Changes made to Winchester housing project

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — As a local agency continues to seek funding to make improvements to a roughly 40-year-old housing development, it has scaled back its original plans.
Keith F. Thibault, chief development officer for Southwestern Community Services, said Thursday that after being unable to secure competitive tax credits last fall, officials decided to change the scope of the project from rebuilding 30 units at the Wedgewood development to renovating them.

Southwestern Community Services, based in Keene, is a nonprofit organization that develops much of the Monadnock Region’s low-income housing. It doesn’t own Wedgewood, but is slated to purchase it from Keene Housing after the project is complete.

The project, which is expected to start in September, will be done over three phases, and involves renovating five duplexes at a time, Thibault said.

The complex, which was built in the 1970s, has 15 duplexes.

Renovations will include gutting and updating the inside of each duplex, and drainage improvements, as water flows toward the buildings now instead of away from them, Thibault said.

“It’s a major renovation almost to the level of restoration,” he said.

The first phase of the project is estimated to take about three months, and the entire endeavor is expected to take roughly a year, he said.

As each renovation takes place, most families living at Wedgewood will be relocated to open housing units on the site, he said. They will then be allowed to return to their homes when the renovations are complete, he said.

To move people around the complex, housing units are not being filled as people living at Wedgewood move out, he said.

The change in plans will drop the cost of the project from about $6 million to about $4 million, Thibault said.

Southwestern is working with Keene Housing on the project, and will rename it Woodcrest when the agency buys it, he said.

On Tuesday, the N.H. Community Development Finance Authority announced that Winchester will receive a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant to help make infrastructure, safety and energy improvements to Wedgewood housing.

Thibault said his agency is in the process of securing non-competitive tax credits to help fund the remainder of the project.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

Fitzwilliam selectmen will not appeal local quarry ruling to the N.H. Supreme Court

FITZWILLIAM — Selectmen will not appeal a court order banning the town from regulating a plan to reopen a quarry that’s a stone’s throw from people’s homes.
And they aren’t saying how or why they reached their decision Monday night.

“Ultimately the board thought it was in the best interest of the town not to appeal to the (N.H.) Supreme Court,” town attorney Steven Whitley said Tuesday. “As far as how it got to that decision, I unfortunately can’t divulge the underlying legal strategy.”

Cheshire County Superior Court Judge John C. Kissinger Jr. ruled last month that Aaron E. Olson of Rindge doesn’t need town officials’ approval to mine the Webb Hill Quarry his company owns. Rather, only state land use officials need give KMO Associates LLC the OK to mine granite from the 121-acre property, according to Kissinger.

The long-dormant quarry is nestled in the heart of Fitzwilliam’s residential district, between Webb Hill Road and East Lake Road. It is about a half-mile from Laurel Lake, which residents fear could be among the natural resources at risk should KMO be allowed to mine. Residents say mining will threaten Fitzwilliam’s water quality, and bring noise, dust and heavy truck traffic.

KMO filed a civil lawsuit against Fitzwilliam in May 2013, claiming the company doesn’t need to file a mining application with the town because New Hampshire mining laws supersede Fitzwilliam’s zoning ordinances.

Town officials disagreed. They said KMO prematurely sought the court’s assistance in its efforts to remove granite from Webb Hill Quarry.

KMO never filed a site plan application with the town, so Fitzwilliam officials could not make a decision in the matter, and, therefore, never acted unlawfully to prevent KMO from using its property, town officials maintained in court documents.

Kissinger sided with KMO. The town, though, is not prohibited from taking part in the state regulatory process, he ruled.

The March order is a win for Olson and KMO, whose efforts to change Fitzwilliam’s zoning ordinances overwhelmingly failed at town meeting in March 2013.

KMO’s petition warrant article sought to make quarry reclamation — which it defined as taking already-cut stone — a new and permitted use in the town’s residential district, but it failed in a 455-129 vote.

Voters spoke loud and clear when they defeated the warrant article, abutter Wesley C. Whitham said Tuesday. But now, the selectmen are going against the wishes of the townspeople by not appealing Kissinger’s ruling, he said.

“I think the decisions of our selectmen are really in question. We want the selectmen to fight for our zoning.”

Whitham was among the residents who circulated a petition over the weekend, calling upon selectmen to appeal Kissinger’s order. The petition was created by the Concerned Citizens of Fitzwilliam, a group of residents that formed last year in response to KMO’s interest in reopening the quarry.

About 42 people signed the petition at his request, but additional copies are still out there, Whitham said.

The petition reads: “In order to protect the health and welfare of the people of Fitzwilliam and the integrity of our community, we the undersigned request that the Board of Selectmen appeal the recent court decision regarding the reopening of the Webb Quarry.”

Whitham presented the petition to selectmen at their meeting Monday. The meeting provided a second chance for residents to speak to Kissinger’s order; the first meeting was held April 14.

Members of the town’s planning board also requested a joint session with selectmen Monday to seek clarification on various aspects of Kissinger’s order, including his interpretation of the state mining law, Vice Chairman Macreay J. Landy said. Landy said Kissinger’s decision could nullify town zoning laws about mining and excavation on the books.

“The planning board wanted (selectmen) to appeal,” Landy said. “The ruling ties the hands of Fitzwilliam in terms of enforcing any of our local regulations that might pertain to quarrying.”

Landy said he’s disappointed in the outcome of the case, but it’s hard to understand what went wrong and where the town goes from here.

“I think we’re afraid it opens Pandora’s box,” he said.

However, selectmen believe the lawsuit has reached its conclusion and will not appeal to the state’s highest court, Whitley said.

“The town was disappointed by the decision. The town felt that it had made very sound arguments, but the court was not persuaded,” he said. “The town is not happy about the court’s decision, but we’ll abide by it and honor it.”

The selectmen’s decision to stop the fight has angered some residents and left them with unanswered questions.

Resident Coni Porter said she’s bewildered that the selectmen aren’t fighting the lower court’s ruling.

“I’m appalled and very disturbed that the selectmen are going to let this pass without appealing, or at least asking for clarification. It seems that the town’s lawyers are just laying down,” Porter said. “I can’t help but think, ‘Do the selectmen know something we don’t know?’ ”

Porter is a graphic designer and artist who owns and operates a home business. She said she’s concerned about what the future may hold for her property and that of others near the quarry if it’s mined.

Selectmen declined to comment about their decision Tuesday, referring all questions to the town’s attorney.

What happens now depends in large part on how KMO decides to proceed and what it envisions for its property, Whitley said.

KMO’s attorney, Thomas R. Hanna of Keene, said in an interview last week that KMO will apply for a state mining permit to reopen Webb Hill Quarry.

Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 352-1234,
extension 1435, or adandrea@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter
@ADandreaKS.

Winchester awarded $500,000 grant for housing

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — A project to preserve affordable housing in town just got a boost from a federal grant.
The N.H. Community Development Finance Authority announced Tuesday that Winchester will receive a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant to help Southwestern Community Services of Keene acquire and improve 15 duplexes that make up the Wedgewood housing complex.

Southwestern Community Services, a nonprofit organization that develops much of the Monadnock Region’s low-income housing, is proposing a roughly $6 million project to rebuild the 1970s development owned by the Keene Housing Authority.

The housing authority is working with Southwestern on the project; once it’s completed, the development will be sold to Southwestern and renamed Woodcrest, Keith F. Thibault, chief development officer for Southwestern Community Services, said in August 2013.

The duplexes will be replaced with new two- and six-unit buildings, which will house 30 families.

Southwestern hopes to begin construction, which is expected to take about 18 months, this spring, Thibault said in August. Most of the development’s residents will have to be temporarily relocated during the construction, he said.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

Winchester looking to turn gravel pit into business park

Posted: Saturday, April 12, 2014 8:00 am

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — The vision of town officials is for a cluster of businesses to fill a former gravel pit off Richmond Road.
Whether that vision can be made a reality is what town officials and a local economic development corporation hope to soon find out.

The Winchester Board of Selectmen agreed last week to let the town submit an application for $12,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding to support a feasibility study of building a business park on the roughly 44-acre site.

The property, which was taken by the town for unpaid taxes roughly four years ago, is behind Musterfield Cemetery and Musterfield Park. An access road connects the site to Richmond Road (Route 119).

Voters at town meeting a few years ago agreed to change the property’s zoning status from agricultural to commercial.

If the federal funding is approved, the study would include surveying residents about the business park proposal and building a community consensus; determining the total square footage that could be built on the site; and the cost of installing and connecting infrastructure such as roads and utilities, Mark Tigan, interim chairman of the Winchester Economic Development Corp., said Friday.

“This proposal has sort of been smoldering for over two years, and now seems to be gaining momentum and interest in part due to the improving economy and interest rates staying low,” he said.

The nonprofit development corporation is working with the selectmen and the Winchester Revitalization and Economic Development Committee on the project, which is being called the Stone Mountain Corporate Park for now.

The Community Development Training Institute of Worcester, Mass., is also assisting the town with the proposed project, according to a news release from the Winchester Economic Development Corp.

The idea for the park originated with the revitalization and economic development committee. But as a town committee, it’s limited in what it can do to the develop the property, Margaret A. Sharra, a member of the committee and Winchester land use administrator, said this week.

The Winchester Economic Development Corp. formed as a spin-off from the committee, and has since been at the forefront of trying to find ways to develop the former gravel pit, she said.

A business park makes sense for the site, as the area is wide open, and has access to town water and sewer, and three-phase power, she said.

“We’re really excited about it. Winchester, like many communities, is struggling, and would like a better economic base,” she said.

A business park would help with that, and bring more jobs to the town, she said.

The feasibility study is one of many steps in the process that may eventually result in the business park becoming a reality, she said.

Besides focusing on just the former gravel pit, a feasibility study would likely look at including abutting properties, such as a parcel owned by Winchester Sand and Gravel, which is for sale, Tigan said.

“I think it’s in the best interest of that seller, the town and town residents to look at the whole area comprehensively, and try to do a master plan so that all uses are compatible,” he said.

He added that such a scenario would allow the town to look at the total environmental and traffic impacts, and determine the pros and cons all at once of a build out of the area.

Town officials expect to learn about the fate of the feasibility study grant application later this year.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.