Asphalt plant sends letters
As published on page one of the Oct. 4, 2011 edition of The Keene Sentinel, and online.
WINCHESTER -- Tension continues to build concerning a recently opened asphalt plant on the Winchester-Swanzey border.
In the latest sign of the deteriorating relationship between Mitchell Sand and Gravel, the plant's owner, and residents who have objected to the facility, Mitchell's attorney recently sent "no trespass" notices to a number of asphalt plant opponents.
The letters were a reaction to photos presented during a recent compliance hearing held for the plant by the Winchester Planning Board, according to Kevin D. Parsons, the Massachusetts attorney who sent the letters on Mitchell's behalf.
Some of the photos, he said, demonstrated that someone had entered the gravel pit where the plant is located without permission.
"Unauthorized people should not be going on other people's property and some of these folks have," he said.
The photos were submitted to the town's code enforcement officer by State Rep. Daniel P. Carr, D-Winchester, and presented at the hearing by Michael Towne, who lives across from the plant on Route 10, Parsons said.
The letters warn that "failure to comply with this notice may result in your arrest."
They were sent to not only Carr and Towne but other Winchester and Swanzey residents who have objected to the plant since before the town's planning board approved its construction in the agricultural district in January.
Parsons sent six letters, he said.
"We don't know who was on the property, we don't know who took the photos. But it's clearly someone in the group that's doing it," Parsons said.
Towne was surprised by the letter, he said, because has never been on the plant property and has only taken photos of stack emissions that he can see from his yard.
"If they're doing everything legit, wouldn't they welcome the public onto the property to see that everything is on the up and up?" he said.
The plant began operating intermittently in late August, and neighbors quickly began complaining that truck noise and chemical smells were detracting from their quality of life.
"They're worried about the water quality, and their air quality does bear a lot of noxious fumes and dust that were not there before," said State Rep. Jane B. Johnson, R-Swanzey, who has taken an interest in the matter at the request of constituents.
Johnson contacted Gov. John H. Lynch about the plant, she said, and he advised her that the conditions of the plant's temporary operating permit were within state laws.
As a state representative, she is thinking of encouraging a review of environmental regulations and how they compare to neighboring states', she said.
"New Hampshire needs to make sure that its laws are such that companies can't just come in here and get away with things that they can't get away with in other states," Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Towne, an avid bird watcher who reports there have been no birds in his yard since the plant first fired up, continues to keep an eye on the operation -- from across the street.
tagged with: asphalt, environmental impacts, Mitchell Sand and Gravel, Winchester N.H.
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