Posted by Dennis Herrick on August 22, 2008 at 08:28:28:
Industrial Light , Industrial Heavy, Industrial Ghetto. I say Ghetto is what Testa is really bringing us. The fact that Green Machine wants to use Chart's old cranes says it all. Green Machine = Heavy Industry and no one brought this up at the meeting. You had better define this term "Light Industrial" before we go any further.
It's unfortunate that we don't have anyone with any vision down in Planning. Maybe all they need is to hire some extra help. There should be a transportation center at the old Process facility, with train and bus station, maybe some sort of civic center, brick industry museum and maybe a few restaurants and shops and a small "Welcome to NH" office, plus Boys Club, Girls Club, Health and Fitness Center, Indoor Swimming Pool. There's even enough room for a hockey rink, the list goes on and on and on. Some welcome Testa is offering! Have you ridden by the Testa facility on the Downeaster? Plaistow looks like a place to steer clear of. We need something in town for the people, not a big club house for industrialists and purveyors of junk.
Testa should start performing community service to repair it's terrible reputation and they can start by either renovating that ugly complex over there off Main Street or use their expertise and demolish that hideous building and the water tower.
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Green Machine may be moving to old Chart site
By Meghan Carey
mcarey@eagletribune.com
PLAISTOW, N.H. — Green Machine needs state approval before it can get Planning Board approval to move to the old Chart site.
An air resource permit is one of the only holdups left for the Hampstead-based machine fabrication company before it could move to the Main Street property, now owned by Testa Realty LLC.
The company repairs and reassembles large machines, including conveyor belts and balers. The new machines are then painted in a spray booth.
Because the old Chart site is in the aquifer protection district, the company has to get a permit from the state Department of Environmental Services. A public hearing Wednesday was continued to Sept. 3 because of the permit, town planner Leigh Komornick said.
Green Machine has a permit from the state Department of Transportation for the driveway at 146 Main St., Komornick said.
At this week's Planning Board meeting, there was some discussion about traffic on Main Street and the company's hours of operation, she said. Those were some concerns expressed by abutters.
John Green, owner of Green Machine, said he planned to take a video at the company's New York locat1on, where similar business operations take place, to show at the next Planning Board meeting.
Komornick said planners have researched the company's history in Hampstead and found favorable reviews with the community.
Green Machine wants to lease a portion of the industrial building from Testa. That company received Planning Board approval last fall to use the site to store construction equipment and materials. Testa officials returned to the Planning Board in June, asking for permission to lease part of the property to Green Machine and Fabcon Inc., a Minnesota-based company that mixes and pours large concrete slabs.
In July, the Planning Board decided Green Machine was a permitted use at the light industrial site, but Fabcon was not. Prior to that meeting, there was confusion as to whether Fabcon had withdrawn its application.
It's still unclear.
"All I can say on that is that they weren't there last night and, based on our last meeting, the board ruled it wasn't a permitted use," Komornick said yesterday.