Category Archives: Lakes Region

Alton Withdraws From Lakes Region Planning Commission

Cross-posted with permission from NH’s state taxpayer group:

At Alton’s 2018 town meeting, there was a petitioned warrant article (#59) on the ballot which asked to raise the money to pay for the yearly membership in the Lakes Region Planning Commission. It FAILED.

Over 401 people voted NO to essentially DEFUND the membership in the Lakes Region Planning Commission, thereby saving the town $7,619.00 (vs 172 who voted yes).

But not only that, in addition to the $7,619.00 Alton would have paid for membership dues, the defeat of this bill will save the town from FEDERAL intrusion and meddling with the town’s ‘master plan’. Often these plans contain ideas and goals that did NOT originate with the community, but came straight from the American Planning Association, an NGO that promotes United Nations Agenda 21/2030 regional principles.

The Board of Selectmen recommended the passage of #59 by a vote of 3-2 but the measure failed anyway. The Budget Committee had voted 3 against and 2 not voting.

“If only more towns would get out of these regional boondoggles”, said one resident.

Indeed.

Also Phil Wittmann was re-elected to the Board of Selectmen for another 3-year term, a very good thing.

Here is a copy of the flyer they used: Vote NO on #59
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Note: Our work is paying off. We recommend that EVERY town petition an article to withdraw from their associated Regional Planners, as a first step toward taking back local government from the NGOs and federales! Or likewise, DEFEAT any article that asks to spend money for the renewal of membership in any Regional Planning organization.

Unveiling of Regional Plan for Lakes July 18th

If you are a resident of Brookfield, Farmington, Middleton, Milton, New Durham, Wakefield, or Wolfeboro, this may interest you.

The unveiling of Moose Mountain Regional Greenway’s NEW Regional Conservation Plan: ‘Our Home, Our Land, Our Tomorrow’ will be held from 5:30 – 8:30 PM on Tuesday, July 18, 2017 at the Pinckney Boathouse, Brewster Academy, 80 Academy Drive, Wolfeboro.

Please pre-register by July 13. Call MMRG Education Coordinator Kari Lygren at 603-978-7125 or email info@mmrg.info

Flyer HERE

Agenda for the Evening:

Opening Reception:
– Review new conservation planning maps
– Complimentary light fare and soft beverages

Planners Dan Sundquist and Steve Whitman roll out and explain our new Regional Conservation Plan

MMRG Executive Director Patti Connaughton-Burns presents MMRG’s next steps

Question & Answer Session

MMRG’s Conservation Planning project was supported by funds from the sale of the Conservation License Plate (Moose Plate) through the NH State Conservation Committee grant program and by the Jack and Dorothy Byrne Foundation, the Davis Conservation Foundation, the Adelard A. Roy & Valdea Lea Roy Foundation, and other generous donors.

Sponsors Parkers Accounting and Wentworth Watershed Association.

Climate Change Forum in Moultonborough June 1

JUNE 1 – CLIMATE CHANGE FORUM in MOULTONBOROUGH

(Those watching what regionalists are doing might want to attend this – reports welcome)

Climate Change Forum – Taking a look at the Effects of Climate Change on New Hampshire Mountains, Seasons and Loons on June 1st, 2017 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM at the Moultonborough Lion’s Club, 139 Old Route 109 in Moultonborough, NH

Presenters:
– Eric Kelsey, Research Assistant Professor at PSU, Dept. of Atmospheric Research and Chemistry, and Director of Research at the Mount Washington Observatory.

– Mary Albert, Professor at Dartmouth University Thayer School of Engineering, and Executive Director, US Ice Drilling Program Office.

– Harry Vogel, Senior Biologist/Executive Director of the Loon Preservation Committee, and Chair of the Northeast Loon Study Working Group.

Moderated by Mike Lancor, former Moultonborough Superintendent of Schools
Sponsored by the Environmental Focus Group of the Democratic Committees of Moultonborough, Sandwich, and Tuftonboro. For more information, call Ginny Gassman, (603) 707-0591

Wolfeboro to Hold Water Summit

WOLFEBORO WATER SUMMIT on MAY 13, 2017

If you live in this watershed area, it behooves you to attend to see what conservationists and planners will be up to.

There will be a “Wolfeboro Water Summit” on May 13, 2017 from 09:00 AM to 12:00 PM at the
Great Hall at The Wolfeboro Town Hall.

From their description:

Are you concerned about our water? Join us for the Wolfeboro Water Summit to be held May 13, 9:00 AM to Noon in the Great Hall at Wolfeboro Town Hall. Registration and coffee at 8:30 AM – mid morning, catered food.

Presenters:

Sam Evans-Brown – Host of NPR will moderate a panel of conservationists and town planners

Dr. Thomas Ballestero – Director of UNH Stormwater Cleanup will speak on water challenges

Dr. Nejem Raheem – Professor of Environmental Economics will speak on the economics of water

Sponsored by the Wentworth Watershed Association

Contact info: bobcole@wentworthwatershed.org and also on Facebook
Wolfeboro Area Chamber of Commerce Event Link

The Truth About the Meredith Roundabouts

Update: There will be a meeting at 6:00 PM on the 26th of January at the Interlakes High School auditorium.

Meredith NH Roundabouts
by Tim Carter

The town of Meredith, NH, where I reside, is considering installing one or more roundabouts in the center of town.

It’s my belief the town Selectmen feel the roundabouts will relieve the heavy traffic that descends on the center of town during the summer months, especially on Friday and Sunday afternoons.

This heavy traffic is created by non full-time residents. Some are tourists and some are people from down south who come to the Lakes Region of NH for the weekends.

I’m a full-time syndicated newspaper columnist and always try to look at facts when it comes to a problem. Let’s consider some facts.

I moved to Meredith, NH in 2008. Prior to that I was a Councilman in Amberley Village, Ohio. A Councilman in OH is the same as a Selectman in NH.

I was chair of the Roads committee in my OH village when I was a Councilman. I’ve chaired meetings with traffic engineers when we were considering a roundabout at the intersection of Ridge Road and the Ronald Reagan Highway in Amberley Village, OH.

When you’re in a small committee meeting like this, the engineers tend to let their hair down especially when the public rarely attends. It’s in situations like this where you get the real lowdown.

The traffic engineers stated in my meetings that ALL ROADS are designed for average or slightly above-average traffic flow. ALL ROADS and intersections WILL BECOME CONGESTED in periods of heavy traffic. That’s a fact.

Here’s an extreme example. Interstate 93 in Concord, NH is just two lanes north and south. Most of the time, it’s rarely backed up with traffic, even on Friday afternoons in rush hour.

But if you travel this road on summer weekends and in October it can become a parking lot as too many people try to use it at the SAME TIME to get north or south.

You could widen the interstate highway to five lanes in each direction to handle this heavy flow, but 99% of the time it would be a waste of real estate and paving material.

Proof of the traffic engineers’ statements is right here in our own state. All you have to do is be at the enormous roundabout on the west side of Portsmouth, NH any morning or afternoon.

roundabout

I’ve been stuck in a lane of traffic trying to get into that roundabout on the eastbound leg of Route 16 as it enters the roundabout. Once it took me 15 minutes to get into the roundabout where drivers thought they were at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

In those situations, desperate drivers tend to take chances increasing the likelihood of traffic accidents.

Let’s list some of the most important facts about the proposed Meredith, NH roundabouts:

– Traffic is bad in downtown Meredith, NH on weekends from Memorial Day until Labor Day
– A vast majority of the year, there is rarely bad traffic congestion in Meredith
– Traffic can be bad on weekends during fall foliage season
– Local residents like myself know to AVOID town during peak periods of traffic
– Tourists, who do NOT PAY local real estate taxes to us, are the primary ones that suffer from the congestion

Now let’s consider some facts about the local geography:

– Routes 3 and 25 through Meredith to the Mt. Washington Valley and the northern parts of Lake Winnipesaukee don’t have viable alternative routes.
– People traveling these two routes have to put up with traffic delays no matter what traffic control is in place

Let’s take a look at some of the financial facts about the proposed Meredith roundabouts:

– Most of the money will come from grants obtained from the Federal Government. These grants are legally binding contracts and have long strings attached to them
– The taxpaying citizens of Meredith will pay increased taxes to maintain the roundabouts
– The town of Meredith will lose real estate tax revenue by taking private land and buildings from the tax rolls to create the roundabouts
– The current intersections require routine periodic paving that’s already in budgets
– Sales, food, room and hotel taxes generated by tourists rarely flow back to communities from the state of NH to fund capital projects like roundabouts

Here’s the bottom line if you look at the above facts.

The traffic congestion during periods of peak flow will be the same or worse with the roundabouts.

All you have to have is one or two timid tourists who are NOT FAMILIAR with the merging and aggressive tactics you need to use in periods of HEAVY TRAFFIC to transform one or more approaches into the roundabout into GRIDLOCK.

If you’ve never been parked behind a person afraid to enter a roundabout, you’ll forever remember it when it happens to you. It’s very frustrating as they hold up ALL the traffic behind them.

Aggressive driving increases in roundabouts in periods of heavy flow as impatient drivers force their way into the roundabout.

If there’s an accident in a one-lane roundabout, like the ones proposed for Meredith, the entire intersection becomes GRIDLOCKED. That does not happen in a regular cross intersection as cars can navigate around the accident.

With the current computerized traffic signals at the intersection of Route 3 and 25, traffic flow through the intersections is handled as efficiently as possible. You normally don’t have to wait but a few minutes before your traffic light turns green in your favor.

The roundabouts will NOT relieve the seasonal congestion. Roundabouts do NOT guarantee smooth and consistent traffic flow from all incoming roads in heavy-traffic periods. See above.

Pedestrians wanting to cross Route 3 and Route 25 now have safe crossing signals. It will be VERY DANGEROUS to cross a roundabout on foot and it will bring traffic in the roundabout to a screeching HALT as pedestrians have the right of way in NH – ALWAYS.

One thing is for sure. If the roundabouts are designed like the one just south of the McDonald’s restaurant in Meredith, NH, it will cause even MORE congestion since the diameter of that roundabout is too small. The small diameter allows fewer cars into the roundabout at one time and those in the roundabout travel SLOWLY to navigate the roundabout.

The diameter of the current roundabout in Meredith was designed to CHOKE traffic and slow down cars and trucks. The fancy name used by planners is traffic calming.

MeredithRA

These roundabouts are currently being thrust upon communities by those in power who subscribe to planning produced by the United Nations of all places.

Now let’s consider modern technology in this discussion.

Savvy travelers use smart phone and tablet apps to MINIMIZE travel time. There are free apps like Waze and SigAlert that tell a traveler in REAL TIME the BEST alternative route.

WAZE

These apps are causing major traffic jams in residential and business districts all over the USA. Don’t believe me? Just go to Bing.com and search for yourself.

What do you think this means for the shortcut down Waukewan Street and Main Street in downtown Meredith? It’s already gridlocked on Fridays in the summer. That gridlock will now spread to other connecting roads through town as the apps will show other secondary routes to be open.

Here’s my prediction. Traffic on Route 3 passing the town docks will be gridlocked by people using the apps who are told to go through town on Main Street. The constant heavy traffic flow passing through town and into the roundabout from the west to continue on Route 25 towards Meredith Neck and points beyond will BLOCK all those people on Route 3 trying to enter the roundabout as they approach it from the south.

Once a line of cars enters the roundabout because there’s no traffic coming in from their left, this flow blocks all the other entrances into the single-lane roundabout. Don’t think for a minute that all the harried tourists or part-time residents are going to be courteous drivers and allow each leg of the roundabout a chance to merge.

You don’t have to be a traffic engineer to understand or imagine this scenario.

Increased traffic on residential and business bypasses in downtown Meredith will lead to:

– more accidents caused by impatient motorists and travelers
– more pedestrian injuries or death
– more aggravation for business owners who’s customers can’t access the stores

SUMMARY: The Meredith Roundabouts are not a great idea. They’ll not solve the congestion problems. They may create WORSE secondary problems. They’ll cost the citizens of Meredith MORE MONEY over time. Meredith will have to sign a legally binding contract with the Federal Government and give back all sorts of things in the future to get the money for the project.

Get involved. Contact the Meredith Selectmen and Selectwomen now. Tell them to REJECT the Roundabouts.

Consider asking the Selectmen and Selectwomen these questions:


Why are roundabouts being considered for Meredith, NH?

Can you prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the roundabouts WILL SIGNIFICANTLY relieve traffic congestion? If the answer is “Yes”, can you present that documentation to me?

Who will pay to maintain any landscaping or hardscape improvements in the center of the roundabout? That landscaping or hardscape currently does not exist at the current intersections.

How will pedestrians safely navigate the roundabout at Route 3 and 25 the main intersection in Meredith?

When pedestrians cross the roundabout or the legs leading out of the roundabout at Routes 3 and 25 and cars stop for them as required by law, how will that affect the traffic in the roundabout?

Can you show me the grant documents from the Federal Government that would fund the roundabouts?

Before you vote to approve the roundabouts, are you willing to go on record that you have you read and you understand ALL of the documents that would be part of a Federal grant to pay for the roundabouts? Most of the grant instruments are hundreds, if not thousands of pages of LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACTS with the Federal Government.

Here are the Meredith Selectmen and Selectwomen that will make the decision:

Nate Torr njtorr@hotmail.com
Peter Brothers, Vice Chair twobros@metrocast.net
Carla Horne, Chair chorne@metrocast.net
Lou Kahn lkahn@nhinternet.com
Hillary Seeger hillary.seeger@gmail.com

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Tim Carter is one of the most effective leaders the Lakes Region Tea Party has ever had. You can read more of his wisdom here: http://www.timcartersfirepit.com

Moultonborough selectmen question dues paid to regional planning commission

Well it’s about time SOMEONE questioned the money these unelected bureaucrats take from us while working for foreign entities against our own best interests.

MOULTONBOROUGH — When Jeff Hayes, executive director of Lakes Region Planning Commission, met with the selectmen last month the board used the occasion to challenge how the annual dues of the 30 member municipalities are assessed, an issue that has rankled the town for several years.

Paul Punturieri noted that the state statute establishing the regional planning commissions requires them to “determine on a reasonable and equitable basis the proportion of its costs to be borne respectively by each municipality.” He said that although Moultonborough’s population is approximately 4,000, because of its relatively greater portion of the total property value of the member municipalities, it bears a disproportionate share of the costs. The town, he said. pays approximately $10,000 a year, which is comparable to the contribution of Laconia, a much larger community. Stressing that he had no qualms about the services the commission provides, Punturieri said, “Just on principle we should stop paying other people’s bills.”

Read more…

Are there plans to bring Agenda 21 to your town?

“Sustainability” is the hot new buzzword on the left.

It’s the kind of word that sounds nice when you first stumble into it, but like everything else in the world of the eco-left, it really means control.

It’s what United Nation’s Agenda 21 is all about.

What might surprise you is that controversy over Agenda 21 tends to arise not from the dramatics imposition of its principles from above (like global warming), but from attempts to quietly insert UN dogma into local cities and towns.

Take a look at CFACT senior policy analyst Bonner Cohen’s article on CFACT.org

Bonner reports that, “planning commissions, which have spread like wildfire over the past couple of decades and whose members are unelected, produce an endless array of schemes designed to micro-manage every aspect of commercial, residential, and recreational life. No town, no matter how small, is safe from the meddling of planners in and outside of government.”

Are there plans to bring Agenda 21 to your town?

Is it already there?

You and your neighbors need to know.

Support HB 1573 on January 16th

There will be a Committee Hearing on January 16th on HB 1573 in LOB 301 at 1:00 PM.

Please contact the Municipal and County Government Committee and attend and testify if you can.

RPCs (Regional Planning Commissions) are the top down unelected boards who are implementing the federal government’s idea of sustainability through control over your local government.

If your town has been threatened or affected by GSF, you need to be part of this because your testimony is proof that people do NOT want this interference and the RPCs are overstepping their original purpose. We hope someone from these towns will plan on testifying on the 16th for HB 1573:

Alton
Bedford
Brookline
Claremont
Dover
Goffstown
Loudon
Manchester
Rindge

Alton Forum on Granite State Future

In Alton, the residents held an informational forum on the Granite State Future program which seeks to change zoning and planning for regional areas in NH using HUD grants as the money as obtained by the Lakes Regional Planning Commission.

Listen carefully.. another reason to attend your town meetings and stop HUD’s use of grants to force economic and racial integration, mixed use housing, cluster housing, bike paths, commuter rails, parks, food and farm control programs and even interference in the educational system.

Video URL: http://youtu.be/MFayrx-eQiM

Remember, RPCs make ‘suggestions’ but once you sign onto that HUD grant, their ‘suggestions’ become a MANDATE.

Read about what Workforce Housing really is:

“The Workforce Housing Council (WHC) is a statewide organization that promotes ways to increase and diversify the supply of housing so employers will view our state as an attractive place to live and work.”

“Workforce Housing” means a broad range of owner and renter housing, meeting the needs of families and individuals that represent the majority of New Hampshire’s diverse workforce and whose income is generally below 120% of the area median.

Workforce Housing is permanent housing, intended as a primary year-round residence, that is available to households regardless of age.

Workforce Housing can include, but is not limited to, subsidized and affordable housing. It is best provided near places of employment.”