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
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