire county and state of New Hampshire. We need more industry, revenue, jobs and so on.

JOHN PASQUARELLI
234 Keene Road
Winchester

Last laugh is on residents

Pulled from the Letters To The Editor section of today's paper.

Last laugh is on residents
Winchester gets another slap in the face by their elected officials.

So the planning board has decided to let the new dollar store into the heart of our town, right in the center of our historic district. Boy, there must be a lot of upset people. Take the others who own property in the district and are not allowed to do what they want with it. Guess what? You can; all you have to do is be the boss of the planning board ... or a selectman ... or any other official in town.
This town is filled with nepotism and cronyism. There is no equality; it is just about who knows who. The current planning board should have been ineligible to vote on anything as Margaret Sharra (one of the owners of the house) has been their boss for the past 10 years. In fact, the town should remove the historic district completely. If they are going to approve one person to break the town’s law, then they should do so for all.
What a joke! The laugh is on the citizens of Winchester.
ROBERT CONRAD
11 Ashuelot St.
Winchester

Company Bans Six From Premises

WINCHESTER — Tension continues to build concerning a recently opened asphalt plant on the Winchester-Swanzey border.

In the latest sign of the deteriorating relationship between Mitchell Sand and Gravel, the plant’s owner, and residents who have objected to the facility, Mitchell’s attorney recently sent “no trespass” notices to a number of asphalt plant opponents.

The letters were a reaction to photos presented during a recent compliance hearing held for the plant by the Winchester Planning Board, according to Kevin D. Parsons, the Massachusetts attorney who sent the letters on Mitchell’s behalf.

Some of the photos, he said, demonstrated that someone had entered the gravel pit where the plant is located without permission. ( this is a commercial business is it not ? )

“Unauthorized people should not be going on other people’s property and some of these folks have,” he said.
 ( so where is his proof to back up that statement? )

The photos were submitted to the town’s code enforcement officer by State Rep. Daniel P. Carr, D-Winchester, and presented at the hearing by Michael Towne, who lives across from the plant on Route 10, Parsons said.

( Mr. Towne did not submit photos at the Compliance Hearing, he instead submitted a letter to the board on behalf of the residents of Winchester and Swanzey requesting that the Town's Code Enforcement Officer be present at the hearing to clarify his reports to the board and answer any questions. Mr Towne's letter to the board was ignored and never read before the board or public at the hearing.)

The letters warn that “failure to comply with this notice may result in your arrest.”

They were sent to not only Carr and Towne but other Winchester and Swanzey residents who have objected to the plant since before the town’s planning board approved its construction in the agricultural district in January.

Parsons sent six letters, he said.

 ( Including letters to a Swanzey Selectman and Winchester's Code Enforcement Officer banning them as well )

“We don’t know who was on the property, we don’t know who took the photos. But it’s clearly someone in the group that’s doing it,” Parsons said.

Towne was surprised by the letter, he said, because has never been on the plant property and has only taken photos of stack emissions that he can see from his yard.

“If they’re doing everything legit, wouldn’t they welcome the public onto the property to see that everything is on the up and up?” he said.

The plant began operating intermittently in late August, and neighbors quickly began complaining that truck noise and chemical smells were detracting from their quality of life.
( along with the constant sound of the rock crusher, backup beepers, slamming tailgates and a portable hydraulic jack hammer hammering away drilling blasting holes all day long )

“They’re worried about the water quality, and their air quality does bear a lot of noxious fumes and dust that were not there before,” said State Rep. Jane B. Johnson, R-Swanzey, who has taken an interest in the matter at the request of constituents.

Johnson contacted Gov. John H. Lynch about the plant, she said, and he advised her that the conditions of the plant’s temporary operating permit were within state laws.

As a state representative, she is thinking of encouraging a review of environmental regulations and how they compare to neighboring states’, she said.

“New Hampshire needs to make sure that its laws are such that companies can’t just come in here and get away with things that they can’t get away with in other states,” Johnson said.

Meanwhile, Towne, an avid bird watcher who reports there have been no birds in his yard since the plant first fired up, continues to keep an eye on the operation — from across the street.

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.

Town's Ambulance Taken Out Of State

Over the weekend reports came in that the Town of Winchester's new ambulance had been used privately and taken out of state and as of today was still out of service. We held off putting any comments on the blog until this could be confirmed by several sources. This conduct, though understandable to a certain degree is unacceptable and was downright illegal. This equipment belongs to the town, not certain individuals who feel their needs exceed those they serve.
Just think of the legal ramifications if this vehicle had been involved in an accident out of state or if the necessity had arisen that it had been needed here and someone died as a result of it not being available? This conduct should result in the immediate resignation of the party or partys responsible and the pursuit of legal action to ensure this does not ever happen again. What's next, maybe renting out firetrucks for private parties with bonfires and fireworks or highway equipment to plow driveways or grade private lots?
This is just the type of thing that is typical in this town when we have people in power who feel they can do whatever they want with no consequences for their actions.