More Londonderry thievery

[APB]

Time for a press release? if you are gone in early December... Dec 10th protest?? Nice and cold.

'APB, a former Marine just got back from Parris Island where is saw his own son inducted into the Marine Corp.
The govt that he served for 22 years is now shitting on him and stealing his land.'

Ok someone else will have to write it.. Dec 10th?

I am still kicking around the idea on running for state rep. The filing date is 11/07.

[Dreepa]

That gives you a week... do it!

[APB]

17 hours is not going to get you a court date unfortunately.? You need a lawyer who told me personally that most of his clients have to raise his fee through bake sales.? Call Scott Hogan at 579-9090.? He knows the workings of DES better than any attorney in NH.? You have everything to lose by not being proactive.? We had to search long and hard to get this one.? You won't be disappointed

I will give him a call today. Thanks

[APB]

17 hours is not going to get you a court date unfortunately.? You need a lawyer who told me personally that most of his clients have to raise his fee through bake sales.? Call Scott Hogan at 579-9090.? He knows the workings of DES better than any attorney in NH.? You have everything to lose by not being proactive.? We had to search long and hard to get this one.? You won't be disappointed

I will give him a call today. Thanks

The lawyer that I have has been on this since Aug. My case has already been filed with the tax and ;and appeals board, who forwarde to Superior court and we are awaiting court date.

[APB]

Good, that should have stopped the clock.

I have been inolved with this since 2003 and I am not giveing up. Some might back down or won't say anthing and just let the government take their land. Not I!! When you put a Marine's back against the wall, be prepared, because he is coming out swinging. I was determined to stop the clock!

[Michael Fisher]

I have been inolved with this since 2003 and I am not giveing up. Some might back down or won't say anthing and just let the government take their land. Not I!! When you put a Marine's back against the wall, be prepared, because he is coming out swinging. I was determined to stop the clock!

Good for you.  I'll support you to the end.   

[EZPass]

Those Executive Councilors should be forced to resign....

I've inquired about this before, but APB doesn't seem to know whicjh of the executive councilors should be held accountable.  Which ones should be focused on?

Executive Councilor Raymond J. Wieczorek is the local guy at rwieczorek@gov.state.nh.us

New Hampshire Executive Council
107 North Main Street
State House, Room 207
Concord, NH 03301

Phone: 603/271-3632
Fax: 603/271-3633

[EZPass]

Here's where the Executive Councilors meet in Concord; (pretty nice digs):

About the Executive Council Chamber
The granite cornerstone for the New Hampshire State House was put into place in 1816. In 1909 the building was enlarged and this Executive Council Chamber was added. The wainscoting, pocket doors, fireplace mantle, doorframes, crown molding and window casings are all mahogany. The sixteen portraits that adorn the walls of this room are of former state governors.

(See picture below)

http://www.nh.gov/council/chamber.html

There are six high back leather chairs around the 5-foot by 13-foot conference table. The Governor sits at one end of this table with the Executive Councilors seated in consecutive order beginning at the Governor's right.

The overall dimensions of this stately room are 28 x 48 with 18 foot high ceilings. A three-bedroom, two-bath ranch style footprint could fit inside the walls of this room.

[APB]

Those Executive Councilors should be forced to resign....

I've inquired about this before, but APB doesn't seem to know whicjh of the executive councilors should be held accountable.? Which ones should be focused on?

Executive Councilor Raymond J. Wieczorek is the local guy at rwieczorek@gov.state.nh.us

New Hampshire Executive Council
107 North Main Street
State House, Room 207
Concord, NH 03301

Phone: 603/271-3632
Fax: 603/271-3633

I had already Identified all 3 of the special committee members who participated in the LAND GRAB.? Quote from my letter to the Elected Officials: Especially the Executive Council or should I say the Chairman of the Special Committee appointed by the Governor and the Executive Council who are: Appointed Chairman, Councilor Wieczorek, Councilor Wheeler, who was late and Councilor Spaulding, who did not even show up for the Bedford-Manchester-Londonderry-Merrimack #11512 - 4/8/04 mitigation hearing, which was held at the Highlander Conference Center (Manchester). All 3 voted yes and did not care about all the land owners complaints. Many landowners are unhappy about this decision and are prepared to fight this to the end.

[LAT]

I'm sorry I did not make myself clear.  The Town of Londonderry industrial park is going to be 400 acres that is completely seperate from the 750 acre mitigation plan.  The number of acres in the mitigation plan reflects mitigating not only the access road but also the industrial park.  None of the mitigation properties will be in the industrial park itself.

[APB]

You need a lawyer who is willing to fight for you until you are able to reclaim your property.? Call Scott Hogan at 579-9090.? He knows the workings of DES better than any attorney in NH.? You have everything to lose by not being proactive.? We had to search long and hard to get this one.? You won't be disappointed.

After doing some talking with a neighbor, the attorney that you recommended to me is from the firm Baldwin, Callen & Hoagan who does legal work for the town of Londonderry. If I am not mistaken, it was Attorney Callen who wrote up a ten page rebuttal for a resident that wanted the dam to stay last year.? So, I have been known to be wrong before, this might be a conflict of interest.

[Michael Fisher]

Ooohh... tough call on that one.   

[APB]

Ooohh... tough call on that one.? ?

NewsBank Search
Efforts to retain wetlands derailed

BYLINE:    DAVID LAZAR Union Leader Correspondent
DATE: August 9, 2004
PUBLICATION: New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, NH)
EDITION: South
SECTION: Local
PAGE: B1LD

LONDONDERRY -- Talks aimed at keeping the town's largest wetlands as a wildlife sanctuary have failed, and the state has been asked to drain Little Cohas Marsh.

Jim Pincence of Hall Road, who owns 104 acres fronting Little Cohas Marsh in north Londonderry, said state transportation officials have not made a reasonable offer to buy the land from him and neighboring landowners.

"It's insane," he said. "I can't find anyone willing to agree to what they were offering."

He and other landowners last week asked the state Fish and Game Department to drain the marsh.

Neither Pincence nor state officials would disclose the financial details of the offer. Pincence said the state offered to rent the property or extend the lease Fish and Game had to flood the land -- a 50-year agreement that ran out in April.

The announcement came about six weeks after Pincence and several landowners agreed to delay asking Fish and Game to drain the 227 acres of marshland on their properties.

Environmentalists and some other Little Cohas landowners have told the state that removing the dam and letting much of the water out would be an ecological catastrophe. Their hope had been to hold off the removal until after state transportation officials -- eager to scoop up wetlands to make up for others filled during the Manchester Airport access road project -- could make a fair offer to buy the land. Transportation officials originally planned to make an offer before Fish and Game's lease ran out, but were stalled for months by the discovery of a bald eagle habitat around the access road project.

Pincence last week called the state's offer to extend the lease "ridiculous" and an "insult." He said it would have meant giving up all rights to the land before the state bought it.

State Transportation Commissioner Carol Murray said late last week she, too, was disappointed in the way negotiations went. She said she considered the deal offered to Pincence and others to be fair.

Murray said: "We were very hopeful we could reach an agreement to either rent or extend the lease on the land. But the talks broke down on that. . . . It's very unfortunate because I feel very comfortable saying the offer we made was very fair for the landowners.

"At the same time, they've been very consistent in saying they'd like to work the land, and we really don't have any way at this point to intervene. We're certainly very willing to negotiate, but it's kind of out of our hands right now."

Pincence said he and other landowners last week asked Fish and Game officials to lower the water on their properties. He said he plans to farm the land he and his wife bought a dozen years ago.

He said: "It's our property, and until someone else owns it, it's our constitutional right to do as we please with it. Their lease ran out to flood it, so they have no rights over it. Everyone has ideas of how they'd like to see it used. Some think its best use is conservation. Some don't. But until someone else owns it, if we want to mine gravel from it, and timber and farm and lot it, we should be able to."

An environmental attorney said that would be a mistake.

Concord-based attorney Jed Callen represents Grenier Field Road resident Ken Smith, whose father helped build Little Cohas dam in 1954. For the past several months, he's lobbied Pincence and others to hold off draining the marsh until the state could at least survey the land and make them an offer based on the imaginary premise the dam was no longer there.

Hearing that negotiations to extend the lease had failed, Callen late last week wrote to state transportation and environmental officials, urging them to do what they could to delay something he called "legally unnecessary and environmentally damaging."

Callen said: "Any reasonable judge would recognize this issue is one of money and that the DOT is committed to purchasing that land. It would be an exercise in futility to drain that land and later flood it again once it's been purchased. Especially if it's to see how much the land would be worth dry, and especially when we don't even know whether the land would even dry out in the first place. It's an awfully expensive experiment to run on a 148-acre marsh, and it would be a crying shame to sacrifice the marsh and all the critters in there over a flowage easement."

State officials probably have no choice in the situation, Murray said.

Fish and Game officials couldn't be reached for comment late last week, but Murray said they probably have no legal recourse because Pincence and his neighbors already agreed once to delay the draining and enter negotiations. Fish and Game officials have in the past maintained a hands-off policy with the draining, saying they had little choice but to follow the landowners' requests.

Londonderry councilors are calling the failed talks a shame. They had lobbied to keep the land flooded or to at least delay the dam removal. The issue, they concede, is out of their hands.

"From a townwide perspective, leaving the Cohas Marsh the way it is now would be the most beneficial solution for the entire community," town council Vice Chairman Mike Brown said. "It represents the largest single wetlands in Londonderry, and it would be a real shame if that area was allowed to be drained unnecessarily.

"Obviously, we hoped that clearer heads had prevailed after our last meeting and that the DOT would move forward with its commitment to retain that area as part of the airport road mitigation package," he said. "Even though several of the landowners involved have actively rallied around leaving the Cohas the way it is, including a signed petition sent to the state, there appears to be a smaller handful that just don't feel the same way."

No schedule has been set for the marsh drawdown, but state transportation officials said it would probably happen sooner than later and would occur gradually over a two-week period.

In the meantime, Murray said, her department still plans to appraise Pincence's and neighbors' properties in coming months, a process that will probably take at least a month.

Pincence, the area's largest landowner, and others have said they remain open to selling their land to the state for a fair price.

Echoing past remarks of some state environmental officials, Murray last week suggested the draining might not be as catastrophic as some have portrayed.

"I still think it's a good mitigation property (for the airport access road project)," she said. "It's still in our interest to acquire that land, and if we have to start over again (flooding it), we would. If that's the case, in time, I suspect we'll see it return back to where it is today."

[APB]

Ooohh... tough call on that one.? ?

NewsBank Search
State won't halt Londonderry wetlands drain


BYLINE:    DAVID LAZAR Union Leader Correspondent
DATE: June 5, 2004
PUBLICATION: New Hampshire Union Leader (Manchester, NH)
EDITION: South
SECTION: Local
PAGE: B2LD


LONDONDERRY -- State Fish and Game officials won't halt controversial plans to drain a local wetlands this month, saying they have no legal option but to follow the request of a Hall Road landowner.

"At this point, we can't take a stand one way or another," said Amy Mills, an assistant state attorney general advising Fish and Game officials. "Because Fish and Game's lease has expired on that land, we have no rights to flood it anymore, so if some landowners want to see it lowered, that's what we must do. . . What would be great would be if the people locally could reach an agreement that keeps things the way they are."

Whether that happens by June 15, when Fish and Game officials are to begin removing the Little Cohas dam's flashboards, of course remains to be seen.

Scientists differ on whether draining the wetlands would mean environmental catastrophe that couldn't be reversed at some point. Still, local conservationists and an attorney for a man whose father installed the dam 50 years ago are desperately hoping a deal can be struck -- one they say preserves the wildlife sanctuary Fish and Game leased for a dollar the last 50 years and pays Hall Road landowner Jim Pencince fair value to keep his land flooded.

Pencince says he has no desire to harm the environment. Instead, he says he wants to get value for the land he's paid taxes on the last 12 years -- land Department of Transportation officials want to claim as their own as they look to replace wetlands they're filling as part of the Manchester Airport access road project.

Though no official offer has been made, Pencince and other Hall Road landowners fear DOT officials will offer them around $1,000 an acre for their wetlands, or worse, take it by eminent domain; land they know would demand a higher price if it was dry. If and when the marsh lowering happens, Pencince says he intends to farm and log his 105 acres.

The question: whether DOT officials will make an offer on his land that keeps it wet, or whether town conservationists make an offer, themselves, to preserve it as open space.

"What I question is, since it's the full intent of DOT to acquire the property by amicable means or eminent domain and later re-flood it themselves, why would you bother draining it?" said Jed Callen, an environmental attorney for Grenier Field Road resident Ken Smith, whose dad built the dam in 1954. "What we would ask is for DOT to assess that land as if it were dry and to make an offer to Mr. Pencince based on those numbers. He should be entitled as a matter of law to the value of that land without the dam in place."

DOT officials couldn't be reached late yesterday, though they've said it could be months, if not a year, before they begin making formal offers on the 227 acres bordering the Little Cohas.

State and local officials, meantime, are lamenting the poor communication that led to the impending drawdown -- a plan that was to have the acreage in DOT's hands by the time Fish and Game's 50-year lease ran out. But DOT officials say the nesting habits of the bald eagle around the planned access road ground plans to a halt for months and delayed them from scooping up the Little Cohas wetlands in time.

While state and local officials call the Little Cohas a valuable area and sanctuary for birds and fish, Mills says keeping the area flooded is no longer Fish and Game's fight.

"When the lease came up on the 50 years in April, we had no plans to renew it, frankly, because DOT was supposed to come in and make an offer," Mills said. "At this point, though, the Little Cohas is more of a local resource than a statewide resource."

It also would have cost state Fish and Game officials much more than a dollar to lease the land again this time around, especially with more than 30 landowners now laying claim to acreage that in the 1950s was owned by less than half a dozen.

Smith at a town council meeting two weeks ago threatened to file an injunction to stop the draining, if all else failed before that. This, after presenting papers he said showed the water would end up lower than it was before the dam was actually built; water, he said, had earlier been kept in place by extensive beaver dams.

But Mills said the evidence wasn't conclusive enough to halt Fish and Game's plans, and Smith's own attorney says he's yet to find a strong legal reason to file an injunction. If the lowering moves forward, Fish and Game officials say they'd remove the wooden boards over a two-week period, and the water would flow downstream along the Little Cohas brook.

"I don't even want to talk about an injunction at this point," Callen said. "Let's just say, I won't file one unless I have strong legal reason to. The fact is, the state does have the right to remove those boards. I just hope people can come together on this one and agree to keep that from happening."

[APB]

APB can you document every legal meeting that has occurred regarding your situation?? Have you attended every meeting?

I went to the initial mitigation meeting (April 6, 2004) with the special council along with the one below listed Londonderry town meetings (May 17, 2004 & May 24, 2004). The May 24, meeting notes are not on the towns web site. I have a call into the town to see why? There has not been any other meetings that I know off. Keep in mind, that I spoke at both meeting's and I don't see my name anywhere. None of the speakers that spoke against them flooding our land, made it into thier minutes.

http://www.londonderrynh.org/051704.pdf

10:01 e-mail came in.  After my phone call to the town, I was sent a copy of the metting minutes. The below listed, are minutes from the May 24, 2005. Once again all land owners comments are not added in. I have only paste the Drawdown of Little Cohas section of meeting.

TOWN COUNCIL
Regular Meeting
May 24, 2004

The Council?s meeting of May 24, 2004  was called to order at 7:00 PM in the Northgate Meeting Room, 50 Nashua Rd - Ste. 105, Londonderry.

Drawdown of Little Cohas:
Chairman Bove invited the members of the Fish and Game Department, NH Dept. of Transportation, and the Department of Environmental Services to sit at the front to make conversation with the Council easier.

State Fish and Game Department Chief of the Access and Engineering Division Chuck Miner introduced Regional Wildlife Biologist Eric Orff, and Department of Environmental Services Reps.Lori Sommer, Jimmy Leung, Wetlands Bureau Rep. Collis Adams, and NH DOT Rep. Robert Barry, Conservation Commission

   PUBLIC COMMENT (Cont?d)
Drawdown of Little Cohas: (Cont?d)

Chairman Deb Lievens and member Mike Speltz.  Chairman Bove noted that State Representatives Sherman Packard and Betsy McKinney were also present.

Town Manager David Caron recapped the issue, noting that Fish and Game and Department of Environmental Services representatives attended the Council meeting last Monday to discuss the expiration of licensing on private property which allowed the DES to impound water.  He noted that the Council decided to continue discussion this evening with the focus on the future use of land and to obtain information from the NH Department of Transportation as to its plans for acquisition of properties in conjunction with the airport access road project.

NH DOT Rep. Bob Barry stated that on April 8, the Department presented its mitigation plan for consideration by the Committee appointed by the Governor and Council.  This plan was to determine the necessity to acquire lands for the purpose of satisfying the wetlands permit requirements for both the NH DES and the Army Corps of Engineers relative to the Airport Access Road Project.

At that meeting, the plan presented depicted lands in the area of the Little Cohas Marsh covering approximately 500 acres and encompassing all the lands that are currently flowed by the NH Fish and Game dam as well as substantially greater acreage in and around the area.  The plan also showed some land south of the airport, and west of Harvey Road which totals about 250 acres.  It is the Department?s intent to proceed with the public hearing process.  He added that the comment period has closed, and comments received will be addressed individually.  A report to the Committee will then be made, and the Committee will then make a finding of necessity, approving the action to acquire the lands encompassed by the area in the plan.

Discussion ensued among the land owners and members of the various State Departments regarding the value of their land, whether aerial photos had been taken prior to the initial flooding, that the land was not all developed back then and has since had more homes built, a request to delay the ?land grab? by the DOT and wait for the draining process until the end of the summer, a request to conduct an impact study to the wildlife, eco system, and local wells, and the fact that the drawdown is planned for June 15 by the Fish and Game Department.  Mr. Miner stated that it is not the Department?s desire to lower the marsh, but rather its obligation since the leases have expired.

Collis Adams stated that with regard to the bald eagle issue, that was raised and resolved prior to the issuance of the DES permit, given in November, 2002.  The bald eagle issue was addressed through design changes prior to the issuance of the DES Wetlands Bureau permit.  The Little Cohas Marsh management area was the cornerstone of the mitigation package brought forth by the NH Department of Transportation and was agreed to by all parties; including DOT, DES and the Federal agencies.  It was the marsh that had the most value in the mitigation package and the draining of the marsh will compromise the functions and values of that eco system.  One of the conditions of the permit required DOT to acquire the parcels prior to the expiration of the Fish and Game leases so that the properties could be encumbered and the Department could fulfill the mitigation requirements of the permit.  When that did not happen, it made the permit invalid and the Department is now in the position of awaiting a response from DOT to propose an alternative mitigation package to make the permit whole again.  This mitigation package has not yet been presented.



   PUBLIC COMMENT (Cont?d)

Drawdown of Little Cohas: (Cont?d)

Councilor Brown stated that the Town has no power to injunct against the actions of the State Departments of Fish and Game and Transportation.  Chairman Bove added the suggestion that the residents impacted should contact the various agencies for more information and a course of action.

Chairman Bove thanked everyone for their input and participation.

Chairman Bove called a short recess at 9:55 PM.  The meeting reconvened at 10:05 PM.