Stoddard now dealing with lawsuit
As published in the Oct. 2, 2011 edition of The Keene Sentinel and online.
STODDARD -- With a federal lawsuit hanging over its head, the town's zoning board is poised to resume operation after a spate of resignations that left it out of commission back in July.
That likely means once again taking up a proposal to construct a cellphone tower on Melville Hill, with a board that features three new members.
"I think it's important for the town, but I'm not feeling anxious about it at all," Angela M. Nicoletti, a new board member, said of the controversial application from AT&T. "We'll proceed in an orderly fashion and eventually it'll be resolved."
The resignations -- by three of the five board members and all of the alternate members -- came a day after the board voted in July to reconsider the application, and left the board without a quorum.
On Aug. 8, AT&T filed a complaint in U.S. District Court in Concord, claiming that resignation-induced delays constitute a "failure to act," and that the board had exceeded the time limit set by federal law to consider the proposal.
In fact, the board had voted 3-2 on May 25 to allow a 130-foot tower, but decided to reconsider after receiving petitions from residents.
AT&T is asking the court in its lawsuit to allow construction under the terms the board approved in May.
Reconsidering the application means starting from a clean slate. Interviewed in June, some outgoing board members cited the prospect of going through that lengthy process again as a reason for stepping down.
The selectmen didn't turn away any applicants for positions on the board, Arnold R. Stymest, selectman chairman, said.
Fred and Ruth Ward, who voted against AT&T's application in July, are still on the panel.
They are joined now by Nicoletti, Helen Wheeler and Dennis Pellegrino as regular members and Peter Athearn and Paul Krampfert as alternates.
The new board had its first organizational meeting Friday.
The town has hired Jeffrey C. Spear, an attorney with the Concord firm Orr and Reno, to represent it in the lawsuit brought by AT&T.
On Tuesday, Spear filed a motion to dismiss AT&T's suit, arguing that the board had ruled on the application within the legal time limit, and that that limit does not apply to post-decision rehearings and appeals.
It is unclear what the board should do about the AT&T application now that it is ready to resume hearing applications for zoning variances .
"The question here -- which is a legal question -- is do we start a rehearing while this thing is grinding its way through court," Fred Ward said.
Meanwhile, the new members will cut their teeth on other petitions for variances that have accumulated over the past two months.
tagged with: AT&T, cell towers, land use, Stoddard N.H.
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