Explain the Ballot with Brain Moser

Brian will be hosting the following meetings to inform and explain this year's Annual Town Ballot for those who may be interested and have questions before casting a vote.


Monday, March 3rd @ 7:00pm at the Winchester VFW

Sunday, March 9th @ 7:00pm at the Thayer Library in Asheulot


"Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights."

 Thomas Jefferson

Winchester voters debate spending for school district

File this under no one gives a crap ..

By Melanie Plenda Contributing Writer/Keene Sentinel

WINCHESTER — Despite efforts by some to trim the proposed school budget by $240,000, the voting body decided not to make any more cuts at Saturday’s school district deliberative session.
In all, roughly 38 voters attended the 90-minute session at Winchester School to discuss the warrant articles that will appear on the town’s ballot March 11.

The school district’s $11,182,226 budget and two collective bargaining agreements were on the agenda at Saturday’s session. The budget is up $95,686, or just under 1 percent, from the current $11,086,540 budget. The default budget is $11,296,355. Though the budget increase is slight, the amount of money to be raised by local taxes is up $413,298, or 7.8 percent, because of a drop in revenue from state sources.

Selectman Sherman Thetford Saturday proposed amending the budget to $10,942,225, saying that the town was able to cut a large amount of money from its budget and the school board was able to cut something on the order of $700,000 a few years ago.

“I believe if you sharpen your pencils a bit, you could find places to cut ... without affecting services,” Thetford said.

He said his proposed cuts would save taxpayers 75 to 80 cents on the dollar whereas the proposed school district budget could raise the tax rate $1.67 to $1.92 depending on the revenues the district takes in.

School board member Richard Horton said comparing the town budget to the school budget is not an apples-to-apples comparison. He said the district has contractual obligations that the town doesn’t have that it must meet and more personnel to contend with.

The school district’s proposed budget does reflect some savings through reassigning of job responsibilities among other changes, Lewis said in a previous interview with The Sentinel.

School Board member Elisha Jackson added members were able to cut more money in prior years because they were dealing with a larger budget at the time. But between previous local cuts and federal funding cuts, that is no longer the case.

District Superintendent James M. Lewis was asked how enrollment was looking since it’s been widely reported that other school districts in the region are seeing a drop. Lewis said Winchester is actually seeing a leveling off and a slight increase in enrollments, particularly in kindergarten. He said by way of example, two years ago they were expecting 50 students in kindergarten and ended up with 70 and last year they expected 50 and had 60.

He added that Winchester typically also has a higher special education population.

“Whatever the reason, we attract more SPED students than other districts,” he said. “And we legally have to provide services to those students.”

Jackson pointed out that costs per special education student went up this year from $26,599 per student to $29,000. She added that tuition for the district’s 177 Keene High School students also went up from $12,521 to $13,081.

School board member Bill McGrath sided with those who wanted to see more cuts. He said that last year the district made some positions full time that he wasn’t convinced needed to be. He said he has a friend who is a principal in Massachusetts at a school with 435 students and a staff of 100; whereas, he said, Winchester has 435 students and has a staff of 120.

“How can they do it in their school and we can’t do it in ours?” he asked rhetorically.

He also said he wasn’t entirely convinced that smaller class sizes were beneficial to students or necessary, saying that the state allows a maximum of 30 students per class, while some Winchester classes only have 16 or 17 students.

Voter Kenneth Whippie pointed out that 30 students per classroom is a maximum under state law, not a recommendation.
 “A small number of students doesn’t inhibit a good education, but a large number does,” Whippie said.

In the end, the amendment to cut the budget was defeated in a vote of 23 to 13. The proposed $11,182,226 budget will be on the ballot in March.

Voters Saturday also placed a two-year collective bargaining agreement with the Winchester Teachers’ Association on the ballot that would cost an additional $118,498 for the 2014-15 school year and $63,285 for the 2015-16 school year if approved. Voters would be approving both figures with a ‘yes’ vote, but only the first would go into effect this year.

School board members explained that the larger amount this year reflects pay raises in part for teachers who went out and got their master’s degrees. The higher education earned deserves more pay, they explained. They also wanted to do the raises the first year because as part of the collective bargaining agreement many teachers will see their health insurance costs go from paying 7 to 15 percent of coverage to 15 percent across the board.
 So, how many of you got a raise this year to help pay for your insurance increases?

Voters also placed on the ballot an article asking for $21,552 for salary and benefit increases for the Winchester Support Staff Association as part of another collective bargaining agreement. A similar one-year contract for the support staff barely passed at district meeting last year, with 54 percent support.

The official voting on the warrant and election of school board members will be Tuesday, March 11. The polls are open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Slight spending increase, teachers contract on tap in Winchester School District deliberative session

WINCHESTER — School board and budget committee members tried to be creative in assigning job responsibilities for staff next year to keep Winchester School’s budget from climbing too much.
The school district’s $11,182,226 budget and two collective bargaining agreements will be up for discussion at Saturday’s deliberative session, where voters can amend articles before the March election.

The budget is up $95,686, or just under 1 percent, from the current $11,086,540 budget. The default budget is $11,296,355.

District officials are trying to delegate more responsibilities to current staff to keep costs down, Superintendent James M. Lewis said.

“We know the town just doesn’t have the money for big increases, there’s no secret about that,” he said.

One of the best examples is restructuring the principal and superintendent positions.

Pamela Bigelow, principal of the kindergarten through 8th-grade Winchester School, has announced her plans to retire at the end of this year. Prior to taking over the superintendent role in fall 2012, Lewis was principal of Winchester School for about three years.

Now, the school board is advertising for a principal for the kindergarten through 5th-grade part of the school for next year, while Lewis will take on the principal duties of the middle school-age students.

They haven’t nailed down the savings associated with that change, and it will partly depend on who the district hires for the elementary principal position, but it will save money, Lewis said.

The district likely also will have to reorganize its teaching staff, because there are two 3rd-grade teachers this year, but the incoming 3rd-grade next year requires three classes. The district can’t afford to hire a new teacher, so adminstrators will probably move one from another grade level.

Lewis said the size of the incoming 3rd-grade class isn’t unusual. Enrollment in Winchester has been strong in recent years, and a couple of years ago, the school had to add a fourth kindergarten class at the last minute when there were 75 kindergartners.

Though the budget increase is slight, the amount of money to be raised by local taxes is up $413,298, or 7.8 percent, because of a drop in revenue from state sources, Lewis said.

Voters will also see a two-year collective bargaining agreement with the Winchester Teachers’ Association that would cost an additional $118,498 for the 2014-15 school year and $63,285 for the 2015-16 school year.

The previous teachers contract was a three-year agreement, but Lewis said the groups negotiated a two-year agreement because of the unpredictability of costs, especially for health insurance and retirement.

Another collective bargaining agreement would cost the town about $21,552 for salary and benefit increases for the Winchester Support Staff Association. A similar one-year contract for the support staff barely passed at district meeting last year, with 54 percent support.

Lewis said he thinks both contracts reflect responsible spending and that school employees gave a number of concessions to keep the increase manageable.

The budget committee and school board, groups that sparred over school spending a couple years ago, support all the articles on the ballot.

The deliberative session is scheduled for Saturday at 9 a.m. at Winchester School.

Kaitlin Mulhere can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439​, or kmulhere@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMulhereKS.

Winchester voters back police pay raise

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — A warrant article to raise the pay of Winchester police officers to be more competitive with other communities received support from the majority of voters at deliberative session Saturday.
The article, if passed at a town meeting on March 11, would give officers and other employees of the Winchester Police Department an 8 percent raise effective July 1. The raises, which include payroll expenses, would add $35,756 to the town’s operating budget, Selectman Sherman Tedford said.

They would also be on top of an up to 3 percent merit raise all town employees would receive if the town’s 2014-15 budget passes.

As an SB2 town, Winchester residents are allowed to discuss and amend town meeting warrant articles during a deliberative session. The meeting is then adjourned until March when residents vote by ballot on the warrant articles.

Originally, the warrant article about the police department raises had listed an amount of $28,576. Tedford said the amount didn’t include the payroll expenses, and he made a motion Saturday to amend the article, which was seconded by Selectman Theresa G. Sepe before being approved by voters.

Police Chief Gary A. Phillips passionately explained to approximately 70 voters attending the meeting at the town hall why they should back the warrant article, which the selectmen unanimously recommended.

“We have a problem being competitive with these other towns,” he said, as his wife handed out copies of a two-page packet to voters. “We have a problem maintaining our quality people.”

The packet included information from the Local Government Center showing Winchester’s police department employee salaries for 2013 being from 11 to 28 percent below the 2012 state average — depending on the position — for towns with a population of 2,000-4,999.

For example, the state average salary for a patrolman in communities of this size in 2012 was $41,923. In Winchester, patrolmen are paid either $36,956 or $37,127.

Winchester has a population of 4,341, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Had is the key word ..

The packet also included information from the N.H. Occupational Employment and Wages 2012 survey, which further showed Winchester police officers are being paid less than their counterparts in the area.

Besides providing incentive for officers to stay with the Winchester Police Department, increasing the salaries will help the town better protect its investment of having to train and outfit the officers when they’re hired, Phillips said.

Often times, Winchester officers go to work for other area police departments after two to three years, which is the time it takes to be fully trained and have proven themselves, he said.

It costs roughly $18,000-$20,000 to train and outfit an officer, and for that upfront expense, it’s good if they hang around for a while, he said.

Voters extensively scrutinized a warrant article Saturday to appropriate $5,000 for the operation and maintenance of the Sheridan House by the Winchester Historical Society.

Neither the Winchester Board of Selectmen nor the budget committee recommended the petition warrant article, which prompted several questions and statements from voters.

“In the situation we are in right now, we might not exist next year,” historical society Treasurer Elena M. Heiden said.

The Sheridan House, which is on Back Ashuelot Road, is a museum of the town’s history. Besides housing several artifacts, a barn on the property shelters some of Winchester’s historic fire equipment.

The organization relies on membership fees, donations and fundraisers to generate revenue, but it’s having trouble making ends meet as of late, she said.

“We had a major situation with our furnace where it was leaking water, and we have a $632 bill we still haven’t paid yet,” she said.

In addition, heating oil was recently delivered to the house, which has to be kept at a certain temperature so the historical items inside don’t get damaged, she said.

Sepe said she supports the Sheridan House, but she voted against recommending the article because no one who submitted it came to the selectmen to explain what the $5,000 would be used for.

Erin G. Robb, who submitted the petition warrant article, then apologized to the board for not getting that information to them.

“I truly didn’t give it a thought after I got the signatures (for the petition),” she said.

Robb is president of the historical society board of trustees.

In the future, that information will be provided to the selectmen, she said.

Voters approved the warrant article for the ballot.

Voters also approved amending a petition warrant article that sought to require the town clerk and tax collector’s office to remain open twice a month on Wednesday nights until 8 p.m.

The amended version seeks to have the town clerk and tax collector’s office continue to operate under the hours currently in place, from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Resident Kenneth Cole said he submitted the warrant article because he wanted people to have better access to the town clerk and tax collector’s office.

His proposal was immediately met with opposition from selectmen, other residents and James M. Tetreault, Winchester town clerk and tax collector.

The town clerk and tax collector’s office is open at the same time as other town offices in the town hall.

“As a selectman, I’m not putting one person in this building at night,” Tedford said. “It’s a security issue.”

Tetreault said it makes no sense for his office to be open at night because state support for motor vehicle transactions shuts down for the day at 6 p.m.

For residents who can’t make it to town hall during business hours, he can make arrangements with them to register their vehicles, he said.

“We’ll work with you,” he said.

During the roughly four-hour deliberative session, voters approved an amended warrant article about appropriating $3,298,617 for the town’s 2014-15 proposed operating budget.

The number is a decrease of $15,644 from the $3,314,261 in the original warrant article. The proposed $3,298,617 budget represents a decrease of $119,044 from the 2013-14 budget of $3,417,661. It’s also less than the default budget of $3,314,261.

The Winchester Board of Selectmen recommended the change because it’s important for three or four other spending articles on the warrant to pass, Tedford said.

Those warrant articles, which were approved, included a seven-year lease and purchase agreement for a new custom pumper fire truck, and a five-year lease and purchase agreement for a new dump truck with plow and sander equipment.

“We found some areas where we can reduce the budget and hopefully not reduce services,” Tedford said. “I believe with these changes, we’ll be able to hold the line with the tax rate.”

The 32-article warrant will now go before residents to vote on by ballot on March 11.

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

DELIBERATIVE SESSION

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2014

AT THE TOWN HALL,

WINCHESTER, NH AT 9:00 AM –

UNTIL DISCUSSIONS OF ARTICLES END.

 and

February  8, 2014 9:00 AM

in the School Gym

for the School Budget

Committee recommends against combining Winchester libraries

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — A town committee recommends Winchester’s two public libraries remain open and independent of each other for the foreseeable future.
But the Conant and Thayer public libraries should seek to cooperate and collaborate more, committee members told the Winchester selectmen Wednesday night.

The seven-member committee, which was tasked with studying consolidation of the two libraries, was formed after a warrant article passed by voters in March 2013. The selectmen appointed the members.

In its report, the group said consolidation would be “premature and imprudent,” especially with the Thayer Public Library still growing.

“Attempting to consolidate, or otherwise change the governance of the libraries, would be disruptive and inhibit the revitalization of the Thayer Public Library,” the report states.

In addition, any plan to close the Conant Public Library, which is the larger of the two buildings, would be “foolhardy and likely to be very unpopular with the public,” according to the report.

The Conant library is in a multiple-story building on Main Street in Winchester, while the Thayer library is in what was once a private house in the village of Ashuelot. The property was donated to the town by Julia B. Thayer roughly 100 years ago to be used forever as a public library. In recent years, efforts have been underway to revitalize it.

“We’re trying to bring it up to be something for the community,” Harriet Charland, a member of the Thayer Public Library Board of Trustees and the library consolidation committee, said Wednesday.

Acting librarian Jennifer Bellan said as the library slowly comes back, its value to the community is increasing, and it’s becoming a safe place for children in the community.

Besides effecting the growth of the Thayer Public Library, the report outlined the legal, logistical and political challenges of combining the two libraries.

It’s not clear if Conant and Thayer officials share the same vision and goals, or whether one library’s mission would be compatible with the other, according to the report.

“Any change in the structure of the governance of the libraries would require support of both Boards of Trustees,” the report states. “There is very little support on either board for consolidation or reconsideration of governance.”

Charland and committee chairman Barry Montgomery both told selectmen that as much as some might view it as a financial burden having two libraries in a town of roughly 4,000 people, from an education and growth perspective, it’s an asset.

“A library is an attractive thing for residential development in the area,” Montgomery said.

The area that could handle the most real estate growth in town is Ashuelot, he said.

Charland said literacy is extremely important, and in a community that U.S. Census statistics say is struggling, having two libraries is valuable in making sure children know how to read.

Selectmen in attendance Wednesday spoke in favor of keeping both libraries open. A final vote on the issue will come later.

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

Police officers' salaries, historic district among items on Winchester warrant

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — Abolishing the town’s historic district, preserving the local history museum and raising police officers’ salaries by 8 percent are among the 32 warrant articles voters will have an opportunity to vet at a deliberative session Saturday.
Residents will also have a chance to discuss the town’s proposed 2014-15 operating budget of $3,314,261, and $727,716 in additional spending earmarked for equipment, trust and capital funds.

Saturday’s meeting will be the only opportunity for residents to amend the budget and warrant articles before voting on them by ballot on March 11.

The proposed operating budget represents a decrease of $103,400, or 3 percent, from the 2013-14 budget of $3,417,661. It’s also identical to the default budget, which would take effect if voters reject the budget proposal.

The drop in the proposed budget came from savings realized when the town changed its health insurance plan, Town Administrator Shelly Walker said Tuesday.

The warrant also includes articles seeking to acquire a custom pumper fire truck for $440,000 through a lease-purchase agreement, and a dump truck with plow and sander for $135,201, also by means of a lease-purchase agreement. The fire truck would be paid for over seven years, while the dump truck would be paid for over five years, according to the warrant articles.

A warrant article, which selectmen have backed unanimously, asks voters to approve $28,576 to increase the salaries of Winchester Police Department employees by 8 percent to “be more competitive and in line with other like sized communities.”

Among 10 petition articles making the town meeting warrant this year is one seeking to abolish the town’s Historic District Ordinance.

The ordinance, which town meeting voters passed in March 1997, created two historic districts and a commission to regulate those districts.

Proponents of the warrant article say the commission has overstepped its bounds on many occasions, and that some of the requirements to preserve historic buildings aren’t financially feasible for private property owners.

Opponents say the commission’s oversight is necessary to preserve a town that has already lost a lot of its history.

A second petition warrant article asks voters to appropriate $5,000 for the Winchester Historical Society, to be used to operate and maintain the Sheridan House. The house contains a museum of the town’s history.

The selectmen and budget committee don’t recommend voters approve the warrant article.

Another petition warrant article seeks to designate a portion of Old Westport Road as a scenic road. The section of road is from Howard Street to the Coombs Bridge.

A staple on the warrant for many years, voters are again being asked, by means of a petition warrant article, to raise $50,000 to subsidize youth recreation programs at the ELMM Community Center.

The warrant finishes with five zoning articles dealing with topics including home businesses, extending the time period for special exceptions and function halls.

The deliberative session will begin at Saturday at 9 a.m. at Winchester Town Hall, 1 Richmond Road.

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

regarding emails we received recently

Let me remind all of you once again about posting comments.

The owners of this server that we are on have installed word filters that we have no control over.
What that means is, if you use some words in your comments that the filter deems inappropriate, it will never reach us. It will go where ever they have designated inappropriate comments to go.

We have implemented comment review, a process that weeds out other content that we determine to be inappropriate. Some of you can not control your language or have been just commenting nonsense over and over again in order to take up space on the server. That will not be tolerated and you're just wasting your time because none of it will see the light of day. It will go into our spam filter, not be deleted; but not published either.

 Lastly;  some comments just get lost in space, never making it to us and for this we do apologize, though it is also out of our control. If you feel your comment is legit doesn't seem to be one that should have been deleted or maybe it got lost, please repost and see if it shows up.

We welcome most all of your comments and have been allowing even some questionable ones to avoid the censorship tags some of you have complained openly about.

Remember; keep your comments civil, to the point and please stay on topic.
thank you

A historic district is a benefit, by Paul Dobbs

I attended the second public hearing on Winchester’s historic district commission ordinance Jan. 14.

My take-away was that although there have been real problems with how the ordinance has been enforced, it would be a big mistake to abolish it. It’s protecting historic buildings, has already brought some grant money to Winchester, and provides potential for long-term economic development.

There may be lots of room for improving how things are done, but the hearing made it clear to me that abolishing the ordinance would be a huge step backwards.

The majority of people speaking on the 14th were in favor of keeping the ordinance; that is, they were against the warrant article to abolish it.

Cyndy Ryder summed up what many said, that we should keep the district, but make better regulations for it, and make it clear to people how the regulations work. She also stressed that all in town government should be on the same page with the regulations.

Winchester Realtor Elena Heiden, one of those agreeing with Ryder, added, “There are many things that will be lost if this historic district is abolished.”

If good buildings were lost and/or replaced by undesirable buildings, Heiden thought there would be a potential to devalue other properties in Winchester. She defended the assertion that downtown Winchester still retains many buildings of historic integrity and charm, and reminded the hearing that the ordinance and the districts make us eligible for grants (Historic district eligibility led to the grant money that painted the Thayer Library exterior and its tin ceiling).

Everyone, both members of the public and the commission, agreed that there were problems with how the ordinance has been enforced, and as a consequence some property owners had suffered delays and unexpected costs.

But I didn’t hear how the enforcement problems were a result of actions by the commission. I heard that lack of communication between town government offices resulted in building permits being issued by mistake by other departments, which then necessitated cease-and-desist orders. A messy business certainly. It was heartening that the commission members stated their commitment to ensuring that everyone with property coming before them from now on would get a fair shake.

Another unanimous agreement, again among both members of the public and the commission who spoke, was that the proposed new regulations, essentially the same those used by Keene, were unreasonably stringent, and a very poor fit for Winchester.

Barring the appearance of someone who actually supports these regulations, there seems to be no reason to even discuss them at the public hearing Jan. 27. Rather, that hearing could be very productive as an opportunity to discuss what kinds of guidelines various people would actually support. The guidelines for a heritage village district seemed promising, since those districts seem to enable their own grant-writing.

I hope to get a chance to research them before the hearing.

In conclusion, it’s a rule of thumb that historic preservation is a plus for development. A 2005 report by the Brookings Institution says, “Nearly any way the effects are measured, be they direct or indirect, historic preservation tends to yield significant benefits to the economy.”

A 2011 report to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation said that the positive influence spreads beyond just property values: “Historic preservation has become a fundamental tool for strengthening American communities. It has proven to be an effective tool for a wide range of public goals including small business incubation, affordable housing, sustainable development, neighborhood stabilization, center city revitalization, job creation, promotion of the arts and culture, small town renewal, heritage tourism, economic development, and others.”

I believe that the historic district ordinance has been protecting interesting and beautiful structures that tell Winchester’s history. We need to ensure that protection by keeping that ordinance in place, getting it working more smoothly, and starting to employ it as the foundation stone for strong economic development.

Paul Dobbs

39 Purcell Road

Ashuelot

Legal battle with Dunkin’ Donuts continues

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — Former adversaries are now allies as the legal battle over a proposed Dunkin’ Donuts in Winchester plays out in court again.
In March 2013, the developer of a proposed convenience store, gas station and Dunkin’ Donuts in Winchester was in Cheshire County Superior Court in Keene arguing to Judge John C. Kissinger Jr. that he should overturn the planning board’s denial of the project.

Joining the town in defense of the lawsuit was Kulick’s Inc., an abutter to the proposed project.

On Tuesday, the developer, S.S. Baker’s Realty Co. was on the other side of the aisle — and aligned with the town of Winchester — arguing why Kissinger should uphold the planning board’s decision made in July 2013 to approve the project.

Kulick’s, now in the position of being the plaintiff, was fighting against the approval.

During the roughly hour-long hearing, attorneys argued whether the the 2012 and 2013 project plans submitted by S.S. Baker’s were different enough to allow the Winchester Planning Board to accept and then approve the later plan.

Regardless of who is on which side of the case, the fate of the project is once again Kissinger’s hands. He has taken the case under advisement, and will issue a decision at a later date.

Since 2012, S.S. Baker’s, which is based in Keene, has sought to build a roughly 3,500-square-foot commercial structure at 4 Warwick Road in Winchester. The building would house a convenience store, gas station and Dunkin’ Donuts with a drive-through lane.

The controversial project was the subject of a lengthy public hearing leading up to the planning board’s July 2012 denial of the plan.

S.S. Baker’s appealed the matter to Cheshire County Superior Court, which upheld the planning board’s decision in April 2013. The firm has since appealed the case to the N.H. Supreme Court, where it was accepted in June 2013. That appeal is still pending.

In the meantime, S.S. Baker’s made some changes to the project and then filed a second site plan review for the project with the Winchester Planning Board in June.

Those changes included reducing the size of the building by 150 feet, removing one parking space, making room for 11 cars in the drive-through lane and not allowing vehicles leaving the property to make a left turn onto Route 10, which runs perpendicular to Warwick Road (Route 78).

According to state law, a developer can refile a project that has previously been denied by a planning board as long as it’s substantially different from the first.

In July 2013, the Winchester Planning Board approved the project, 6-1.

Following the board’s decision, Stanley S. Plifka Jr., owner of Kulick’s Inc., asked the Winchester Zoning Board of Adjustment to rehear, reconsider and reverse the planning board’s decision.

Plifka operates a grocery store and gas pumps at 30 Warwick Road under the Kulick’s name.

The zoning board denied Plifka’s request, 4-1, in August 2013. He then appealed the planning and zoning boards decision to Cheshire County Superior Court in September of that year.

On Tuesday during the court hearing, Attorney Kelly E. Dowd, who is representing Kulick’s, said Kissinger should reverse the planning board’s decision because the board didn’t follow state and local laws in approving the project.

“This is a textbook case of how a planning board shouldn’t operate,” he said.

There weren’t enough changes made to the project plans from 2012 version to justify the board accepting the 2013 version, he said.

Additionally, the traffic study and stormwater management plans used submitted with the 2012 plans were also submitted with the 2013 plans, he said.

Dowd said the board also illegally granted two waivers for the project, as S.S. Baker’s didn’t show that it would face unnecessary hardship if the waivers weren’t granted. The waivers dealt with landscaping and removing a vegetative buffer on the 1.19-acre property.

Attorney Matthew R. Serge of Concord, who is representing Winchester, and Attorney Gary J. Kinyon of Keene, who is representing S.S. Baker’s, both argued that the second application had enough consequential changes to allow the planning board to legally accept and act on the plan.

“There is nothing inappropriate about the board considering this again in light of the changes, and this time approving the application,” Serge said.

The board also granted the waivers properly because without them S.S. Baker’s would have faced a hardship, he added.

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

The "hardship" is a direct result of S.S.Baker's being greedy and attempting to overwhelm the proposed site. It's the property that creates the hardship; not the proposal. Once again, a controversial decision by an appointed board is costing the town thousands of dollars.



An area variance is the most common type. It can be requested by a builder or landowner when an odd configuration of the land, or sometimes the physical improvements (structures) on the land, requires a relaxation of the applicable regulations to avoid denying the landowner the same rights and use of the property enjoyed by owners of neighboring properties. A textbook example would be a house built on an oddly-shaped lot. If the odd shape of the lot makes it onerous for the landowner or builder to comply with the standard building setbacks specified in the code, a variance could be requested to allow a reduced setback. Another would be a house built on a sloping lot. If the slope of the lot makes it onerous to comply with the height limit—typically due to the way the municipality's code requires height to be measured—then a variance could be requested for a structure of increased height because of the special conditions on the lot.

In this case the proposed store, gas station with islands and a drive thru Dunkin Donuts overwhelms the lot

A use variance is a variance that authorizes a land use not normally permitted by the zoning ordinance.^[2] Such a variance has much in common with a special-use permit (sometimes known as a conditional use permit). Some municipalities do not offer this process, opting to handle such situations under special use permits instead. Grant of a use variance also can be similar, in effect, to a zone change. This may, in certain cases, be considered spot zoning, which is prohibited in many jurisdictions.
In either case, the variance request is justified only if special conditions exist on the lot that create a hardship making it too difficult to comply with the code's normal requirements. Likewise, a request for a variance on a normal lot with no special conditions could judiciously be denied. The special conditions or hardship typically must arise from some physical configuration of the lot or its structures. The financial or personal situation of the applicant normally cannot be taken into consideration. Under most codes governing variances, approval of the variance must not result in a public health or safety hazard and must not grant special privilege to the property owner. In other words, when a variance is granted, any other property owner with similar site conditions should be able to obtain a similar variance; this criterion is often addressed by citing precedent.

There are no conditions on the lot that make it too difficult to comply with code other than the proposed structure and use is just too much for the lot. There is no precedent for this variance to be granted either and it also creates a health and safety issue for the neighbor that abuts this lot.

IMPORTANT READ

Especially for Winchester voters.

Your rights are at stake

Your votes: Cast in secret, counted in secret, kept in secret.
Are the latter two transparent? Does this instill confidence in your voting system?

A public hearing took place in Concord, Tuesday, Jan. 14, before the N.H. House Election Law Committee, to receive citizen input in regards to HB1357, recently introduced to the House to restore the public’s right (and responsibility) to know that all is right with our elections.

As a result, an amended version of HB1357 will be submitted to Legislative Services for discussion and adaption to legislative language.

The N.H. secretary of state opposes this bill, claiming it invites corruption. Former Jaffrey election clerk Deborah Sumner argued New Hampshire citizens have a “constitutional right” to view ballots to verify election results.

Why do we need to restore that right?

Because voting consists of two parts: 1) the right to cast the vote, and 2) the right to sort, count and easily authenticate voting results.

One without the other renders the voting process meaningless.

Our Founding Fathers knew the importance of the “people” overseeing the count in open meeting, and expressed it in the N.H. Constitution (Part II, Article 32). Yet New Hampshire has ignored the citizens’ constitutional right to sort and count votes in public ( RSA 659:63).

Instead, most New Hampshire vote counts take place in computerized voting machines, contradicting our Constitution by sorting and counting votes inside the machine, the count completely hidden from public view. The result, a summarizing printout that does not verify that the calculation was correct, and votes were not manipulated. Without the means to examine the ballots, we, the citizens, must blindly trust the printout result.

Access to our paper ballots would provide the traceable means for the “people” to easily verify their election results. But making matters worse, in 2003 the N.H. Legislature quietly stole from its citizens this traceable means, by exempting paper ballots from the Right-to-Know Law (RSA 91-A). What had previously been described as mere “policy” — used to withhold ballots from public examination — became law with the passage of HB627 FN.

It is fair to say many legislators may not have been aware of what they were voting on, when this exemption was quietly slipped into a bill that dealt with residency. And had the public known, could it have voiced its concerns about this unconstitutional act? Not likely, since although citizens today are told they had a chance to speak out at the public hearing, no evidence has been found of any public hearing having taken place in 2003 to discuss a ballot exemption.

Keeping paper ballots in secret further complicates the issue, as currently citizen access to cast ballots can be attained only by court order. This process became complicated when Sumner petitioned the court for access to Jaffrey ballots from the November 2010 election. After requesting the ballots be held for her examination, she learned they had been destroyed between three to five months before their required retention period had ended.

It should not be illegal to exercise your constitutional right (and responsibility), to know election results are accurate. You, the public, own and paid for those ballots. They need to be restored to their rightful status: easily accessible public records. Gaining access to the paper ballots allows citizens to do exactly what they should be doing, examining the actual votes and either verifying the certified results, or bringing to the public’s attention any discrepancies that need a closer look.

Citizens still have a chance to speak out. Please contact the House Election Law Committee Chairman, David Cote, at david.cote@leg.state.nh.us, or 271-3319, and voice your concerns about regaining your constitutional right, and civic duty, to easily access paper ballots to verify election results.

Committee action is expected by Feb. 6, so there’s not much time!

Janice Sevene

Protect the Count NH

77 Old Leonard

Farm Road

Swanzey

 

 

Debate over Winchester historic districts continues

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — The debate over the future of Winchester’s historic districts just got a little more complicated.
At the same time a petition warrant article is seeking to abolish the Winchester Historic District Commission, the commission is proposing better-defined regulations for allowing work on buildings in the historic districts.

It’s unclear if the events are tied in any way to each other, but Historic District Commission members say at this point one is feeding off the other.

Those in support of the Historic District Commission say its oversight is necessary to preserve a town that has already lost so much history. Opponents say the commission has overstepped its bounds on many occasions, and that some of the requirements to preserve historic buildings aren’t financially feasible for private property owners.

The town received the petition warrant article on Dec. 11. The proposed regulations were filed about the same time.

According to state law, a historic district can be abolished by the passage of a petition warrant article as long as the petition is signed by 25 registered voters, and the historic district commission holds two public hearings about the petition at least 15 days apart.

Historic District Commission member Julia Ferrari said Tuesday that the commission has been working on the proposed regulations for at least three years in an attempt to further define what is already in place.

“We’re just trying to simplify things, and not have to go back to square one every single time,” she said.

The commission has been relying on the regulations in the town’s historic district ordinance to guide its decisions, but there can be inconsistencies from year to year, depending on how the ordinance is interpreted, she said.

There have been instances when someone will ask a question one year, and the commission will answer it. The same question would be posed the next year, and the commission would have to go through the process again to come to the same answer, she said.

Voters at town meeting in March 1997 approved the adoption of the historic district ordinance, which established the five-member commission appointed by selectmen, and the borders of the town’s two historic districts in Winchester and the village of Ashuelot.

The Winchester district includes a section of Main Street from Chapel Street southwest to the Route 10 bridge, and portions of Michigan and High streets and Richmond Road. The Ashuelot district covers a section of Ashuelot Main Street, and Old Hinsdale and Back Ashuelot roads.

Since the Historic District Commission was established, some of its decisions have led to tension between its members and property owners.

In 2011, a proposal to build a Dollar General on a Main Street property that hosted a roughly 200-year-old house in the historic district became the center of a controversy that ended with a legal battle. The property, 71 Main St., is owned by Margaret A. Sharra, Winchester’s land use administrator and code enforcement officer, and her brothers, James S. and Michael P. Shannon.

The proposed regulations the commission is seeking to adopt are included in a 32-page document that covers a variety of activities in the town’s historic districts.

Those activities include landscaping; installing, repairing and maintaining lighting, windows, doors, porches, walkways and driveways; the placement of utilities and renewable energy systems; using appropriate paint, siding and roofing materials on buildings; and building renovations, additions and demolitions.

An additional nine-page document outlines guidelines the commission should follow in considering applications for demolishing and moving historic structures.

Ferrari said both documents were drafted based on regulations followed by other communities with historic districts.

A public hearing about the proposed regulations will be held Monday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m. at Winchester Town Hall.

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

Board of Selectmen Regular Minutes 12-11-13

Board of Selectmen Regular Minutes 12-4-13

Board of Selectmen Regular Minutes 11-20-13