Winchester board to discuss decision to evict ACCESS from school

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff
 
WINCHESTER — The school board will discuss a decision by administrators to force a popular before- and after-school program to leave Winchester School by the end of June.
School board Chairman Kevin Bazan said at Thursday night’s meeting that board members would speak about the ACCESS program’s relationship with the school at their meeting next week, as they weren’t prepared to discuss it that night, or answer questions.

However, the board did take public comment, of which there was a lot, all in support of the program and keeping it at the school.

“ACCESS has taught me almost just as much as I learn in school,” said Soleil Laganiere, a 6th-grader at Winchester School.

Through the program, she’s learned about agriculture, cooking and “police things,” and the importance of being prepared for high school and college, she said.

She’s also had an opportunity through the program to attend a camp at Keene State College focused on science, technology, engineering and math, she said.

In addition, ACCESS staff are positive role models for students, she said.

“Though ACCESS, I’ve learned the importance of standing up for what you believe in, and I believe in ACCESS,” she said, to applause.

ACCESS is an acronym for All Children Cared for Educated Supported and Successful, and is a nonprofit organization with a local board of directors. The day care program provides homework help, activities and snacks for the children enrolled.

It has an agreement with the Winchester School District to use the kindergarten through 8th-grade school for its programming, and has an office in the building.

However, on Monday, ACCESS received a letter signed by Winchester Superintendent James M. Lewis saying the school district wouldn’t renew the agreement.

The letter didn’t explain the reasons for not renewing the agreement, but says ACCESS should vacate the school with all its property no later than June 30.

Lewis said Wednesday the school needs more space to grow because the budget passed last week allows it to add classrooms and programs. Because the school needs to reclaim the space, ACCESS has to find another place to run its programming.

Despite Lewis’ explanation, there was suspicion at the meeting among ACCESS supporters that there are other reasons for administrators wanting to give the program the boot.

One woman who spoke Thursday night referenced nonpublic meeting minutes from Feb. 2, which say Lewis and Winchester School Principal Michael Duprey advised the board there were “too many problems” with the program, which “seems to be a daily thing.”

The school board didn’t vote on the matter, but did give its blessing to the administration to end the program at the school, according to the meeting minutes.

Lewis said Wednesday the decision to have ACCESS leave had nothing to do with the program or its leadership.

“Every single time I’ve approached (ACCESS Executive Director Beth A. Baldwin) that there has been a problem, she has dealt with it,” he said.

But Lewis’ decision didn’t sit well with several parents, students and ACCESS staff members, about 30 of whom attended Thursday’s school board meeting.

Jane Cardinale, a special education teacher at Winchester School, is a volunteer with ACCESS and a past member of its board. She said the program, while providing day care, has enriched the lives of her family and her son.

Many of those enrichment opportunities, such as her son participating in a drama program and playing basketball, she wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford, she said.

She believes the school district’s decision not to renew its agreement with ACCESS was short-sighted, she said.

“I believe the partnership the Winchester School has with ACCESS benefits students greatly,” she said.

ACCESS, which started in 2000, serves children in kindergarten through 8th grade from about 75 families, Baldwin said Wednesday. Besides providing activities for children before and after school, it also has a summer program, she said.

About two-thirds of those families receive scholarships because they couldn’t otherwise afford the program, she said.

Besides having its office in the school, ACCESS uses the cafeteria as the main hub to conduct its programs, with some classrooms used for breakout sessions with students, she said.

The program’s annual budget is about $250,000; $80,000 of that comes from a federal 21st Century Community Learning Center grant, she said. The rest of the funding comes from other small grants and fees.

Regardless of whether ACCESS is allowed to continue operating in Winchester School, the program, as well as others in the region and nationwide that rely on the federal grant to cover some expenses, faces an uncertain future.

President Donald J. Trump has proposed eliminating funding for the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant in the federal budget be presented in mid-March.

Missy Calderwood, drug-free community coordinator for Winchester, told school board members the prime time students engage in risky behavior is between 3 and 6 p.m., and the ACCESS programs runs during that time frame.

“Without the program, you possibly could have kids going home to empty houses, which is of concern,” she said. “That’s when kids start experimenting with alcohol, drugs and sex.”

The program is a way the community can prevent students from engaging in risky behavior, she said, and without it, she’s concerned it will give them more opportunity to do dangerous things.

Karren Stetson said she became a single parent unexpectedly, and has a child in kindergarten who attends ACCESS.

“I think it says a lot about a program when your child asks you to come later to pick them up,” she said. “I can’t express how valuable this program is for a single parent.”

The Winchester School Board is next scheduled to meet on Thursday, April 6, at 6:30 p.m. in the Winchester School library.

Election fortunes change in Winchester following recount

By Ethan DeWitt and Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff
 

WINCHESTER — Two election results were overturned in a recount Tuesday, in a process that revealed a broad discrepancy in vote counts. The recount saw Ben Kilanski elected to a three-year term on the Winchester School Board, and Kenneth Berthiaume to a one-year term as a Thayer Public Library trustee. Both had been just shy of victory on election night last week; both filed for recounts soon after.

In the original vote on March 21, Kilanski finished two votes behind Nicole Pelkey, with 295 votes to Pelkey’s 297, for one of two, three-year terms on the school board. Incumbent Kevin Bazan took the other seat with 321 votes.

Following the recount, Kilanski received 296 votes to Pelkey’s 295 votes, thus winning by a single vote.

But the bigger upset came from Berthiaume’s race. The original tally showed Berthiaume, who was seeking re-election to the library trustee post, receiving 271 votes to challenger Janet Marsh’s 276 votes.

After the recount Berthiaume received 309 votes to Marsh’s 304 votes. The discrepancy in that race is sizable — 66 fewer votes were counted on election night than in the recount.

Town Clerk Jim Tetreault said that all of the extra votes counted in the recount were a result of ballots that had not been properly marked the first time around. The AccuVote machines that Winchester and other New Hampshire towns use can pick up only votes in which the bubbles are entirely filled in, he said.

In cases where voters circle options instead of filling them in, the machine will not count the result; in situations where both options appear filled in because the voter changed his or her mind, the machine will also not count the result, Tetreault said.

Tetreault said he didn’t know why the library trustee race had received so many more unreadable votes than other races. In an interview, Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan said he also didn’t know why.

Tetreault added that he didn’t see the case as evidence that the machines are faulty, an opinion shared by Scanlan.

Rather than a fault with the machines, Scanlan said that the wide difference in vote counts was likely a result of an addition error by those working the polls.

“On a discrepancy that big, I would definitely take a look at the human factor,” he said this morning, speaking on Winchester’s results.

Keeping closer track of the overall vote count would have allowed Winchester election workers to notice that one race had received substantially fewer votes than the other races, Scanlan said.

Tetreault agreed with the diagnosis, saying that the long working hours on election day may have caused officials, who are volunteers, to make some addition errors during the original ballot count and not see the machine wasn’t counting a number of votes.

“This is a great learning opportunity that our team has to review things a bit closer than we did,” he said.

Space crunch puts Winchester before- and after-school program in jeopardy

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff
 

WINCHESTER — A popular before-and-after-school program is being forced to find a new home after nearly 20 years operating out of the town’s elementary school. In a letter Monday, Winchester Superintendent James M. Lewis wrote to ACCESS Chairman Nicholas Raymond that the school district won’t renew the nonprofit organization’s agreement to run the program at the elementary school.

The letter didn’t explain the reasons for not renewing the organization’s agreement, but says that ACCESS should vacate the school with all its property no later than June 30.

Lewis said Wednesday that ACCESS was told it must leave the kindergarten through 8th-grade school because the school needs more space to grow.

ACCESS is an acronym for All Children Cared for Educated Supported and Successful.

The program, which started in 2000, serves children in kindergarten through 8th grade from about 75 families, Executive Director Beth A. Baldwin said Wednesday. Besides providing activities for children before and after school, it also has a summer program, she said.

About two-thirds of those families receive scholarships because they couldn’t afford the program otherwise, she said.

The program has an office at the school, and uses the cafeteria as its main hub to conduct its programs, she said. It also uses some classrooms for breakout sessions with students.

ACCESS has an annual budget of about $250,000; $80,000 of that comes from a federal 21st Century Community Learning Center grant, she said. The rest of the funding comes from other small grants and fees.

Every family pays something to have their students attend the program; payments are based on how much a family can afford, she said.

By using the school, ACCESS doesn’t have to pay rent or utility costs, and that helps to keep the costs of running the program low, according to Baldwin.

At this time, ACCESS doesn’t have another place to go, and other than the school there aren’t a lot of spaces available in town that could accommodate the program, she said.

“I’m concerned a lot of families who rely on this program won’t have child care next year,” she said.

The decision to have ACCESS leave the school was made administratively, and had nothing to do with the program or its leadership, according to Lewis.

“I feel terrible about it, but we need space, and that’s what it comes down to,” he said.

One possible solution to this problem is to reopen some space at the former Thayer High School, which closed in 2005, according to Lewis. However, doing that would cost money and, from a logistical perspective, couldn’t happen right away, he said.

With the $11,270,287 operating budget voters passed earlier this month, the school district will be able to add the much-needed positions of a health teacher and a foreign language teacher to better prepare students to attend Keene High School, he said.

School officials are also mulling hiring a third 6th-grade teacher, given the large number of students in the current 5th-grade class, he said.

“It’s a pretty exciting time for us and the school. It’s been my priority to get the school to be as good as it possibly can be,” he said.

However, Lewis’ decision, which the school board backed last month, is now taking some heat from those involved with the ACCESS program as not being in the best interests of the school district and its students.

Baldwin said she’s concerned about how school officials made the decision without involving ACCESS staff and community members.

She said that when she started working for ACCESS in August, she began corresponding with Lewis by email about making changes to the organization’s agreement with the school because she wanted it to have more details.

At some point, the emails stopped, and in February, Baldwin said she asked Lewis about it. He said he wanted to meet with her, Baldwin said.

Eventually, she said, Lewis told her school officials had decided to sever ties with the program.

ACCESS’ board of directors met with Lewis and Winchester School Principal Mike Duprey on Monday, but attempts to negotiate other solutions weren’t successful, Baldwin said.

“I’m new here, and my goal is to provide services to families that depend on the program, and also make it a good program. I want to work collaboratively with the school, and I just feel I haven’t been given that opportunity,” she said. “I’m willing to make whatever modifications we can make so that we can continue to provide services. The indication we got on Monday was that this was a done deal, and there was no negotiating.”

Lewis said he and other administrators didn’t approach ACCESS personnel to let them know what would happen if the budget passed at the school district’s annual meeting. In retrospect, maybe that notification should have been done before the annual meeting, he said.

He added that he hadn’t expected voters would pass the school district’s 2017-18 operating budget, and was pleasantly surprised when they did.

Baldwin said ACCESS will appeal its case to the Winchester School Board tonight at 6:30 at the school board’s meeting at the school library. She and other ACCESS officials are encouraging parents to attend the meeting to speak in support of the program and the importance that it continue at the school, she said.

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

Conservation Commision Meeting Minutes

By law, meeting minutes are to be published within 5 business day.. Guess our Conservation Commission didn't get the message or perhaps they just don't want people in town knowing what they are up to. Not up to date or complete.

Meeting Minutes posted here:

http://www.winchester-nh.gov/Pages/WinchesterNH_ConCommMinutes/

( simply highlight the link and right click on it, then choose OPEN IN NEW TAB )

Zoning Board of Adjustment Meeting Minutes

Like the Town's Planning Board Meeting Minutes, slow to be posted and incomplete.

Viewable here:

 http://www.winchester-nh.gov/Pages/WinchesterNH_ZBAMinutes/

 ( simply highlight the link and right click on it, then choose OPEN IN NEW TAB )

Planning Board Meeting Minutes

Never up to date and never complete and always being "updated", which by the way is ILLEGAL

Viewable on the Town of Winchester's website, here:

http://www.winchester-nh.gov/Pages/WinchesterNH_PlanningMinutes/

 ( simply highlight the link and right click on it, then choose OPEN IN NEW TAB )

BOS Meeting Minutes 3-15-17

If you are having trouble reading what is posted you can view on the town's website here:

http://www.winchester-nh.gov/Pages/WinchesterNH_Selectminutes/

 ( simply highlight the link and right click on it, then choose OPEN IN NEW TAB )

Hypothetically speaking on Ridgeline application

Because the Winchester Zoning Board of Adjustment chose to create threatening zombies out of Ridgeline’s applications for a special exception and a variance, Winchester residents can’t forget about potential risk to their peaceful well-being, and just move on. The neither-dead-nor-alive determination of the ZBA only invites further anxiety, scrutiny and most of all ... questions.
Did town counsel advise the ZBA to act on a hypothetical situation (land sale may be reversed) rather than on the actual situation (legal landowner requested withdrawal of the applications from consideration)? That would seem odd ... perhaps even suspicious.

Yet the board, upon leaving a nonpublic session in which they discussed only “legal information regarding Ridgeline application,” voted (without discussion) to table the applications. It would be even more odd for the board not to follow legal advice received.

When Ridgeline filed its lawsuit requesting a reversal of the land sale, the terms of its sales agreement became public. Ridgeline originally asked for 45 days to acquire all necessary permits (plus a 30-day extension) before closing. That was later extended multiple times.

I look forward to reading the arguments of the plaintiff and defendants as the lawsuit proceeds, and I can’t help but ponder some of the questions that may arise.

One question screams out above all others. Why would a business, obviously backed by big money, represented by a top-tier law firm that surely knows the intricacies of land-use laws and permitting processes, believe that it could sail through the ZBA, receive approval for a site plan before the planning board, acquire a wetlands permit from the N.H. Department of Environmental Services, perform soils tests and acquire septic approval, and obtain all other permits required, in a mere 45-75 days?

Ignorance? Arrogance? ... Assurance?

In theory, the court will administer justice. What would that entail?

What would be the consequences of a property sale reversal? The seller would have to return the purchase price to the buyer. What if that money had already been expended and the seller was unable to comply? That might leave the buyer with no recourse but to sue a bloodless stone. Would that be just?

Would the court consider the seller’s ability to refund the sale price in arriving at its decision? Is Ridgeline suing the new owner in attempts to undermine its right to equal justice as an innocent party?

Certainly a court couldn’t require a seller to not only lose a proven buyer, but also pass up other potential buyers, for an indefinite period of time. Would that be just? No.

So a court would have to limit the amount of time the seller would be mandated to let Ridgeline hold its property hostage. What would be a fair and reasonable time to deny a seller access to its wealth, particularly in the face of what are arguably steep — and more likely insurmountable — odds for permitting success? Three months? Six months? Two years? Ten years?

It really all boils down to one question. How responsible is a property seller for the ignorance, arrogance or confidence of a potential buyer?

I know what my answer would be.

But I am neither a lawyer nor a judge. I don’t know the legal weight of the phrase “for now” added to the agreement termination notice, nor do I know if “seller’s agent,” from whom the words came, was legal counsel or just a real estate agent expressing a personal hope that another buyer would back out and the Ridgeline agreement would be revived and yield a commission.

SUSAN M. NEWELL

Winchester

Winchester school board, library trustee races headed to recounts

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff
 

WINCHESTER — Two races from Tuesday’s town and school district elections are headed to recounts. Town Clerk James Tetreault said this morning that recount requests have been filed in the race for a three-year term on the Winchester School Board, and the one-year term as a Thayer Public Library Trustee.

Incumbent Kevin Bazan, and challengers Ben Kilanski and Nicole Pelkey all vied for two, three-year terms on the school board during Tuesday’s election.

While Bazan received 321 votes to be re-elected, Pelkey received 297 votes and Kilanski got 295 votes.

Kilanski said Wednesday he had filed for a recount because of the slim margin of votes separating him from Pelkey.

Incumbent Kenneth Berthiaume, who ran against Janet Marsh for the one-year term as a Thayer Public Library trustee, has also filed for a recount, Tetreault said.

Marsh received 276 votes, while Berthiaume got 271 votes.

Tetreault said he is in the process of scheduling those recounts, and is tentatively looking to hold them Tuesday beginning at 10 a.m. at Winchester Town Hall.

School district Moderator Henry A.L. Parkhurst and town Moderator Denis V. Murphy 2nd will oversee the recounts, Tetreault said. They are in the midst of appointing the recount board and working out other details, he said.

The deadline for anyone who wants to file for a recount from Tuesday’s election is today at 5 p.m., he said.

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

Close scrutiny of nuclear waste move needed

A risky procedure is planned for this spring at a nuclear waste dump in Vermont that’s 3 miles from Massachusetts and a stone’s throw from New Hampshire. If the operation goes wrong, thousands of people could be killed. A group based in Shelburne Falls, Mass., near Greenfield, will probably organize a march to call for children at the elementary school directly across the street from the dump to be taken further away during the procedure, which involves moving hundreds of tons of nuclear waste from a water-filled pool seven stories above ground into so-called “dry casks” at ground level.

Another goal of the march would be to get the government to come up with a realistic plan to notify people in case of an accident, and to evacuate school children, people at nursing homes, and others who don’t have a car. The group is called Citizens Awareness Network. It has a web site at www.NukeBusters.org.

The nuclear waste dump was formerly known as the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. The reactor was closed in 2014, thanks to thousands of people who attended marches and rallies, and hundreds who were arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience.

CAN helped organize a protest against Vermont Yankee in Brattleboro in 2012 that drew 1,500 people, 137 of whom were arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience. A CAN worker recently contacted the newly elected Vermont attorney general, and the relevant employees of the newly elected Vermont governor, about these issues.

Nuclear waste is the most deadly material on earth. The waste is so dangerous that it must be guarded 24 hours a day for the next 1 million years, according to the federal government. The prevailing wind is from the west, which would blow radioactivity toward Keene.

A serious accident at the Indian Point nuclear power plant near New York City would kill 50,000 people and result in 100,000 “radiation injuries” and $300 billion in property damage. That’s according to “Calculation of Reactor Accident Consequences (CRAC 2),” a study prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for Congress. It was cited by Elizabeth Kolbert in her article “Indian Point Blank,” which was published in The New Yorker magazine on March 3, 2003.

The same study says a major accident at Vermont Yankee would cause 7,000 “prompt fatalities.” There is at least 10 times more nuclear waste at the Vermont Yankee site now than when the study was released.

EESHA WILLIAMS

Dummerston, Vt.

Taxes to rise 1.6 percent under new Cheshire County budget

By Ethan DeWitt Sentinel Staff
 

Cheshire County taxes are rising, again. But after months of deliberations and meetings, members of the executive committee for the N.H. House county delegation say they’ve brought that increase down to a minimum. In a 14-0 vote Monday night, the 23-member delegation approved a $45,366,304 county operating budget for fiscal year 2017-18. That total is up $1,462,249, or 3.33 percent, from the budget legislators approved last year.

Taxes will rise $382,641, or 1.6 percent, from their total last year.

The causes of the budget increase vary. A bulk of it is due to higher employee wages, according to N.H. Rep. Bruce L. Tatro, D-Swanzey, chairman of the executive committee. A total of $240,000 was added to wages and $150,811 to employee health insurance across the county, he said. An additional $211,330 was included this year to meet an increased need for Medicaid Assistance for nursing homes and home-based health care.

Monday's vote solidifies the second county tax hike in two years. But the rise, Tatro is quick to argue, is contained. A budget proposal by the Cheshire County commissioners had asked for a 2.35 percent tax increase for a $46.5 million budget; the executive committee whittled that down over a series of hearings with commissioners and department heads.

“After several months … we are pleased with the budget we are presenting,” Tatro said in a letter to the delegation.

Voting to approve the budget were Reps. Richard Ames, D-Jaffrey; Paul S. Berch, D-Westmoreland; John Bordenet, D-Keene; Delmar D. Burridge, D-Keene, Daniel A. Eaton, D-Stoddard; Barry Faulkner, D-Swanzey; John B. Hunt, R-Rindge; James McConnell, R-Swanzey; David R. Meader, D-Keene; John O’Day, R-Rindge; Marjorie J. Shepardson, D-Marlborough; Franklin W. Sterling, R-Jaffrey; Bruce L. Tatro, D-Swanzey; and Lucy M. Weber, D-Walpole.

The same group then voted to increase taxes accordingly, 14-0. Absent from both votes were Reps. Michael Abbott, D-Hinsdale; Donovan Fenton, D-Keene; Cathryn A. Harvey, D-Spofford; Gladys Johnsen, D-Keene; Douglas A. Ley, D-Jaffrey; John E. Mann, D-Alstead; Henry A. L. Parkhurst, D-Winchester; William Pearson, D-Keene; and Joseph P. Stallcop, D-Keene.

Ethan DeWitt can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439, or edewitt@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter at @EDeWittKS

Winchester School District voters pass budget, all other articles

By CALLIE GINTER Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — An $11,270,287 operating budget and seven other warrant articles passed Tuesday at the Winchester School District’s annual meeting. Because Winchester is an official-ballot school district, voters consider all decisions at the polls, which were open Tuesday after being postponed from March 14 due to the nor’easter.

The budget, approved 497-125, is up $277,375, or 2.5 percent, from the $10,992,912 passed for the 2016-17 school year.

In addition, voters agreed to a two-year contract with the Winchester Teachers Association, 379-238. The agreement, which was recommended by both the school board and the budget committee, calls for an increase of $84,274 for pay and benefits in the first year, 2017-18, and $87,731 in the second year, 2018-19, under current staffing levels.

Other appropriations that voters OK’d were $25,000 to be placed in the Special Education Expendable Trust Fund, with funding to come from the unreserved district balance available for transfer on July 1, as well as an article to raise $84,000 through taxes to be placed in the Building Improvements Capital Reserve Fund.

Elections

In the race for two, three-year terms on the school board, incumbent Kevin Bazan, with 321 votes, and Nicole Pelkey, with 297 votes, defeated Ben Kilanski, who trailed just behind with 295 votes.

In the race for a one-year term on the school board, Valerie S. Cole defeated Kim N. Gordon and Jack Marsh Jr. — Cole won with 261 votes, Marsh had 195 and Gordon had 113.

Incumbent Henry A.L. Parkhurst defeated Kevan Whippie for a two-year term as the school district moderator, 323-255.

Callie Ginter can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1409 or cginter@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @CGinterKS.

Winchester voters dump town's historic district

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff
 

WINCHESTER — Established 20 years ago, the town’s historic district ordinance and commission are now history following town meeting Tuesday. Residents voted, 364 to 211, to back a petition warrant article to abolish the ordinance and commission.

They then approved a petition warrant article, 331 to 235, to establish a heritage commission as an advisory board with no regulatory power.

The heritage commission can receive donations of money and property, and acquire and/or improve historical or cultural resources in town. Both require selectmen approval, according to the warrant article.

The commission also has the power to advise on matters “affecting or potentially affecting cultural and historical resources,” according to the warrant article. It can also survey and inventory those resources.

In addition, the commission will have no less than five full members and one alternate member. Of the five full members, one will be a selectman, and one will be from the existing historical district commission. All other members will be appointed by the selectmen.

The decision to end the historic district ordinance and form a heritage commission comes three years after voters decided not to approve a petition warrant to abolish just the historic district ordinance. The vote count three years ago was 350 to 296, a difference of 54.

Tuesday’s warrant articles passed by margins of 153 and 96.

The warrant articles also come 20 years after town meeting voters approved the historic district ordinance. The ordinance established two historic districts, and a commission to oversee the districts and enact and enforce regulations on them.

One historic district covered 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 other covered a section of Ashuelot Main Street, and Old Hinsdale and Back Ashuelot roads.

However, how the historic district commission has overseen the district, and some of the decisions it has made on properties have been subject to controversy. While some commission members said they’re protecting the town’s history, some residents have accused the commission, and individual members, of putting unfair burdens on property owners.

In other business Tuesday, voters approved, 512 to 103, a town operating budget of $3,472,594 for fiscal year 2018, which begins July 1. The budget is down $94,782, or about 2.7 percent, from the $3,567,376 budget voters approved last year.

They also approved spending $130,000 on the reclaiming and base coat of Old Chesterfield Road from upper Clark Road to the State Park entrance; the vote was 386 to 224.

A warrant article seeking to raise $7,000 to hire a grant writer passed, 394 to 225, as did establishing a capital reserve fund for the purpose of repairing the church steeple where the town clock sits.

That warrant article, which voters approved 384 to 242, also sought to put $25,000 into the account.

Voters passed a petition warrant article to appropriate $50,000 to subsidize youth recreation programming at the E.L.M. Memorial Community Center, 405 to 218. However, they didn’t back another petition warrant article to appropriate $30,000 for a coordinator for teen programming as part of the ACCESS before- and after-school program. The proposal was voted down by 140 votes, 380 to 240.

All other warrant articles passed. 

 

In a four-way race for a three-year term as a selectman, incumbent Roberta Heinonen Fraser was re-elected with 285 votes. Challengers Richard C. Pratt, Brandon J. Day and Barry Montgomery finished with 174, 81 and 61 votes, respectively.

In a three-way race for a term as selectman, Robert Leustek received 262 votes to 210 for Dean Beaman and 136 for Gene Park.

Incumbent Brooke Sharra was re-elected to a three-year term on the planning board with 275 votes, and the other three-year term went to Christy L. Davis with 306 votes.

Day and Montgomery finished out of the running, each getting 157 votes.

Kim Carl beat out Leustek for a term on the planning board, 329 to 257, and Janet Marsh received just five votes more than challenger Kenneth Berthiaume for a term as a Thayer Public Library trustee, 276 to 271.

The following were elected without opposition: Sherman Tedford to a term on the budget committee; Stephen Fucile to a two-year term on the budget committee; Rikki Bolewski to a three-year term on the budget committee; Kenneth Cole to a three-year term as trustee of trust funds; Elizabeth Freyenhagen, Denis V. Murphy 2nd and Rick Durkee to three-year terms as Conant Public Library trustees; Montgomery, Paul Dobbs and Kim N. Gordon to three-year terms as Thayer Public Library trustees; Karen Berthiaume to a two-year term as a Thayer Public Library trustee; Gordon to a two-year term as supervisor of the checklist; Freyenhagen to a six-year term as supervisor of the checklist; Donald Hubbard to a three-year term on the Musterfield Cemetery Committee; and Margaret Curtis to three-year term as town treasurer.

Of the town’s 2,825 registered voters, 644, or about 23 percent, participated in voting at town meeting and elections on Tuesday.

Winchester is an official-ballot town, so voters decided on town meeting warrant articles at the polls.

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

"Unofficial Town Voting Results

Rick Durkee won the seat as Conant Library Trusteee.

"Unofficial" Election results Winchester School

Henry was elected for School Moderator and all of the School Warrants passed.. raising taxes again next year

Secretive decision doesn't serve town's residents

Last week members of the Winchester zoning board indefinitely tabled the Ridgeline shooting-range applications. The failure to nullify them, as requested by the landowner, and the lack of transparency in the board’s decision-making process, have far-ranging negative impacts. During the public hearing, abutters and neighbors testified that the proposed military-style shooting-range/“park” was already causing problems. One resident reported the stalling of a sale of a newly built home; another reported the delay of a housing development on an abutting 30-acre lot; yet another reported delaying the opening of a health-and-wellness-services business. And numerous abutters and neighbors expressed anxiety over the jeopardy to their quality of life, property values and even marketability of their homes.

These abutters and neighbors worked hard to present their concerns during the public hearing. In most cases they also provided expert testimony to support their positions. Now their lives and potential businesses are held hostage while they wait for a lawsuit to grind through the courts, brought by a plaintiff who neither lives in, nor owns property in, Winchester.

It would appear that the ZBA chose to deliberate, and ultimately to decide to table the application, in nonpublic session, since they didn’t do so in the public session.

However, the minutes of that nonpublic session refer only to “legal information” regarding the applicant, and make no reference to any deliberation or discussion regarding a course of action. So when did they discuss it?

How can abutters and neighbors know if their businesses and homes were even weighed in the balance? How can the general public be assured that the ZBA took care to make a sound and fair judgment and considered all of the ramifications of their non-decision decision?

SUE DURLING

Winchester

Zoning board action on gun range disturbing

I am writing as a concerned citizen of Winchester, regarding the Ridgeline shooting range. The Winchester zoning board’s decision last week was to table the issue indefinitely. This was done after a nonpublic meeting. The townspeople present were not allowed to hear how the board came up with this decision. A board member was recorded as meeting with a Ridgeline lawyer after the meeting, which brings in concern for unfair influence of the board members.

This facility would negatively impact Pisgah Park, the surrounding safety of this small community, and the property value of surrounding properties.

The most important factor that affects my opinion as a medical professional is the safety factor. This is far too close to homes and traffic, and no amount of placation from the Ridgeline lawyers changes the fact that they cannot guarantee the safety concerns raised.

There is precedent for our concerns given the recent events with a Keene shooting range. The village of Ashuelot and town of Winchester do not have the capabilities of dealing with even one serious unintentional injury.

I implore you to continue publishing articles on this issue so that the greater community is aware of this local threat.

Sincerely,

LISA A. PATTERSON

Winchester

Ridgeline application result of bad planning board advice

Winchester residents have found themselves in a tangled mess of zoning confusion regarding Ridgeline. The question is, how did it get to this stage?
The zoning board of adjustment doesn’t have the authority to make advisory determinations, and it didn’t. It is required to act on applications presented to it. Land use staff can, and are encouraged to, provide “guidance” to applicants.

The planning board can offer advice, but that advice isn’t always correct and, most important, is not legally binding.

On March 21, 2016, the planning board advised Ridgeline that its proposed paramilitary shooting range/marksmanship park/survival training facility (according to the zoning ordinance’s Table of Usage) was permitted in the commercial district under the general category “Outdoor amusement/recreation/sport” — further defined as “Including but not limited to mini golf, amphitheater, golf courses and athletic areas” — and that it required a special exception in the agricultural district, and a variance in the residential district.

Would an applicant proposing an unfenced exotic predatory animal park be given that kind of leeway? (Outdoor amusement ... “not limited to.”)

The handbook for ZBAs published by the state makes it clear that to qualify for a special exception, a proposed use must be explicitly permitted (mini golf, for example) in a particular zone. Otherwise it requires a variance. Since the proposed use is not explicitly permitted in any of the three zones, it stands to reason that a variance would be required for each of them. Surely the law wouldn’t require a higher degree of “explicitness” for permission by special exception than for ordinary permission?

Did the planning board’s apparently erroneous advice lead the ZBA to believe that Ridgeline comfortably fell within the above category with regard to a special exception, that no explicitness was required, and that it was obligated to accept the planning board’s opinion and accept a general (“not limited to”) standard for qualification for a special exception?

If Ridgeline’s applications were somehow revived by court action, the ZBA could, and rightly should, deny the application for a special exception, thereby justly overruling the non-binding advice of the planning board.

However should the ZBA somehow approve both applications, would Ridgeline then go to the planning board for a site plan review, and would the planning board take a cue from the ZBA’s approval of a special exception and allow it to proceed in the commercial district?

If no application for a variance for the commercial district were to come before the ZBA, and the planning board were to allow what should not be allowed, what recourse would residents have? I suspect the only recourse would be the same option they have in most matters involving local government disputes — tens of thousands of dollars in legal expenses to sue the town for redress. There may be another method of contesting a decision by the planning board, beyond expressing an opinion at a hearing, but I am not aware of it.

We can’t discount the complexities and ambiguities of land-use laws, the vagaries of zoning ordinances, and the difficulties of becoming fully educated and informed volunteer board members as all playing some role in these kinds of messes that arise in towns (and courts) throughout the state.

But perhaps the issues raised by Ridgeline can serve as a “teaching moment” and more careful scrutiny can be applied in the future.

Hopefully, the Ridgeline experience is over, and the town won’t be faced with any of the above scenarios.

SUSAN NEWELL

Winchester

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING VOTING

TOWN & SCHOOL ELECTIONS FOR THE TOWN OF WINCHESTER
WILL BE POSTPONED UNTIL TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017.
ABSENTEE BALLOTS ARE AVAILABLE UNTIL MARCH 20,2017
http://www.winchester-nh.gov/Pages/index

Take shooting range application off life support

Imagine if you will, that you have invested all of your dreams and hard-earned wealth into a rural property with plans of raising a family in a peaceful country setting; or you sold your urban home in order to retire to a tranquil property with the soothing sound of the Ashuelot River rushing by.

How satisfied would you be to learn that a potential abutter has designs on disrupting your future with a shooting range that plans to attract up to 150-200 outdoor shooters at a time? With the intent to be open and operational year round? With the majority of the shooting occurring on weekends?

Let me tell you how it feels. Gut wrenching, nerve wracking, unsettling and nightmarish! My world (and the world of my neighboring community) was shaken when we received certified letters notifying us of the applications of Ridgeline Marksmanship Park to construct its facility within the Village of Ashuelot.

Let me explain to you, as a mother, that the word “park” has a completely different meaning than what is commonly understood. As I listened to the description of the “park” by an expert shooting range designer and heard him verbalize the potential dangers, my heart burst from the thought of the sudden loss of my family’s safety. My sons and I would no longer be able to hike our property without the fear of stray or ricochet bullets.

Despite being in a public meeting, I broke down in tears. I simply could not comprehend how any intelligent human being would be willing to consider me, my family and future family as collateral damage.

I asked myself, what timber company would be willing to risk the lives of its employees to harvest my woodlot? What lumber company would accept wood that was riddled with lead? The answer is ... none!

My family and neighbors have been living with these traumatic emotions now for well over nine months. The Winchester Zoning Board of Adjustment’s decision to table the applications on March 2 did not quell any of our fears or frustrations — it only extended and enlarged them.

The chairman of the board added, after the motion passed, that the tabling had no ending date. How long must we endure the stress and anxiety of uncertainty and the inability to take any action to try to determine and protect our own futures?

I am extremely disappointed with the decision the board made at this meeting. The board’s responsibility to the residents of Winchester was to accept the letter from Ashuelot River LLC, then move to declare that the application no longer had standing to continue and was therefore nullified. It is very unsettling to wonder what could possibly motivate five individual board members to decide to put on “life support” an application that they no longer have authority to consider.

It’s not over until the fat lady sings. And I am not singing yet!

KIM N. GORDON

Ashuelot

Winchester's ZBA violated the law, gave no answers

We require government to hold public meetings so that we can, by hearing their deliberations, understand the how and why of their decisions. At their March 2 meeting, the Winchester Zoning Board of Adjustment made a critical decision affecting the whole town. Unfortunately the public has no idea how or why they arrived at that decision. The application of Ridgeline Marksmanship Park before the ZBA is now in limbo for no apparent reason. The property owner who sponsored the application sold the property to another buyer last month, and the new owner requested the application be withdrawn from consideration.

Without a sponsoring property owner, Ridgeline has no legal standing to continue on its own, any more than I would have the legal standing to apply for a variance to build something on my neighbor’s property without his/her sponsorship.

Ridgeline is suing both the former and new owners of its “chosen” land, requesting a reversal of the sale. However, Ridgeline did not ask for an injunction or restraining order while the case makes its way through the court.

Based on information available, the ZBA did not receive any kind of court order (public document) directing it to withhold action on the applications until the case is settled, nor to act in contradiction to the instructions of the legal property owner. That means the ZBA must act on the facts that exist — specifically that the new owner does not want a shooting range and did nullify Ridgeline’s application.

Upon bringing the meeting to order, the ZBA members voted unanimously to enter into a nonpublic session, without stating their specific purpose, as they are required to do by the Right to Know law. Apparently no ZBA member needed to know, or imagined that the public needed to know, why they had to go behind closed doors.

When the public session reconvened, the land-use administrator was prompted by a board member, “You wanted to mention a code?” She replied, “Yeah, this should have been said originally. We went into nonpublic session under RSA 91-A:3, ii, (l),” without further explanation. Reading the statute reveals that their reason for going behind closed doors was “Consideration of legal advice provided by legal counsel ...”

The statute also requires that a vote be taken in the public session as to whether or not to seal the minutes of the nonpublic session. No such vote was taken.

Instead, the board immediately voted unanimously without discussion to table the Ridgeline application, leaving the public confused as to how and why they decided, since there is no apparent legitimate reason to override the request of the actual landowner. The chairman said the tabling wasn’t indefinite but had no time limit. What did that mean?

In the absence of any explanation from the board, the public can only assume ZBA bias favoring Ridgeline, and that it led them to allow the company to store their application like a cadaver in cryogenic stasis. If Ridgeline is able to prevail in court, perhaps because of “deep pockets,” it will then be able to resuscitate the application.

Doesn’t the tabling of the application provide hope to Ridgeline? And again, in the absence of any explanation from the ZBA, doesn’t it seem they are eager to encourage Ridgeline to remain hopeful and engaged?

The ZBA’s deliberation-free process also serves to invite public suspicion that this is a company to be feared, a company willing to steamroll its opponents using expensive lawyers and consultants to bully anyone standing in its way, be they public bodies, businesses, individuals, or a whole town.

PAUL DOBBS

Ashuelot