Moultonborough Business' Threatened

[SAMIAM]

In case you don't know,the Moultonborough planning board is attempting to have much of rt 25 rezoned to residential.They refer to growing traffic and a need to preserve the town's "scenic qualities"
There is no industry in this area and the many shops and business' along rt 25 represent most of the jobs.We should be encouraging more business not less.
None of the affected business' were notified of the proposed changes and they probably hoped to sneak it through without drawing much attention.It is discouraging to see that the town is taken a stance against small business for mostly selfish reasons (I would suspect that none of the authors of this change have any interests in the zoning change area) but for those of us that do,it is our lifeline.Now,and hopefully in the future.
I would encourage everyone who knows anyone in business on rt 25,or has a friend or family member that works at one of the many business' there,to vote no on Article 3 and express their concern to members of the planning board and selectmen.

[ITD]

Sam, this has been going on for quite a while, I know they've had several meetings and hearings on this over the past year or so. I haven't followed it too closely, but I think they are worried it will end up looking like Plaistow if they don't do something. If what you say is correct then it sounds like typical over reaction to a perceived problem. I suggest you do exactly what you are doing, get the word out. Meeting with the selectmen and planning board should help a little plus there are a few good news papers in the area, I subscribe to the Meredith weekly paper which covers Moultonboro very well. I suggest you subscribe also if you haven't already, that's how I knew they were talking about Rt 25. A few letters to the editor will help.

I'd vote to help you, but I am a non-voting taxpayer........

[twoplustwo]

They can't re-zone something that's already there, can they??

[jeffk]

While I don't support towns restricting small business I also understand the desire to keep 25 from becoming a unbroken line of strip malls.

One question I have is how much flexibility does a town have to throttle business growth. It seems most of what I read about these type of problems is that the tools the towns have are pretty crude. They either allow growth or they don't. It seems many laws written to attempt to tailor growth to a certain pace or a certain type get tossed out.

In the end this leaves the towns stuck. Either stop all commercial growth or allow all.

Am I all wet here? What could Moultonborough do to keep growth to a reasonable pace?

[twoplustwo]

I can't find a copy of the article on the town's website, and I just snoozed my way through various PB minutes to no avail :yawn:. I think I'll go down to Town Hall tomorrow and ask for a copy of the article to see what it says. I don't want M'Boro to be Tilton, but I don't want existing businesses screwed.

[jmen24]

I am not an expert but I have worked with zoning and apeals so if I am wrong point me in the right direction. What they are doing is preventing new business from coming into that corridor, but you do not have to remove an existing business from the site as you would be grandfathered as commercial in that space. The only time it becomes an issue is if you want to expand the footprint or sell the business. At which time you approach the zoning board of adjustments and state that you are wishing to keep a business in a building that was occupied as a business, we have done a few for clients and it is relatively painless. It is not uncommon for a piece of property to go through a rezoning to say put in mixed use in a commercial district. This will prevent a new like business from cropping up across the street and killing an existing one. I do not have a dog in this fight but that is my experience with this kind of thing, it does not make it right for the town to prevent future business growth. Are they proposing an area that will be expanded for future business?

[SAMIAM]

There's no chance that Moultonborough will be getting a Super Walmart anytime soon.....no major retailers will go where there is no town sewer and water with the exception of Subway,DD's or maybe Quizno's,all of which have very little impact.Most of the business' on rt 25 are just family owned ma and pa operations that provide most of the jobs in the area.The value of that property would be greatly diminished if a zoning change were to take place which is not fair to the property owners.
I know it doesn'r effect most of you,but just imagine if the town decided to change to zoning on YOUR street and it greatly reduced the value your home......perhaps that home will be the source of your retirement income,or perhaps your kids education.
I sure don't want to see an Appleby's next door to my Village Kitchen,but anyone ought to be free to open a little shop or a bed and breakfast on their property if they wish.

[VitaBene]

There's no chance that Moultonborough will be getting a Super Walmart anytime soon.....no major retailers will go where there is no town sewer and water with the exception of Subway,DD's or maybe Quizno's,all of which have very little impact.Most of the business' on rt 25 are just family owned ma and pa operations that provide most of the jobs in the area.The value of that property would be greatly diminished if a zoning change were to take place which is not fair to the property owners.
I know it doesn'r effect most of you,but just imagine if the town decided to change to zoning on YOUR street and it greatly reduced the value your home......perhaps that home will be the source of your retirement income,or perhaps your kids education.
I sure don't want to see an Appleby's next door to my Village Kitchen,but anyone ought to be free to open a little shop or a bed and breakfast on their property if they wish.

Sam's point about business value is well taken. You essentially become a "nonconforming use" which lowers your property values.

Nice explanation Jmen. And good question- do they have a business zone in mind?

[Lakesrider]

This is pretty funny. Because as everyone knows there is just such a boom on building right now. Holy cow, yeah let's stop any kind of tax paying companies from coming in. Just keep raising my property value and tax that instead. Heck I must be a Bazillionair. We must all be, or why would they want to axe any income to the town. Heck look at the paving project that is planned. (May not happen now but,) Why would you now bother to do all that paving if you don't want anyone to come here and invest in the town?
Instead I think they should start charging tuition for the schools. If you can't afford it...don't have kids!:D

[Irish mist]

There's no chance that Moultonborough will be getting a Super Walmart anytime soon.....no major retailers will go where there is no town sewer and water with the exception of Subway,DD's or maybe Quizno's,all of which have very little impact.Most of the business' on rt 25 are just family owned ma and pa operations that provide most of the jobs in the area.The value of that property would be greatly diminished if a zoning change were to take place which is not fair to the property owners.
I know it doesn'r effect most of you,but just imagine if the town decided to change to zoning on YOUR street and it greatly reduced the value your home......perhaps that home will be the source of your retirement income,or perhaps your kids education.
I sure don't want to see an Appleby's next door to my Village Kitchen,but anyone ought to be free to open a little shop or a bed and breakfast on their property if they wish.

Thanks for this. It's the best explanation of what this zoning change could do to the town. Some days I wake up and think I've been transported to Vermont when I see bad zoning laws like this. That said: I'm not against strict zoning if it's applied properly. There are no easy answers concerning zoning issues.

[Heaven]

I don't know anything about this proposed change, but I do know there are ways to craft zoning ordinance language to at least limit the new businesses to the types that would add instead of detract from the small town atmosphere, if that was the goal. Allowing certain types of businesses and not others (i.e. office buildings not manufacturing) and having design review would keep out the chains, mostly, and could prevent the "strip mall" appearance. Does Moultonboro have a Town Planner? Maybe they should borrow one.

[mneck1814]

SAMIAM,
Could you send me any article links? I am an urban planning major so I would be interested to learn more about the proposed changes.
thanks, adam

[Waterbaby]

One question I have is how much flexibility does a town have to throttle business growth. It seems most of what I read about these type of problems is that the tools the towns have are pretty crude. They either allow growth or they don't. It seems many laws written to attempt to tailor growth to a certain pace or a certain type get tossed out.

In the end this leaves the towns stuck. Either stop all commercial growth or allow all.

Am I all wet here? What could Moultonborough do to keep growth to a reasonable pace?

There's a certain process towns/cities have to follow in NH, I can't remember all of the specifics right now, but somewhere in that process there has to be a Master Plan in place, it has to cover a certain number of years and be updated every so often............. then there's the Capital (something or other) that follows the Master Plan........

[mneck1814]

I found this on the town website if anyone is interested in reading the proposed revisions:

http://www.moultonboroughnh.gov/Pages/MoultonboroughNH_Zoning/Propose
d%20Zoning%20Amendments%20010809.pdf

Am I understanding it correctly that these changes are temporary in order to allow the town planner and officials ample time to develop a plan for the area?

[ITD]

I found this on the town website if anyone is interested in reading the proposed revisions:

http://www.moultonboroughnh.gov/Pages/MoultonboroughNH_Zoning/Propose
d%20Zoning%20Amendments%20010809.pdf

Am I understanding it correctly that these changes are temporary in order to allow the town planner and officials ample time to develop a plan for the area?


We had a temporary income tax increase down here in Massachusetts. It's been temporarily in place for 20 years now.

[twoplustwo]

I must need help reading between the lines of bureaucratic townspeak:rolleye2:

1. ROUTE 25 RE-ZONING
PROPOSED ZONING ORDINANCE AMENDMENT Regarding Return of Certain Sections of NH Route 25 to Residential/Agricultural Use
Article VI C.(1)

C. BOUNDARIES OF COMMERCIAL ZONES AND PERMITTED USES

Commercial Zones within the Town of Moultonborough shall be described and bounded as follows, and the following uses shall be permitted as identified to each Commercial Zone. (1) Commercial Zones “A” and “A-1”

a. Commercial Zone “A” shall include all land within 500 feet of the edge of the right-of- way on either side of Route 25 from the Moultonborough / Center Harbor Town Line to the intersection of Glidden Road.

b. Commercial Zone “A-1” shall include all land within 500 feet of the edge of the right-of-way on either side of Route 25 from the intersection of Moultonborough Neck Road to the intersection of Marvin Road.

c. The provisions of Article VI C.(1)(a) and (b) relating to the boundaries of Zones “A” and “A-1” shall expire on January XXX 2011.
d. The following uses are permitted in Commercial Zones “A” and “A-1”:

The purpose of this amendment is to: a. allow the Planning Board the necessary time to establish a comprehensive zoning and access management plan to improve safety on Route 25; b. preserve the town’s rural character and scenic beauty as requested by residents in the master plan and town wide survey of 2006; c. protect the town’s natural resources and wildlife habitat; and d. enhance residents’ quality of life by reducing traffic congestion, improving traffic flow and improving the appearance of the
Route 25 corridor.



Soooo, work with me here people. Zone A is basically from the Russell's Remax Excellence through to Bob's Roast Beef's parking lot, there's the church, the little hotel, then the commerical part (A-1) starts again from Murphy's Mobil through to Marvin Road. After Marvin Rd through to the end of M'Boro on 25 is to be re-zoned as residential/agricultural. So using Samiam's explanation, there's a load of businesses including his who could take a valuation hit in the part of town with the least traffic issues, the area with the biggest traffic problem remains commerically zoned, and the re-zoning will have no impact anyway because the problem isn't the businesses, it's the tourist traffic trying to get from 25 in Meredith to the Neck Road.

Now if we want to improve our quality of life by reducing traffic congestion and improving traffic flow, we should build a damned bridge from the new McMansions by Canoe across the lake that dumps off at the tip of Long Island. The biggest traffic problem in this town happens during peak tourist season and is an issue from the double lights at the town line (AKA Zone A) through to M'Boro Neck Rd. Once you get past that nightmare, all is calm and tranquil comparitively speaking. Heck we could start the bridge at McD's in Meredith and eliminate all sorts of hassles for residents from Meredith, Center Harbor, and M'Boro. Or take it a step farther, do like the the Brits and build a chunnel underneath. :rolleye1:

I'm all for preserving our natural beauty, reducing traffic, yada yada yada, who isn't? But let's call a spade a spade; the cause of our traffic problems is tourists. Tourists are a necessary evil. This article is all about keeping M'Boro quaint and should be stated as such instead of using the current commercial zones as a scapegoat for problems they aren't causing.

[tis]

Wolfeboro is not very business friendly either. They really don't want any new businesses to come into town. In fact, many of them would be very happy if businesses left town. I remember being at one planning board meeting and someone said they wish all the gas stations would leave town. (Some of them are grandfathered.) I also remember Dunkin Donuts trying to come into town. You would think it was the end of the world. But DD was persistant and finally got in. They have an ordinance that limits the size so they have won't have to worry about a Walmart etc. either.

[TomC]

...as if they're sentient beings. "Moultonboro" and "Wolfboro" can't have beliefs attributed to them. In the case of M'boro (maybe W'boro, too) is governed by a board of selectmen elected by due process...

They are supposed to represent the beliefs of the constituency.. and these zoning changes, etc, are supposed to reflect the desires of the residents.

If the residents don't like the actions or proposals, kick out the BOS and/or vote down the measure. Now, if something passes because no-one takes a stand or because of complacency, well then the right to complain has to be waived, too... Or maybe these things pass because it is the will of the silent majority and we only hear from the vocal minority - i don't know.

I'd like to help out, but the town is just interested in my out-of-state tax dollars - not giving me (and others like me) a say, so the residents will have to take up the challenge.

[jmen24]

SAMIAM, thanks for the perspective of an effected business and the consideration of value needs to be on the main burner (pun intended) for you and the other business' next to you.

TomC, I am not sure about the exact structure of these two towns in regard to government planning. Most of the zoning changes that occur in the town where my office is located go through one of two channels, first the Zoning Administrator presents the change to the Zoning Board of Adjustments or the ZBA creates the change on there own. The selectmen are not apart of the process to create the changes (on the record) and when these changes make it to their desk they are acting on the strong recommendation of the ZBA and they just sign away, unless they have a personal reason to not like what is proposed. This does seem like a large enough issue that it would need to be presented to the town for a vote. Even though you cannot vote on the issue you can protest the action and put in a phone call to the town, by saying that there is nothing you can do for the residents of the town is just a bad as the town saying they don't want to hear from you. A town that relies so much on seasonal tourism needs to know that the seasonal tourist does not want to see this happen.

Sorry for all the long winded responses,

jmen

[tis]

Tom, a totally great idea, to vote them out, but unfortuntely you cannot get many people to run for these offices. These articles are voted on but most people don't know what they are voting for. Unless it gets a lot of talk around town or in a newspaper, people have little understanding if any, and, since they say "recommended by the planning board" most people think it must be a good idea. People like to think that the people that represent them truly do work in their best interests but it isn't always true.

[SAMIAM]

Thanks ,everyone for your words of encouragement.I can tell you that property owners along rt 25 that I have spoken to are very upset over this attempt to change the zoning.They also are introducing a very strict new sign ordinance.I don't know why the board has turned against small business,but I believe that most residents have a strong sense of fair play and I'm confident the articles will be defeated.This is the work of a small group of people who moved here from out of state and loved it so much they want to change it (stop me if you've heard this) and want to turn it into their private little pristine enclave without thought of anyone elses property rights.
Every town needs a main street or commercial area.I notice there were no complaints from the planning board when they built the new life safety building and the huge addition on the library.
Rt 25 is and should remain commercial......our schools,churches,stores and most of our jobs are on this road and should remain so.
If traffic congestion is a big concern ,I would suggest that they pursue a third lane for ,turning traffic ,from Center Harbor right through the village.Funds may be available when the new infrastructure projects get approved.

[RI Swamp Yankee]

...This is the work of a small group of people who moved here from out of state and loved it so much they want to change it ....As much as I would like to move to NH, I would, as a newcommer, be the LAST person to try and change what is established and attracted me in the first place.

Years ago, when we had town meetings in our town, we got someone that had just moved in from a larger town. The gentleman went on for some time eplaining all the things our town needed to do to be better. One oldtimer got up and said " If that town is so great we think you should move back there". He got a standing ovation.