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

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WILL BE POSTPONED UNTIL TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017.
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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

Coverage shortfalls have Swanzey and Winchester EMS officials on edge

BY MEGHAN FOLEY SENTINEL STAFF

Christopher J. and Maryan G. Platz of Winchester Ambulance know they have a problem.

Fire Chief Norman W. Skantze in neighboring Swanzey knows he does, too.

While the towns differ in how their emergency medical services are delivered, they share a common struggle to have enough personnel to respond to calls — especially during the day.

Winchester has its own ambulance service manned by paid on-call personnel. Swanzey contracts with R.J. DiLuzio Ambulance Service LLC in Keene.

The Swanzey Fire Department is a first-response agency, meaning it has some paid on-call members who are trained at some level to help a person having a medical emergency.

Winchester contracts with DiLuzio for backup, and if it needs a paramedic-level emergency medical technician to help with a call. Swanzey doesn’t have a plan B if its sole provider, which also contracts with other towns, isn’t able to come through.

To date it hasn’t come to that, Skantze said, but he worries about the future, especially knowing that ambulance services aren’t part of the region’s mutual aid system, which covers only fire departments.

Mutual aid means fire departments will help one another during an emergency at no cost. It’s expected that the department providing the assistance will someday be on the receiving end.

Southwestern N.H. District Fire Mutual Aid has long dispatched ambulances for its member towns, according to Chief Philip J. Tirrell. But there are no agreements in place through the agency that require ambulances to respond to towns they don’t cover as backup, he said.

In the past, when DiLuzio couldn’t respond to a call, Keene would be contacted to provide backup, Skantze said. If Keene couldn’t come, the next in line would be ambulances from Winchester, Troy or Marl-Harris in Marlborough, Skantze said.

However, Marl-Harris no longer operates as an ambulance service, and Troy and Winchester are struggling to respond to their own calls, he said.

Meanwhile, Keene officials are now evaluating the fire department’s ability to back up ambulance coverage to towns that don’t have contracts with the city’s ambulance service.

“It puts us in a difficult place — if DiLuzio, who currently meets the needs of the community, continues to attract more customers and answer more calls,” Skantze said.

Skantze is one of many local fire and EMS officials concerned that emergency medical services in the region are reaching a breaking point. Some services are struggling to stay afloat with fewer volunteers and funding, while others that can make the calls are feeling the strain.

Thinning ranks

At one time during the past 25 to 30 years, Winchester Ambulance had so many members there would be fights to get on the schedule to do runs, Chris Platz, a captain with the agency, remembers.

Now the department, which serves about 4,340 residents, is down to six active members, and has been missing about 30 percent of its calls during the past year, he said.

“Some of it has to do with a lack of volunteers. The other reason is there is not much industry in town, and people who might be interested in joining the ambulance service aren’t coming to Winchester to work,” Chris’ wife, Maryan, a lieutenant with Winchester Ambulance, said.

In addition, emergency medical services is a challenging field to work in, and one that’s hard to make a living from, she said. It’s also “a young person’s game” because of the physical demand, she noted.

“It’s not anybody’s fault, but the job as a rule doesn’t pay enough. With a few exceptions, you’re going to be working more than 40 hours a week to pay your bills,” she said.

Still, Maryan Platz said she loves being an emergency medical technician.

“It gets in your blood,” she said.

Winchester Ambulance has received 400 to 500 emergency medical calls annually for the past five or six years, Chris Platz said.

That’s much more than the 100 to 150 calls per year members responded to when he joined the agency in 1990.

With the increase in call volume and decrease in volunteers, Winchester Ambulance is at a point where it can’t continue to operate as it has been.

Emergency medical services are no longer about putting somebody in an ambulance, getting to the hospital as fast as possible, and hoping that person lives: An ambulance has become essentially a mobile emergency room, Chris Platz said.

“More lives are being saved now than ever before because of the advances in pre-hospital care,” Zachary J. Ford, a lieutenant with Winchester Ambulance, said.

The challenge, he noted, is getting people to realize that, and that Winchester Ambulance and other emergency medical responders can’t do their job without enough staffing and community support.

“The bottom line is people expect us to show up at their worst times, and we have a budget lower than the library. To me, that is telling,” he said.

The budget for Winchester Ambulance — a town department that operates under the fire department — this fiscal year is $84,152. The library’s budget is $108,350.

The Platzes are in the very early stages of a plan they hope will revitalize Winchester Ambulance and keep it running for years to come.

But they expect it’s going to be a tough sell to town officials and residents, especially since they want to hire people part time to cover shifts during the day. That involves spending money.

About 20 percent of Winchester Ambulance’s calls come between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. during the week, according to Ford.

But having people available to respond to emergency medical calls during weekdays is a big struggle, and Winchester Ambulance often must turn to DiLuzio Ambulance for help, Maryan Platz said.

The EMTs who are in town often are working during the day or just not available, Maryan Platz said.

By state law, the service must have two people on an ambulance to take a patient to the hospital. But Winchester Ambulance likes to have three because it can be helpful to have another person caring for a patient en route, Maryan Platz said.

While Ford and the Platzes live in Winchester, other Winchester Ambulance EMTs are from Hinsdale, Richmond and Swanzey. They all have to report to the fire station to get an ambulance before going to the site of a medical emergency.

“So there is already a delay there,” Maryan Platz said.

With a day crew, people would be at the station and could respond more quickly, she said.

Besides meeting with Winchester selectmen, she said ambulance personnel plan to reach out to successful business owners in town for guidance in funding the part-time positions.

“We now have to look at the business aspect, and that is something new for us,” she explained. “We need to think about how we are going to fund this, and how we are going to do it in a way that doesn’t put too much more burden on taxpayers.”

They also plan to meet with other ambulance services in the region that have hired people to cover day shifts to learn how they do it, and when they realized they needed to go that route.

Swanzey’s dilemma

The town of Swanzey is 45 square miles with about 7,230 residents, dozens of businesses, a regional middle and high school, two elementary schools, a 16-bed assisted living facility, three state highways and an airport run by the city of Keene.

From 2011 to 2015, the total number of fire, rescue and medical calls received by the fire department increased by 185, or 22.7 percent, with 2012 seeing the lowest volume at 816, and 2015 seeing the highest at 1,001.

Over the same time period, EMS calls received by the agency increased by 98, or 17.6 percent, with 2012 being the lowest at 557, and 2015 being the highest at 655.

The 40 members of the fire department are paid per call with the exception of the fire chief and fire inspector, who are full-time paid employees, and the EMS coordinator and deputy chief, who each work 16 hours per week. Of those 40 men and women, about 20 are licensed in some level of emergency medical care, Fire Chief Skantze said.

But as the need for emergency medical services rises in town and elsewhere, the ability of volunteers and on-call staff to provide them has decreased, he said.

Last year, the fire department responded to 898 calls, 600 of them emergency medical calls.

Before switching to DiLuzio in the late 1990s, Swanzey received its ambulance service from the Keene Fire Department.

Besides Swanzey, DiLuzio primarily covers Gilsum, Harrisville, Marlborough and Richmond.

Swanzey’s agreement with DiLuzio, which was signed by selectmen in 2016, says the agency will provide ambulance coverage 24 hours a day, but “there may be times when the emergency medical service system’s requirements or unforeseen operational issues may be such as to make a response impossible due to the limited resources of (DiLuzio Ambulance).”

If that happens, “a mutual aid ambulance may be dispatched,” according to the contract, which expires in 2019.

The Swanzey Fire Department is a first-response agency to EMS calls in most cases, in advance of the ambulance service, Skantze said.

“In doing so we can provide patient-care skills, and then work directly with the ambulance on scene, which will often transport the patient to the hospital,” he said.

But sometimes the setup doesn’t work.

“You have to keep in mind that providers who are on-call for the town also have work, family and other obligations that compete with the demands of the increasing call volume,” he said.

As in Winchester, emergency medical calls made during the day are the toughest to cover, Skantze said.

“Many employers have been very supportive with releasing our firefighters for major incidents. However, it is getting more difficult for employers to allow their employees to leave work for the more routine EMS and fire calls during the daytime hours,” he said.

In addition, emergency medical services have made great strides in recent decades, and the service levels that Swanzey, DiLuzio and other providers offer are higher than they were 10 or 20 years ago, according to Skantze. That requires additional training of emergency medical responders, and additional costs, he said.

Skantze believes Swanzey should consider having a fire department-based ambulance service because of the increasing demand and the immediate need.

Such a service would permit the town to generate revenue by billing patients or health insurance companies, as long as the patient goes in the department’s ambulance to a hospital, according to Skantze. That would help offset expenses, and allow the fire department to do a better job of providing emergency medical services to the community, he said.

The fire department, which provides some emergency medical care, can’t collect from insurance companies or patients because it doesn’t have an ambulance transport service.

However, what the future holds for emergency medical services in Swanzey and across the region doesn’t necessarily come down to what is best for the towns, but what’s best for the patients, Skantze said.

“I think the problem has been creeping up on us, and looking back, we’ve just kept adjusting,” he said. “But how much longer can you keep adjusting before you need a major solution?”

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

Winchester husband and wife suffer serious injuries within days of each other

It’s been a difficult week for the family of Norman and Miriam Struthers. Last Friday morning, Norman Struthers Sr., 73, was taken to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon after being hit by a car on Ashuelot Street in Winchester at about 6 a.m. and suffering serious injuries. He has two broken legs, a damaged spleen, lacerations to his kidney and bleeding on the brain, according to Gabby Lahue, his granddaughter.

On Sunday morning, Norman’s wife, Miriam, 80, was found unresponsive after suffering a stroke the night before, and is being treated at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene, Lahue said.

Miriam Struthers continues to receive treatment, but her condition is serious and she has signed a do not resuscitate order. Her family is intending to respect her wishes if the time comes, according to Lahue.

Meanwhile, Norman Struthers remains in a stable condition, but was not alert Tuesday, Lahue said.

Winchester police have investigated the crash and will not be bringing charges due to the low visibility caused by darkness and weather, as well as the lack of reflective gear worn by Struthers, according to Lt. Mike T. Tollett. Tollett said Norman Struthers was out on his road clearing snow, ice and debris when he was struck by a 2008 Kia Spectra driven by Ashli Rhoades, 27, of Ashuelot.

Now, beset by the twin events, family members of the couple are spending their free time shuttling between the two hospitals to see their loved ones. They’ve created a GoFundMe page to raise money for medical expenses and expected funeral costs for Miriam Struthers.

For Lahue, the dual hospitalizations have been devastating. Her grandfather, she says, is outgoing, a fixture in his near-lifelong hometown of Winchester. He’s an outdoors lover and someone who helped out whenever he could.

Norman Struthers was the babysitter for Lahue, 23, and her two brothers while they were growing up. He took them on bike rides, and trips to the store.

“He really took care of us three kids,” Lahue said.

Norman Struthers had a career at a local paper mill, according to Lahue. He worked as a newspaper carrier in Winchester for The Keene Sentinel from 2008 to 2013, according to The Sentinel’s circulation department. And he was a frequent presence at the Sunoco gas station in Winchester, working odd jobs to help with cleaning and removing trash.

Stanley Plifka Jr., owner of the gas station and Kulick’s Market in Winchester, said Norman Struthers is a stand-up Winchester resident who would walk to work at the Sunoco every day.

“He’s just a good old soul, been around town all his life,” Plifka said.

Miriam and Norman Struthers have been married for 53 years. They have two daughters and a son, eight grandchildren and six grandchildren.

Facing a tough period, Lahue says, the family is banding together. “We’re just hanging in there,” she said.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family at https://www.gofundme.com/rj5wfz-medical-expensesfuneral-costs. By this morning it had reached $100 in donations.

Who's looking out for our interests?

We elect our state representatives with the expectation that they will propose legislation that will benefit their constituents and the state of New Hampshire. We don’t expect them to write or sponsor legislation that “sounds good,” but actually harms us economically or socially. We also have an expectation that the press will closely monitor proposed legislation and investigate claims of benefits or harms. An informed electorate is the best tool in defense of democracy.

Unfortunately, neither of those expectations are being met. Please allow me to offer two recent examples of how we’re being let down, along with a request that the press and our representatives “step it up” on our behalf.

Thanks to Rep. James McConnell, R-Swanzey, many of us in the pipeline fight were alerted to Senate Bill 128. This bill is designed to change the language of the Restructuring Act to allow electric ratepayers to be charged a tariff for 20-year fracked gas pipeline contracts and contracts for power from Northern Pass.

Such tariffs were rejected by the Public Utilities Commission based on language in the Restructuring Act. SB 128 changes that language in such a way as to make “moot” the challenge Eversource has taken before the N.H. Supreme Court.

Were it not for Rep. McConnell telling us about SB 128, no one from the pipeline or Northern Pass opposition would even know that we were about to be sold out. And, honestly, when you read the text of the bill, it sounds so good! You need to be a lawyer to understand its impact on current events.

Thanks to Rep. McConnell, the organizations which raised funds to fight the pipelines and Northern Pass with our own lawyers were notified in time to help some of its sponsors to understand just how egregiously harmful this bill actually is.

The press did eventually cover this major issue, but only after nearly 100 people showed up for the Senate hearing last week. What would have happened were it not for Rep. McConnell?

There is another horrible bill that has already passed the House and is headed to the Senate Capital Budget Committee for a hearing on March 8. That bill will charge New Hampshire taxpayers nearly $25 million to convert about 30 state buildings in Concord from district steam to fracked gas. That $25 million is for all the boilers they need to purchase in order to burn natural gas.

Leadership from both parties has pressured legislators to push this through as an “emergency.” All but 15 of the smartest and most principled state representatives bowed to the pressure to fast track this bill. The House Finance Committee even waived its right to hold a hearing on the bill, in order to expedite it. So now, representing 20 percent of the state’s capital budget, House Bill 368-FN is headed to the Senate Capital Budget Committee.

I have reached out repeatedly to the press on HB 368 and have gotten virtually no response. How is this not a big story? Will no one question the “emergency” situation that the proponents for the bill claim prevent true analysis of the benefits/costs and consideration of other options?

I bet it will be a big story this summer when the state, plus 80 downtown Concord Steam customers, are all trying to contract for plumbers. I bet it will be a big story when all those customers and the state are locked into fracked gas while prices climb and shortages occur.

PATRICIA MARTIN

Rindge