Sustainable Second Street: Will Businesses come?
Sustainable Second Street is rearing its ugly head again. After canceling public workshops in February and March, central planners from the Southern New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission will meet with the public tonight from six to eight at St. Raphael’s Church in Granite Square. They intend to present and take comment on a proposed draft zoning ordinance overlay they want to impose on the city’s oldest commercial corridor. City planners have apparently already reviewed the draft and given it their blessing, saying it is ready for presentation to the Planning Board, so it remains to be seen just what changes, if any, will be made to the document following public comment. The plan enables more business uses in the corridor and fools around with setback requirements. However, it also imposes sidewalk, mass transit, bicycle and pedestrian facilities construction requirements on any developer, makes just about everything on the street a preexisting nonconforming use, which will hamper current businesse’s ability to renovate or expand, and mandates interconnected parking lots and driveways. It would also impose a whole lot of landscaping requirements on new businesses. The seven page document that highlighting the proposed regs is uploaded with this newscast at Girard at Large dot com. Frankly, having attended several of the workshops, it pretty much looks like they did what they wanted to do, neighbor feedback, for the most part, notwithstanding. Of course, they say it’s only a draft, but then again, they also said they weren’t sure they were even going to propose any changes, but those of us who read the grant documents knew better.
Glen Lake: Parking restrictions in place
One of the region’s official signs of Spring has arrived. The Goffstown Police Department announced the parking prohibition dates for the Glen Lake Boat Launch/Waterfront Area. Beginning on May fifteenth, parking along Elm Street in the area of the boat launch and at the Glen Lake School is restricted to Goffstown town residents who display a resident Transfer Station sticker on their vehicle from nine A M to nine P M. The designated “trailer parking only” area will remain open to anyone with a trailer attached to their vehicle without restriction. No trespassing rules will be in effect from nine PM to five A M at the Glen Lake Boat Launch/Waterfront Area. Alcoholic beverages are prohibited at the Glen Lake Waterfront. Glass bottles of any kind are not allowed.
News from our own backyard continues after this.
G O P gubernatorial candidate Andrew Hemingway will be joined by benefiting charities and charitable gaming operators at a press conference this morning to unveil a plan on the expansion of gambling. This morning’s detailed announcement comes on the day the New Hampshire House is scheduled to vote on Senate Bill 3 6 6, which creates two Las Vegas, campus-style casinos in the Granite State. In a statement released to the press, Hemingway said quote “I believe large campus-style casinos in New Hampshire are wrong for our retail businesses, wrong for the people, and wrong for the free market.” He criticized Governor Margaret Wood Hassan saying she has quote “doubled down on the idea of Mega-Casinos to benefit handpicked out-of-state corporations to find a needed windfall to fill her budget hole.” End quote. He said that wasn’t the right path to an improved economy. Hemingway will be our guest this morning at eight twenty to share his proposal.
A new local Republican committee is being formed in the towns of Hillsborough District 4, which includes Wilton, Lyndeborough, Francestown, and Greenville. The first meeting of the Greater Wilton Republican Committee, as it will be called, will take place on Thursday, May first at 7 P M at the Mason’s Lodge at 5 Forest Rd. in Witon, which is next to the Wilton Library. Subsequent meetings will take place on the first Thursday of each month. For more information contact info@souheganteaparty.com.
Shaheen: DC is for her!
More trouble for Senator Jeanne Shaheen Health Care Queen on the fund raising front. Not only has former Governor John Sununu called on Shaheen and Senator Harry Reid to pull their third party ad pending the outcome of a federal review into the potentially illegal coordination of her campaign with Reid’s super PAC, Shaheen’s plans to attend a fund raiser entitled “D C for Jeanne Shaheen” have been exposed. Citizens for a Strong N H has blown the whistle on this massive fund raiser organized by a variety of lobbyists and special interest groups at a K Street lobbying firm inside the Belt Way. Shaheen has repeatedly called on potential rival Scott Brown to shun outside money and forgo special interest dough while attending fund raisers across the country and raising money from those same special interest groups. In fact, the ad currently being run by Reid’s Senate Majority PAC, an ad that uses a script Shaheen’s campaign posted on her Web site which is why it’s being investigated for illegal coordination, criticizes Brown for for apparently doing what she’s doing herself. Citizens for a Strong N H spokesman Derek Dufresne said quote “Granite Staters deserve representatives who care about reflecting their values on Capitol Hill, not the other way around. This fund raiser on K Street is just another example of how Jeanne Shaheen is not that senator.” We’ve posted the whole statement, which includes links to the D C for Jeanne Shaheen fund raiser for your convenience at Girard at Large dot com. Brown will be our guest this morning at 8 o’clock.
That’s news from our own backyard, Girard at Large hour ___ is next.
