The Goffstown Planning Board meets this week on Thursday night to consider a proposed zoning change to Mast Road from Henry Bridge Road to the Manchester Border. The change would install a commercial zone, eliminating the current Commercial-Industrial Flex Zone that enables the large scale development of rental housing. In addition to putting large scale rental housing off limits, supporters of the proposed change say it will allow homeowners to work from home. They say nothing will change for the homeowner who maintains their dwelling exclusively as a residence. The zoning change is being brought forward on a Warrant Article proposed by Pinardville resident Gaetane Benner, who lead the opposition to the adoption of Planned Pinardhood. Goffstown Planning Board Chairman John Hikel appeared on Girard at Large on December sixteenth to discuss the proposed changes and encourage residents to attend the public hearing that will be held by the Planning Board this Thursday night at seven in Goffstown High’s media center. Hikel said the recommendation of the planning board will be on the ballot in March and that it’s critical for town residents to make their opinions known before the board votes on whether or not to endorse the changes. We’ve linked to our interview with Hikel and an interview he recently did with Goffstown Community Television on the topic from this newscast at Girard at Large dot com.
On Wednesday night, the Bedford Town Council will hold a public hearing on its proposed two thousand fourteen budget. The proposal carries an estimated three cent per thousand increase in taxes, which the budget summary says is quote “made up of contractual obligations for three collective bargaining agreements.” End quote. The hearing is the first of two scheduled on the spending plan and starts at seven P M. Since neither the announcement nor the summary stated where the public hearing will be held, we presume it will be in the Town Council Chambers located in the Bedford Community Television building on Meetinghouse Road. We’ve uploaded the budget summary that will be handed out at the public hearings with this news read at Girard at Large dot com for your convenience.
The Manchester Animal Shelter is in urgent need of assistance. A pipe burst in the building during the recent cold snap, flooding the dog area and ruining everything from food to the beds for man’s best friends. The shelter is in need of donations to replace the damaged items and is temporarily closed until the repairs are done. We’ve linked to the detailed information of what happened and their needs from this news read at Girard at Large dot com. Hopefully, you can lend a helping hand.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
Hooksett School Board Vice Chairman David Pearl has released the results of an online poll he conducted to gather people’s impressions of the board, how it’s discharged its duties generally and how it’s handled the tuition issues with Manchester and Pinkerton Academy. While the poll is unscientific and was limited to one hundred participants, it generated some interesting results and even more interesting comments. Seventy nine percent of the respondents gave the board a poor rating for overall performance in two thousand thirteen. Sixty two percent said it handled settlement negotiations with Manchester poorly. Only twenty three percent of respondents thought the board did a good job or better in the negotiations with Pinkerton, sixty three percent said the board did a poor job following its own rules and sixty one percent said they did a poor job providing information to the public. When asked how many school board members did a good job, zero led the way with thirty eight percent. There were other questions as well as some insightful, but mostly scathing comments, all of which can be seen in the document we’ve uploaded with this news read at Girard at Large dot com. Honestly there were some laugh out loud and make me cringe comments.
An email received by Chicago teachers when they came back from the Christmas break has stirred more commotion over Common Core. A teacher in the Windy City sent the email to the online publication Education Week. According to the email, students may only use the bathroom during designated times and teachers are required to sign up for their classes’ potty slot by tomorrow. Restroom breaks for the entire class are to last only five minutes and teachers are to use stopwatches and praise students who meet the time expectations. For those “just can’t wait” situations, each student will have two passes they can use between now and the end of the quarter to relieve themselves outside of the allowed potty times. Any pass not used by the end of the quarter can be turned in for a reward. What’s this have to do with Common Core? We’ve linked to the article so you see for yourself. It has all the details.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is straight ahead!
