Ashuelot River Anti-Asphalt Committee Meeting

There will be a meeting of all members tonight @ 7:00pm at the Ryan's residence; 129 Westport Village Road in
Swanzey, just past the village church. Anyone interested in joining the group and/or donating to the legal fund is invited to come.

Mitchell's Attorney Sends Out Threatening Letters

We have received several reports that Massachusetts Attorney Kevin Parsons has sent out letters to a number of Winchester and Swanzey residents who have filed complaints with the Town of Winchester and the Department of Environmental Services, informing them that they have been singled out and threatened with arrest if they set foot on Mitchell's property. The letters were forwarded to both the Winchester and Swanzey Police Departments, making it look as though these people had done something wrong, had committed some illegal act or are a threat to Mr. Mitchell. None which is true. Their only offense was to take pictures and file complaints of illegal activity and to gather evidence of violations in a peaceful manner.  There was no evidence provided and residents also stated they had not set foot on his property at all while taking pictures as the Town's Code Enforcement Officer and State Compliance Board had requested when filing complaint to them.

Our guess Mitchell got upset at all of this exposure and this is his way of showing what a good neighbor he's claims to be. It's a real shame that no one informed him that actions speak louder than words.

What are you trying to hide Mr. Mitchell?

It's a Wonderful Day in Our Neighborhood .. A Wonderful Day ..

This sent in from several citizens in the plant's vicinity


NOT  .. when you wake up to the never ending sounds of truck and equipment backup beepers, tail gates slamming, the incessant pounding of the rock crusher, blasting and the smell of smoke, fuel oil fumes and something else that burns your eyes and throat and makes your nose water constantly wafting over your property and forcing you to go inside and shut your windows.


WE, the people who you have subjected these conditions upon wish to thank Massachusetts resident Robert Mitchell, his attorneys Silas Little and Kevin Parsons and of course the Winchester Planning Board and Winchester Selectman and last but not least, the ever lovable Leroy Austin for making all of this joy possible.

Thank you so much for ruining our livelihoods, our property values and the quality of our lives and forcing us to spend our hard earned money and our tax dollars taking you all to court for your actions in this matter. Other towns in our state have said "no" to these kinds of businesses in a populated area. A Superior Court  judge has ruled this is manufacturing and Winchester's own regulations confirm it's not allowed in Agricultural or Protected Aquifer Zones and most important of all, the EPA and DES acknowledge these kind of plants release toxins into the environment and yet you ignored all of this and bent over backwards to ensure approval for this this outsider and his smelly, polluting plant  .. SHAME ON YOU ALL !

Planning Board Approves Mitchell

At the 09/19/11 meeting, despite numerous complaints from citizens of both Winchester and Swanzey, filed with the Town's Code Enforcement Officer and the State DES in regards to numerous violations committed by Mitchell, including operating and selling asphalt commercially before he even had a compliance hearing and a passionate plea from State Representative Jane Johnson of Swanzey and another letter from State Representative Daniel Carr of Winchester, the Board, minus regular members Kim Gordon ( recused at the request of Mitchell's attorney), Jack Marsh ( absent ) and Princess Blodgett ( absent ) voted 5-0 to approve Mitchell's application even though they knew he had not complied with all of the conditions they set for him in January of this year. Dean Beaman, chair of the board, who had expressed great joy at the decision of the ZBA hearing to grant Mitchell a special exception and again at the January Planning Board meeting where he stood and applauded the Board's decision to grant Mitchell a Conditional Approval, participated in the hearings and voted, despite being asked to recuse himself for his obvious prejudice; but refused to do so saying," I will abstain from voting".
Members of the public had also asked the Board to hold off on making a decision and continue the hearings until the Town's Code Enforcement Officer was present to answer questions regarding his incomplete report given to the board on August 11th in which he stated he could not inspect certain conditions, as the plant was not running when he went there. Dean Beaman and Margaret Sharra who had accompanied Leroy Austin to the site, knew this; yet refused to relay this information to other board members and despite the board also requesting Leroy to be there at their previous meeting, didn't feel it necessary to have him present to answer questions or explain his incomplete report to the public.

The Board, on their own, without any formal request by Mitchell waived certain conditions and the time lines they had previously set and gave Mitchell until December to comply and then voted to approve his application .

Does anyone now wonder why this Board constantly gets sued? Can someone explain the rush to approve despite his not complying with all of the conditions they set for him? Was the Board rushing because the Town had committed an illegal act using asphalt from the plant to pave roads before he had his Compliance hearing and knew they had broken the law? 

Once again, the more than questionable decision by this board will lead to another expensive lawsuit and court case costing thousands, which could all have been avoided by simply waiting until Mitchell had complied with all of the conditions they had previously set for him in the time they had allotted him to do so.

Planning Board Agenda 9-19-11

	Town of Winchester Planning Board Notice of Meeting 9-19-11 The Winchester Planning Board will be meeting on 9-19-11 at 7pm on the Main Floor of the Town Hall for the following agenda: 1. The board will review an application for a boundaryline adjustment for Cheryl and Dana Laraba and if accepted as complete will move into a public hearing. 2. The board will hold a compliance hearing for Robert Mitchell, Mitchell Sand & Gravel, on the conditions set by the board for the asphalt plant. 3. The board will review the minutes of 8-15-11 for approval. 4. The board will discuss town counsels response to the board’s questions on substandard roads. 5. The board will discuss town counsels review of the Zoning Ordinance. 6. Any other business. 7. The Chairman’s call for adjournment.

Mitchell in Violation

For those of you who have not noticed, the asphalt plant on the site of the old P&H gravel pit has been making asphalt and selling it commercially since August 26th in violation of town ordinances and regulations and with no final approval from the Planning Board, or the State of New Hampshire.  Numerous complaints have flooded the Winchester Code Enforcements Office and the BOS with no results. Leroy Austin refuses to act and issue a cease and desist even though he knows Mitchell has not had a stack test done by the DES and won't for another 2-3 weeks if they schedule it by then or a compliance hearing by the Planning Board and his selling of asphalt is illegal. I guess we pay him to sit on his ass and do nothing. His failure to act is a disgrace and a slap in the face to all of the taxpayers who are now deeply affected by smoke, fuel oil fumes and hazardous emissions wafting over the area as far north as Ryme's Fuel and south beyond the Speedway. Many  residents of Winchester and Swanzey  and especially residents of Westport Village weren't able to enjoy their yards this past holiday weekend as fumes and smoke from the plant hung low in the air over the area all weekend. Throw in the noise from the constant beeping from trucks and equipment backing up, tailgates slamming and the rock crusher running constantly all day long it has become a real nuisance. It should not be like this, there are regulations that can be enforced; but when you have people who ignore their constituents and turn their heads and make backroom deals, you have serious problems.  We have been told through the rumor mill that the Town has entered into a contract with Mitchell to purchase asphalt for the sewer and water plant renovations and another rumor circulating is that the recently paved class 6 road in town running to property acquired by the Conservation Commission was done with asphalt made at this plant. Seems an inside deal has been reached between the town and Mitchell before he even has his hearing. For those of you who say who cares, we can think of better ways to spend your tax dollars instead of lining Barton Mayer's pockets when the lawsuits start getting filed. There are laws against subjecting neighbors to constant noise, dust and smoke and fumes from this plant, it's too bad that the Town would rather spend money defending their non-actions than honoring the oaths they took to protect the Town and it's citizens from harm.

For those of you who don't care one way or the other, perhaps the next polluter will be in your back yards ruining your property, health and lifestyle, then we'll see how much you care.

Building is worth saving

If a little child playfully and in his ignorance of its worth, threw a family treasure into the toilet and flushed it down the sewer, it could be understood.
His immaturity and ignorance of the value could be forgiven.

Educated adults should know better than to destroy a treasure or to just look away when someone else is attempting to destroy one.
We all know that “money talks,” as the saying goes, and some people, if offered enough money, would sell their grandmother.

Fortunately, there are many educated adults who truly care about saving the history of this great country. The seven doctors who lived at 71 Main St. in Winchester could surely have written volumes regarding their joyful and sad encounters with early residents and town fathers.

This historical home is eligible to be accepted as a state historical site. Let’s get together, we interested citizens of Winchester and surrounding towns and get this building made an official historical site and eligible for state and federal grants to help pay to have it restored.
True, our country is in a recession right now, but nothing is impossible. We should make the effort. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

My daughter, Julia put in many hours of work to get the Thayer Library in Ashuelot approved as a historical building and was able to secure a grant in order to get the building painted and looking beautiful again.

Let’s get together as responsible citizens and lovers of our heritage and find ways to make this happen.

FLORENCE FERRARIE
P.O. Box 111
Ashuelot

Historic Distric Commission Minutes

Town of Winchest
    Historic District Commission

Meeting Minutes

Monday, August 22, 2011

Attendance:  Mike Haman (Chairman), Harvey Sieran, Gene Park, Kim N. Gordon (Secretary & Planning Board), Sherman Tedford (Board of Selectman Ex Officio), Julia Ferrari (Vice Chairman & Alternate), & Alternate Mary DePina-Weeks.  Public:  Russell Rapoza & Ted Whippie.

Meeting opened at 6:55 pm.

First order of business:  Review of meeting minutes of 7/15/11.  K. Gordon made a motion to accept the minutes as complete.  G. Park seconded.  Discussion. 1 abstained, 4 in favor.

Second order of business:  Mr. Mike’s exterior repairs.  9 Keene Road, Map 26, Lot 54 Alliance Energy LLC property owner (36 East Industrial Road).  Contractor, Russell Rapoza from Mansfield, MA, representing Alliance Energy came before the board with the apology that the Land Use office had informed him that he did not need any permits to install the vinyl siding on the building.  He was issued an order to quit working after he began to come before the HDC. 

S. Tedford made motion to accept the application as complete. H. Sieran seconded. All in favor.

Before and after pictures were submitted to the board.  Only two and a quarter sides of the building are noted to be constructed with TX.  The backside will remain the same.  It is noted that it is easier to clean graffiti. 

S. Tedford moved to approve the continued construction.  H. Sieran seconds.  Discussion:  J. Ferrari notes that with buildings that are not contributing members of the historic value to the historic district should not be held to a stricter standard.  Mr. Mike’s would be one such building.  All in favor.

Third order of business: 99 Main Street, United Church construction. M. Haman recuses himself to present the updates to the construction.  J. Ferrari is acting alternate.  The proposals that the contractor would like to change are as follows:

1.      Proposed chimney on the addition be changed from brick to steel metalbestos.

2.      Remove the brick chimney and concert block on the inside chimney left in place.

3.      Vinyl white clapboard to match the existing.

4.      White Azac corner board with vinyl siding

5.      Baseboard white cladding along the top of brick façade to regular vinyl siding.

G. Park made motion to accept the proposals with the following conditions: 

1.      Condition if the façade can not be a brick chimney over the metalbestos, then the exposed portion must be a brick chimney

2.      Approve white vinyl siding, but no vinyl corner boards. The corner boards should be wide board (6” or more).

3.      No vinyl Mop/base board

4.      Approve keeping the two existing chimneys

H. Sieran seconds the motion. Discussion.  Amendment accept.  All in favor.  

Forth order of business:  Guidelines for the consideration of Demolition.  The original version has been locked on the secretary’s computer.  So, the Northville version was presented.  Discussion with board was decided that it is best to get the Winchester version forwarded to everyone before the next meeting to discuss.

Fifth order of business:  71 Main Street.  An appeal was submitted by Attorney Silas Little on behalf of the Zaremba Group (General Dollar), representing Margaret Sharra.  The documents were reviewed and a discussion about the upcoming Zoning Board of Adjustments meeting scheduled for Thursday, September 1, 2011.  It was noted that M. Sharra will be represented by an attorney, and it is questioned whether it would be wise to have the HDC board also legally represented by the town’s attorney.  S. Tedford stated that the last hearing cost $1,200 in legal fees and there was no money left in the board’s budget.  He was questioned whether all legal fees came from the general fund and not out of the budgets of committees – he did not know.  H. Sieran will check into the board’s budget, since part of the budget was for the HDC signs.  J. Ferrari noted that the majority of this cost was incurred by the confusion with the town administrative office regarding whether the board was allowed to hold public hearings and forwarding/faxing documents to the attorney representing Zaremba Group.  There was discussion as to whether this cost should be incurred by the applicant or the board.

M. Haman requests that the board be present to defend the board’s decision.  S. Tedford notes that it is not up to the board to defend and it is now in the hands of the ZBA. 

K. Gordon updated the board on the house on Back Ashuelot Road (formerly owned by Virginia Fenrich) and the unapproved upgrade to the Railroad Station.  J. Ferrari has postponed discussion on the signs due to the question of the committee’s budget.  She will be donating the typography and H. Sieran will be checking into the sign maker of other signs made in town. 

Guest, Ted Whippie, requested that the board post their future agendas on the town website. 

Items for discussion at the next meeting are signs for the historic district, a proposal for 2-18 Main Street upgrades, grants, and the proposed regulations.  The next meeting date is scheduled for the regularly schedule date of Monday, September 26 at 7 pm. M. Haman moves to adjourn. K Gordon seconds.  All in favor.  Meeting adjourned at 8:22 pm. 

Minutes approved on:

Minutes respectfully submitted by:

Kim N. Gordon, HDC Secretary

Michael Haman, HDC Chairman

Winchester Historic House Still Debated

Front Page Sentinel News

WINCHESTER — Developers hoping to bring a branch of a national chain of discount stores to Main Street aren’t giving up without a fight.
Winchester’s historic district commission last month denied an application by Zaremba Group of Cleveland to demolish the 200-year-old house at 71 Main St. and replace it with a new Dollar General store.
The house is located in the historic district and, under the town’s 1997 historic district ordinance, permission from the commission is required before it can be torn down.
But now the developer has appealed to the town’s zoning board to overturn the commission’s ruling. The zoning board will review the petition at its meeting next week.
Acting on the assessment of a historic preservation consultant hired by the board at the applicant’s expense, the commission denied the application. While the house on its own does not have enough historic value to make it a candidate for historic preservation, the commission decided, it adds value to the Main Street historic district as a whole.
Combined with three neighboring buildings of the same period, the house is part of a continuous, historic streetscape and demolition would hurt the “historic, cultural and architectural values of the district,” Michael Haman, chairman of the historic district commission, wrote in the panel’s decision.
Zaremba Group’s attorney, Silas Little 3rd of Peterborough, calls on the zoning board to dismiss this idea in the company’s letter of appeal.
“A comparison to pictures of the Town taken in the late 19th century and published in the 2011 town report shows the complete degradation and diminution of the properties in the vicinity of this property so as to remove any historic character. ... The architectural ‘style’ is an agglomeration of disrepair, 20th century facelift and 20th century new construction,” Little wrote.
The petition also invokes the legal rights of property owners.
“To require the property not to be developed to contribute to the general ambiance of the district introduces a public purpose which constitutes a taking. ... The Historic District Commission’s imposition of a restriction on this property to benefit a general public purpose is unconstitutional,” Little wrote.
The house was built around 1810 and was the home and office space of doctors who served Winchester residents from 1812 to 1848, according to Lynne Emerson Monroe of Kensington, the historical preservationist hired to consult with the commission.
The building itself is not a candidate for official designation on the National Register of Historic Places, but it makes a “substantial contribution” to the Winchester Historic District, Monroe wrote in her report on the building.
If the district as a whole were added to the national register, the owner of the house would be able to take advantage of tax credits to refurbish it as a business, Monroe said in an interview last month. She also said she believes the district is a strong candidate for the designation.
Margaret A. Sharra and James S. Shannon, both of Winchester, and their brother, Michael P. Shannon of Connecticut, own the house and its 4-acre lot. Sharra is a member of the town planning board and serves as an administrative assistant to the planning and zoning boards.
The owners have said that they have been trying to sell the building for some time, but some members of the historic commission questioned why they had not seen it listed for sale. The commission also noted, in its written decision, that the owners had left board members with the impression that they hadn’t looked for other ways to use the building, which factored into the commission’s denial of a demolition permit.
u The zoning board will take up the application for appeal on Thursday, Sept. 1, at 7 p.m. in Winchester Town Hall. If the application is complete, the board will move directly into a public hearing on the matter

Another Letter To The Editor ( Keene Sentinel )

We've received the following letter which was submitted to the Opinions section of the Keene Sentinel


 Cooked Deal

I just heard that Margarette Shara is suing the town to let her put in a Dollar store on her property in the center of town. She is suing the town and wasting their tax dollars after they voted against it. What does that say about her concern for the citizens of Winchester? But wait there is more dubious things to consider. Sherm Tedford is also pushing for this to go through, rumor has it that he was heard yelling at a town employee after the vote on this issue, telling the person that he was supposed to have voted for them? Now consider this, you have Shara and Tedford, two of the towns top officials pushing this through the system any way they can. Then you have the towns lawyer, who these people have helped get very wealthy over the years going to court to defend the town in a case that two high ranking officials want him to lose...Do you see where this is going? I hope that the towns lawyer is honest and ethical enough to recuse himself from this case, realizing the conflict of interest and I hope that the other selectmen and those on the Historical society who voted against this, demand that they be the ones who chooses the law firm to fight against this cooked deal.

K.W.
Winchester
 

Sharra thumbs nose at HDC appeals to ZBA

Once again the true colors of Margaret Sharra come to the surface. The woman who wrote the rules, who knew full well when she bought the property that her get rich quick scheme was against regulations and who had the benefit of a full open hearing, has filed an appeal to the ZBA in an attempt to over turn the decision of the HDC to stop her and her cohorts, Zaremba Group, LLC  from tearing down an historical building. This should be quite a one sided hearing seeing as how Sharra is the quote "Assistant-Secretary" of the ZBA, the owner of record of the property in question and as we all know Sherm Tedford was all for letting her do her thing and is one of the very selectmen who appointed this board. Wanna bet how this decision is going to go? Looks like once again, Sharra will be the reason the town goes to court over this proposal.

TOWN OF WINCHESTER

ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT

NOTICE OF APPLICATION

&

PUBLIC HEARING

09-01-11

The Winchester ZBA will be meeting on 09-01-11 at 7:00pm on the Main Floor of Town Hall building, 1 Richmond Road, for the following;

The board will review for acceptance an application for an Appeal from an Administrative Decision. The application, submitted by Zeremba Group, LLC is for property located at 71 Main Street, Winchester map 26, lot 17 owned by Margaret Sharra and her two brothers. The appeal is alleging an error of the Historic District Commission regarding the denial of an application for demolition of the historical house and the building a new commercial ( Dollar Store ) building.

If the board finds the application to be complete, the board will move to into a a public hearing on the matter. If a decision is not reached, the hearing will continue at the next meeting without further notice. The application is available for review at Town Hall ( in Margaret's office no less ) during regular business hours.

Written up and posted in today's Sentinel by Joan Morel, our Town Administrator.

From The Principal of Winchester School

to enlarge the print for easy reading point to the page and click your mouse

Board Is Out Of Line

Below is a letter to the editor sent in by a member of the Planning Board who has witnessed first hand how several other members have pushed their own agendas and have viciously and illegally attacked another member of the board simply because she pointed out they erred. This is what happens when you have people on a public board who feel they are right no matter what they do or say and will do anything to cover their own butts, including pointing fingers at someone else ...

Enough is Enough.

When three officials of the planning board in Winchester get together to try to remove another elected member of the planning board, someone has to speak up.

Here’s what we know. Kim Gorden gave an affidavit, because she thought it was the correct thing to do. Now these three members set up a situation so they could win the vote asking the selectmen to remove her.

What they forget to tell anyone is that they broke the law when they did it. (673:11 Designation of Alternate Members)

One of the individuals receives a pretty good paycheck from the town and has been on the planning board for 15 years.

Don’t worry folks, they have an answer: “I didn’t know.”

I think they did. How much could this cost the town? I don’t know.

Now the question is: Will they hide behind “I didn’t know” or will they man up and take responsibility?

If the past is any answer they will hide.

I hope someone else will look at this mess.

What do you think?

BRIAN MOSER

Planning Board Member

Where's Waldo

What happened to the BOS Wednesday night? No meeting,  no "official" explanation, other than they had nothing on the agenda, hmmm, really?
No town business to attend to, no citizen concerns or anything?
Really ?
Winchester runs that well and everyone is happy with the job that they are doing with our tax dollars? 
We all know the answer to that! Sounds fishy.

They just weren't ducking State Rep Dan Carr were they, not wanting to hear him in regards to our Code Enforcement Officer failing to act on a written complaint he made weeks ago? A complaint concerning the Mitchell Sand & Gravel operation and how they are not in compliance with their permit to excavate? He even included picture showing clear violations and still nothing got done. What about Citizen Concern papers filed at Town hall in regards to other matters?  You mean to tell us that there was no reason for them to meet as they are required to do weekly? Perhaps if they feel that there is nothing to occupy their time or that the citizens of Winchester should just shut up and stop complaining because they don't want to hear it is OK, then we would strongly suggest you vote these pompous asses out of office and elect people who don't shirk their duties and shy away from their responsibilities.
 

Planning Board Notice of Meeting 8-1-11

Town of Winchester
Planning Board
Notice of Meeting
8-01-11


The Winchester Planning Board will be meeting on 8-01-11 at 7:00pm on the Main Floor of the Town Hall, 1 Richmond Road for the following:

   
The board will review the updates of the 2012 ICC (International Code Council) code book collection in its entirety, including Property Maintenance, and excluding one & two family sprinkler system requirements. The board will also review the NFPA (National Fire Protection) code book collection with dates of 2008-2012 and the NEC (National Electric Code) code book dated 2011.

The books are available for review in the Land Use Office during regular business hours.


1. The board will review an application for a renewal of an earth excavation permit submitted by Winchester Sand & Gravel (WSG) and if accepted will move into a public hearing on the matter. For this application the board will be meeting at 6:30pm at WSG gravel pit off Richmond Road for a site visit.

2.  The Highway Superintendent will be in to discuss Old Spofford Road with the board.

3. The board will hold a hearing on the updates to the International Building Codes, National Fire Prevention and the National Electric Code.

4. The board will review the minutes of 7-18-11 for approval.

5. Update on the asphalt plant.

6. Any other business.