So what does it take to correct a mistake by a town official?

Multiple choice question here:

A. 133 page motion

B. 6 Exhibits

C. 10.46 pounds of paper (7 complete sets, weighing in at 1.495 lbs each need to be filed)

D. Thousands of dollars in legal fees

E. All of the above

If you went with E, you are the winner! And all this because Rob Houseman “mistakenly” told us that we had 30 days to appeal, when we only had 15 days according to the zoning ordinance. Things that make you go hmmm . . .

When last we met, the Acker’s had appealed Hanover Zoning Administrator Rob Houseman’s decision that all the silt and pollution flowing into Mink Brook from Christ Redeemer’s renovation at 34 Greensboro was irrelevant, and nothing to worry about. In a nutshell, “Nothing to see here, move along folks”

You can read about that here: https://greensbororoad.org/2020/09/23/whats-happening-on-greensboro-rd/

Instead of just addressing the problem, the Church lawyered up: https://greensbororoad.org/2020/09/23/and-the-church-responds/

And the Zoning Board went along for the ride: https://greensbororoad.org/2020/09/25/so-what-happened/

After the meeting on Sept 24, the ZBA and Zoning Administrator Rob Houseman met behind closed doors and determined that they would not hear the case. No public discussion or deliberation, just a perfunctory motion made at the October 22, 2020 ZBA Meeting, as quoted in the minutes of that meeting:

“Waugh made a motion to dismiss this case, based on legal guidance provided by
Town Counsel, Stanger seconded.“

No opportunity to present our case, no public discussion among the Board Members – they had obviously already discussed and deliberated this in private, none of them seemed surprised by the motion. The motion passed 3-2, the gavel came down, and the case was dismissed.

Chairman Waugh did say before making his motion that Rob Houseman “felt really bad” about his “mistake” and “had apologized” for it. I’m not quite sure who Houseman has apologized to, but it certainly isn’t the Ackers.

So, that brings us up to the present day, and an odd quirk in New Hampshire zoning law. In order to appeal a decision of the Zoning Board, you first have to ask the Zoning Board to reconsider their own decision. Kind of like when you were a kid, and you asked Mom if you could stay up past bed time, and she said no, so you said, “but, pleeeeze can I stay up past bedtime?” Never worked then, not likely to work now either.

But, that’s the way the system works. So, the Zoning Board will consider our Motion for Rehearing on December 10, 2020. Agenda and Zoom log in details here if anyone is interested: https://www.hanovernh.org/zoning-board-adjustment/agenda/121020-zba-agenda

If you want to read the whole 133 pages that we filed, you can find that here: https://www.hanovernh.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif3226/f/uploads/z20_28_crcacker.pdf

If you don’t want to read the entire filing (and I don’t blame you if you don’t), you might be interested in these emails back and forth from Rob Houseman to various parties that are included as Exhibit B. These are emails and documents that were never included in the original permit file – Rob provided them to us after we made a specific records request: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17IlV8Fn8o7QZ6GBpWK1jqpu8V1hGw_0eOih1L4eyvUk/edit?usp=sharing

If you want to donate to the legal fund, there’s a “Donate Now” link up at the top right of the page that will take you to the GoFundMe site. Any contributions of any amount are greatly appreciated.

And, in case you are curious, the pollution and siltation continues unabated. This picture was taken during a rain storm on Nov 30, note the color of the water flowing out of the pipe and into the wetland. From there it’s a pretty straight shot to Mink Brook. But just move along folks, nothing to see here . . .