What we are attempting to accomplish

I am writing this note to apprise you of some regulations that are being reviewed for change by the town of Wolfeboro. The state of NH made some changes to the comprehensive shoreland protection act in 2008 and although well intended added more complication and restriction to an already cumbersome process. Three years of after studying the consequences of these rules and with greater input from property owners more modifications were made to strike a balance between the rights of the property owners (many nonvoters) and the universal desire for water quality to be maintained on the state’s lakes . These changes were in large part adopted as the result of researching the rules and consequences of such by the NH Shoreland Coalition chaired by Paul Montrone of Wolfeboro, and other individuals around the state.  There was broad support for these changes, including from the NH Department of Environmental Services and The Lakes Association.  At that time, Rene Pelletier, Assistant Director of the DES , Water Div., was quoted in the Union Leader (April 24, 2011) as saying the bill was a compromise that everyone can work with, “but the changes will not be a net loss to the environment.”

Unfortunately, Wolfeboro chose not to follow all the work that had gone into developing this balanced approach and the bill, that was passed overwhelmingly, by the NH Legislature. Leaving behind a quilt work of regulations with a myriad of rules and complexities, which have been built into our town’s Shoreland regulations. This was accomplished by adopting, on a local level, the states comprehensive shoreline regulations as they stood before the research and input was given to adpot the nearly universally accepted changes.

Presently, the town is reviewing these regulations for change. Generally, what has occurred in the past is that the town’s committee will make a recommendation for change which may or may not strike a balance between the rights of the shorefront property owners and the protection of the water quality. More often than not public forums occur and are met with apathy from waterfront property owners. I along with the Sewall Rd. property owners association and many other lakefront property owners in the town hope to provide more support for change than has occurred in the past. Both to protect the rights of property owners and to see something passed that shorefront owners can get behind in order to support the enhancing of the lake water quality. Please let me know if you or, any one that you know of, may have any interest in supporting such an effort and or receiving more information as it develops. Please do so by clicking follow by e-mail up on the upper right hand side of the page.

Best

John Rourke

john@rourkebuilders.com
www.homes4salenh.com
603-569-0800

Lake Winnipesaukee at its most pristine time of year

This is one of the best times of year to be on the lake

 Late may and early June are the best times of year on Winnipesaukee. You have can much of the laketo yourself on any given day other than the occasional fisherman doing his best Old Man in the Sea impersonation. Downtown Wolfeboro is still quiet although many of the shop owners seem to be moving out of Winter gear and buzzing about in preparation of the summer onslaught which can be much like attempting to get a sip of water from a wide open fire hydrant when everyone arrives. Save for the houses on the shore this is much how the lake must have looked for hundreds of years. Hard to imagine what the first settlers thought in first coming across a site such as this.