Valuable info...

Onshore · 10-31-2008, 08:31 AM

About a year ago the Department was cleaning out a storage room and among the items to be thrown out was a box of old Water Resources Board files. Someone noticed it and asked me if it was anything I wanted to hang onto, and being somewhat of a packrat when it comes to historical info, I said yes. The box was tucked under my desk where it remained until about 2 days ago. At that time a staff member came to me with a question about a late 60's dredge project. Given the scope of the project I decide to pull out the box and see if there was any info on the project in it. There wasn't; but what I did happen upon was two file folders full of "applications" and permits dating back to 1969 and 1970. These permits are all for excavation or fill in public waters, the construction of commercial docking facilities, and the construction of crib docks. These permits all should have been recorded at the Registry of Deeds under real estate law at the time but I can almost guarantee they were not. The majority of the applications fail to list the tax map or lot number. They often list only the owner's name and a rough street address. Several do have plans and descriptions of what was approved. If you have ever been involved with a dispute over the ownership or legality of a dock you can probably appreciate the value of these documents. We do not have the time or manpower here right now to go through and catalogue these files. That being said they are all public records and if anyone out there has time and would like to look through them please contact our office at (603) 271-2147. We will make them available.

10-31-2008, 08:31 AM	#1
Onshore Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 502 Thanks: 12 Thanked 423 Times in 145 Posts	Valuable info... About a year ago the Department was cleaning out a storage room and among the items to be thrown out was a box of old Water Resources Board files. Someone noticed it and asked me if it was anything I wanted to hang onto, and being somewhat of a packrat when it comes to historical info, I said yes. The box was tucked under my desk where it remained until about 2 days ago. At that time a staff member came to me with a question about a late 60's dredge project. Given the scope of the project I decide to pull out the box and see if there was any info on the project in it. There wasn't; but what I did happen upon was two file folders full of "applications" and permits dating back to 1969 and 1970. These permits are all for excavation or fill in public waters, the construction of commercial docking facilities, and the construction of crib docks. These permits all should have been recorded at the Registry of Deeds under real estate law at the time but I can almost guarantee they were not. The majority of the applications fail to list the tax map or lot number. They often list only the owner's name and a rough street address. Several do have plans and descriptions of what was approved. If you have ever been involved with a dispute over the ownership or legality of a dock you can probably appreciate the value of these documents. We do not have the time or manpower here right now to go through and catalogue these files. That being said they are all public records and if anyone out there has time and would like to look through them please contact our office at (603) 271-2147. We will make them available. Last edited by Onshore; 10-31-2008 at 08:33 AM. Reason: grammar

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