Posted by Dennis Herrick on July 19, 2008 at 10:49:45:
Boy I hope you smart guys on the Plaistow Planning Board have an air-tight definition of Light Industrial Use or we're all going to be eating cement dust until our dying days. Last time you fools forced us to listen as you twisted the definition of recycle to help Winfield Allied set up their junk shop right in the middle of town. Luckily, Michelle Curran and Tim Moore were suspicious and rightly so. Listen, recycle = recycle just the same as light industrial = light industrial. Green Machine wants to use Chart's overhead cranes in it's overation for added safety. Wonderful, how progressive of them. But, does this sound like a "light industrial" operation to you? Not to me. Now that you've gone ahead and approved Green Machine's use of the site, how can you be sure Testa isn't going to use that as a wedge against you later in court. They'll argue that your decisions are arbitrary and capricious and that you've approved one heavy industry for the site already and now you need to approve Fabcon. Jeesh, I know you're volunteers, but can't you people think things out a few steps ahead. Why do you folks feel the need to rush this Green Machine deal through. You're not going to win any wars with Testa by throwing 'em a bone. The Testas have probably called a family meeting on Sicily already to discuss how to neutralize all the country bumpkins in Plaistow.
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Plaistow Planning Board rejects Fabcon move
By Meghan Carey
Staff writer Eagle Tribune
PLAISTOW — At a hearing that drew hoots and hollers from residents one minute and applause the next, the Planning Board last night refused to allow a concrete barrier company to move into the center of town.
It was just what the people wanted.
Bernard Campbell, an attorney for Fabcon Inc., asked the board to determine if the Minnesota-based company would qualify under the uses allowed in the light industrial zone at 144 Main St. — the old Chart site owned by Testa Realty.
After much discussion from officials and some of the approximately 30 residents who attended the public hearing, the board unanimously voted that it did not.
Selectman Bob Gray, an ex-officio member of the board, made the motion to deny based on the town ordinance's definition of light industry.
Light industry includes "producing, distributing and changing the form of raw materials or assembling components and parts packaging, warehousing and transporting finished products," the ordinance said. Gray said the company did not satisfy the requirements.
Resident Vedanta Griffith of 148 Main St. told the board that while a baby stroller is considered a finished product, a concrete slab is not.
Fabcon manufactures 12-by-50-foot concrete slabs that would be assembled into walls off site.
The company wanted to know if it had a chance to receive approval before it invested money in a traffic study, a sound analysis study, and the airfare needed to bring in executives from the Midwest.
Although the request was denied, the company can still go to the Zoning Board of Adjustment to request a waiver.
Selectman Charles Blinn told Campbell that his board would fight for the town and its residents, even if the issue went to court. Blinn asked the board to vote "no" and take it from there.
"Once that lawyer gets his foot in tonight, we're starting a war," he said. "I pay taxes. I'm not going to sit back and watch this go on."
Blinn's comments prompted hoots and hollers from residents in the audience. They also erupted into applause after Gray refused to recuse himself from voting at Campbell's request and when Planning Board member Peter Bealo said there is no way Fabcon's business is a permitted use.
Resident Dick Hawkins was one of many who brought up safety and health issues for residents and the 585 students who attend Pollard School. Three school officials attended the meeting because the grounds abut Testa's property, where Fabcon wanted to use cement to produce concrete.
Allowing that to happen would be a bad move, Hawkins said. Children go to school to learn about math, English and science, he said. "Then we send them out in the playground for an early start on some lung cancer."
The Planning Board also decided that Green Machine, another company wishing to lease space in the Testa building, is a permitted use. The hearing for the Hampstead-based machine company was continued to Aug. 20.