2-7-08
Zoning Appeal to Drop Surprised Participants and Seek to Add New One
By Chuck Bingaman, Contributing Writer
The Walpole zoning appeal no one wanted to own last week may be losing the three parties that were surprised by their names being on it. And it may—or may not—be getting the name on it that many assumed was behind it in the first place according to attorneys representing the appellant and the town.
The attorney bringing the appeal, Geoffrey Ransom of Concord, announced Thursday evening that “I expect our motion to drop 3 petitioners with the exception of Tucker Burr will be filed tomorrow. John Hansel may get added at a later time but I can't be certain because the town has indicated it will object to the addition of Mr. Hansel.”
Ransom’s motion to drop the three petitioners stems from the revelation last week in the Eagle Times that they were listed as the appellants in the case despite their neither having prior knowledge of it nor having given prior approval to its filing. The fourth appellant listed on the filing, Tucker Burr, had agreed to be listed in the case.
Despite attorney Ransom’s new effort to add Hansel, presumably the person behind the appeal but not named in it, he may not actually be added.
Walpole town attorney, Jeremy Hockensmith, indicated in a letter sent to Ransom earlier in the week and shared with the Eagle Times by town selectmen last night said that the town would not object to dropping the three named petitioners but would object to adding one--Hansel--because the deadline for filing had passed early in January.
The appeal resulted from a ruling in early December by the Walpole zoning board that Chamberlain Machine of Rockingham VT qualified for a special exception to the town’s rural agricultural zoning on land west of Rt. 12 behind Diamond Pizza. The industrial development of the land has been a contentious issue in town because of its long-standing zoning and because it sits atop the town’s well head protection area.
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