8-25-06

Commemoration and Conservation Agendas Tangle in Contentious Walpole Selectmen’s Meeting

By Charles C. Bingaman, Contributing Writer

            Walpole Selectmen decided to appeal for advice from the New Hampshire Local Government Association after three citizens’ agendas collided at Thursday evening’s Walpole Selectmen’s meeting.

In the meeting, Stu Bailey sought to give the town a bandstand on the Common, the American Legion sought assurance that its new memorial project was still supported by the board, and an emerging group, including abutters to the Common and others, sought to minimize or block new building on the village’s central green space.

            Mr. Bailey, who three weeks ago announced to the board that he wanted to donate a 32’ by 22’ bandstand to be built on the Common in honor of his wife Judy who died in the spring, appeared for the third consecutive meeting to pursue and defend his proposal.  At Thursday’s meeting he was supported by a large number of neighbors and friends from Wentworth Road.  While indicating a very positive inclination toward accepting the bandstand gift at each of the previous two meetings, the Selectmen have not, as previously reported, explicitly accepted the gift on behalf of the town.

            The American Legion, represented by Bruce Martin, has been been raising funds for a new $125,000 memorial on the Common honoring all Walpole citizens who have served in active U.S. military service to replace and expand the current memorial that is limited to those who served from Walpole in World War I.  At the conclusion of the August 10 Selectmen’s meeting, it was agreed that Bailey, Martin, and those working with them would jointly prepare a plan showing how the bandstand and veterans’ memorial might be situated on the Common in a harmonious way.  And earlier this week, they spent an afternoon measuring the north end of the Common and laying out their plan.

            While the Bailey gift and the Legion project have been developing and interconnecting, abutters on the Common and others in the town have been watching, gathering their concerns and concluding that they are not pleased with the developments.

    At Thursday’s meeting, Krystyna Markom presented a petition with 85 names she had gathered that day in front of the Post Office arguing for the Common to “remain green” as it is with little or no permanent construction.  Long time resident and former Selectman Bob Graves spoke for another segment of the audience when he endorsed the new veterans’ memorial project but not the construction of the bandstand unless it was approved by a town vote. 

Jan Martin, Mr. Martin’s wife, argued for going forward with the new veterans’ memorial. “It’s an embarrassment,” she said, “to see monuments in many other towns that are not nearly as well off as Walpole memorializing all their veterans and to see Walpole having nothing.”  And, Mr. Martin, who earlier in the week had sought a harmonious plan with the proposed bandstand, made it clear that the veterans’ memorial and the bandstand were, in his and the Legion’s view, separate projects. 

            In fact, Mr. Martin, in light of the timetable he and the Legion are facing for competing their project in time for Memorial Day, 2007 demanded and got the Board of Selectmen’s confirmation of their continuing support for the new memorial. 

            Construction of a bandstand, however, raised a cluster of thornier concerns, including Walpole’s history of a town vote in the 1990s turning down a permanent bandstand on the Common, possible disturbances of neighbors if it were to encourage additional events on the Common, costs of maintaining it, and whether proper notices had been sent to abutters about the proposed gift’s public hearing held before the August 10 Selectmen’s meeting.

Amid the raising of those practical and other potential problems, several opponents of the bandstand noted that their objections were made notwithstanding their genuine respect for the generosity of Mr. Bailey’s offer.

Walpole resident Cindy Westover, an advocate of limiting construction on the Common, argued that, even if the Selectmen have the authority to accept the gift of the bandstand, they should put it to a vote of the town to settle the matter openly and to avoid the likelihood of a petitioned warrant article in the future demanding reversal of the decision and demolition of the bandstand as happened a few years ago with some controversial construction in the Town Hall.

            At one point, Mr. Bailey said that he would dedicate proceeds of a life insurance policy on himself to the perpetual maintenance of the bandstand.

Movement in AlpacaDance Matter

            In other Board business, Creg and Jill Dance, whose raising of a herd of 30-35 alpacas in the Walpole Residential Zone has disturbed several neighbors, appeared and offered to reduce their herd from the current 26 to 10 or fewer by June 1, 2007.  That number, they argued, would conform with the town’s limitation of farm activities to those that are “incidental to primary residential use” and “in no way injurious, obnoxious or offensive to the neighborhood.”  While thanking the Dances for their offer, the Board took no action as abutting neighbor Donald Tretler, one of the primary objectors to the Dances’ operation, was out of town on business and could not be present at the meeting.

Reconfiguration of Old Drewsville Road Intersection

            The Board approved a trial reconfiguration of the complex intersection of Old North Main, North Road and Old Drewsville road to slow traffic and promote safety.  The changes will close the southern east-west portion of North Road and the diagonal connector of Old North Main and Old Drewsville Road so that traffic must go around the consolidated island in the intersection.  Speed limit signs posted at 25 MPH will be installed on the island facing south on Old North Main and on North Street facing westbound traffic.  The changes will be installed as soon as New Hampshire DOT supplies Jersey wall for blocking the closed streets, and they will be evaluated for effectiveness over the next few months.  The Selectmen invite citizen comment after observing how the restructured intersection works.

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