Posted: Saturday, April 12, 2014 8:00 am
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.
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.
2 comments:
The selectmen and Sharra see themselves as a kind of Robin Hood, take from the meek, the helpless, the weak (Terry Qualters and Gary Chase) and give to the assertive, the strong and forcefully…themselves backed up by your tax dollars used as legal fees. They should rename this town Dumb and Dumber!
What the Hell! The town‘s people have deep pockets. It seems Gary Chase’s property is stilled eye by the property grabbers in the name of economic development corporation for a parking lot, helped by (Friends of Gus) F.O.G at the town hall. It is OK! It’s all for the betterment for the masses. No different from the federal land grabbers taken the land from Bundy in Nevada. The only difference in Nevada they had brains enough to fight back!
The only businesses these clowns will attract to come here are the same unscrupulous contractors and businesses that they tried to allow in town over the past few years. Like that guy Van Dyke with his messes on Rt 119 and 10, Clean Air or whatever they called that power company that was sited numerous times for violations of the Clean Air Act by the State of NH and lest not we forget Triple T and it's garbage heaps from across the region. The only thing this town attracts is hooligans like the ones we have in office, birds of a feather, you know. The only visions Sharra and her cohorts have are the dollar signs dancing in their heads with all of their back room deals and greased palms, wink, wink. Never seen someone appointed to so many committees and who had so much influence on which direction this town goes. We're circling the bowl folks, just a matter of time before it all goes down.
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