Good morning everyone, it’s ______ and _____ degrees in the Manchester area. News this hour is brought to you by ____Road Trip! Well, actually, Road Hearing. Manchester’s aldermen were herded onto an airport parking shuttle last night to view various roadways that developers had asked to be discontinued. By law, they must view any road site before discontinuing it, even if it only exists on paper.
One set of requests involved back streets around the former Goulet Supply building, which currently houses our friends at the Cedar and Oak furniture manufacture and show room. Ron Dupont of Red Oak Properties has acquired the property and wants to replace it with a fifteen million dollar, high end residential development, but needs various rights of way to be discontinued. In light of opposition from some neighboring property owners, Alderman at Large Joe Kelly Levasseur and Mayor Ted Gatsas asked the petitioners if they’d agree to a discontinuance contingent on their obtaining the necessary approvals from various city regulatory boards and agencies. Dupont declined that offer and the matter was tabled. Joe Cronin, attorney for the developer, told Girard at Large after that there are no public rights to the property and they’d rather go to court than obtain the contingent discontinuance out of concern for the hurdles the planning board might put them through with the extra leverage they’d gain by the contingent discontinuance.
The aldermen also visited the site of the eighty five home development they approved on Wellington Hill. The property contains several so called paper streets, roadways that were approved and legally created, but never built. Discontinuing the paper streets was part of the deal the aldermen approved with developer Keith Martel of Sterling Homes. That notwithstanding, four aldermen voted against the discontinuance. Aldermen Ron Ludwig of Ward 2, Ed Osborne of Ward 5, Garth “Vader” Corriveau of Ward 6 and Dan O’Neil at Large.
In other news, the aldermen also gave initial approval to the city’s Community Improvement budget, which funds various capital projects to things like roads and parks and doles out cash to various not for profit organizations. By law, it must lay over for two weeks prior to a final vote so that the public can review the spending plan and comment on it before passage.
The news continues after this.
The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce will hold a media event on Thursday morning at the Manchester Visitor & Information Center in Veterans Park. The Chamber will announce a new initiative called “Lunch in the Park,” a program that is designed to increase positive usage of Veterans Park by residents and businesspeople. The park faces an array of challenges, said Chamber President Robin Comstock who wants to make sure that its first impression is a good one. Details of the lunchtime events are available with the write up of this newscast at Girard at Large dot com.
Democrats on the New Hampshire House Ways and Means Committee have waived a magic wand and said there will be fifty million more dollars in state budget revenue than predicted by the budget passed by the senate. That’s not impressing G O P leaders in the house. Republican Policy Leader, Rep. Laurie Sanborn of Bedford hammered the move saying the Dems are starting down the road to large possible deficits, just like they did four years ago. Details of Sanborn’s statement, along with House Republican Leader Gene Chandler are available with the write up of this newscast at Girard at Large dot com
The Merrimack Rotary has announced they will launch the “M C 3” Challenge at their annual Fourth of July Family Fun Day Celebration. What’s that you ask? Well it involves cupcakes and given that they’ve been all but banned from Manchester Schools, we figured we’d help promote the event for all you frustrated moms out there. All you have to do is bring your favorite cupcakes to the Fun Day (something else that’s banned at at least one Manchester elementary school). Five cupcakes must be presented for judging, and 3 dozen cupcakes are requested to be presented for sales to the day’s attendees to raise funds for local community projects. There are judges, categories, prizes and everything. School Dietary and Nutrition Consultants are banned, so have fun. Details are available with the writeup of this newscast at Girard at Large dot com!
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is just 30 seconds away!
