The Peterborough Planning Board rejected an application for a site plan review for construction of a new gun range at Monadnock Rod & Gun Club during its meeting Monday.
There was no discussion on the application before board member Ivy Vann moved to deny the application, based on the fact that the club had not been granted a special exception from the Zoning Board of Adjustment earlier this month. The motion was supported with no nay votes, and one abstention.
On June 6, the ZBA voted to deny the club a special exception that would have allowed the club to relocate a shooting range which encroached on a neighbor’s property. The special exception requested the ability to build a new range and bunker, as a change of a nonconforming use.
According to the ZBA notice of decision, the board found the Monadnock Rod & Gun Club “does not presently have a legal, non-conforming outdoor shooting range use on its property, and thus the board cannot take jurisdiction over this application unless there presently exists on the property a legal, non-conforming use.”
Monadnock Rod & Gun Club originally predated the town’s zoning ordinance, and was a grandfathered use. Under the current ordinance, the club is located at 595 Jaffrey Road, which is in both the rural district and the groundwater protection district overlay zone, both of which do not allow shooting ranges. In a filing by attorney Phil Runyon, who represents club neighbors Scott and Bridgette Perry, Runyon argued the club abandoned its east-to-west range in 2015, when it build a new range that trespassed onto abutting properties owned by the Perrys and Robert Morris.
The club has not been in operation for several years now, after the trespass was discovered, along with the town discovering several changes had been made without proper permits, including improperly filling in wetlands. The club has been through several court actions with both the town and the Perrys over the issue, and was ordered to pay $650,000 to restore the abutters’ property and the wetlands to pre-range conditions, as well as $3,575 in civil penalties and $28,027 in attorney’s fees to the town. Ken Caisse, the club’s president, said last year that approval for a range would help the club address its financial difficulties.
On Nov. 3, 2021, Peterborough Code Officer Tim Herlihy issued an administrative decision determining the club had “abandoned” its existing nonconforming east-to-west shooting range, which means under the zoning code that the use is no longer grandfathered. The club appealed that decision, but Herlihy’s assessment was upheld by the town.
Runyon argued that if the use is not grandfathered, then it’s not eligible for a special exception at all. The Zoning Board agreed with that assessment when it rejected the application.
In other business on Monday, the Planning Board continued two other applications, at the request of the applicants, without hearing any further testimony on either case.
The first public hearing was a preliminary review application filed by The Old Stone Barn, LLC, and Eldon Munson for a combined workforce housing and active adult housing development, located at 81 Old St. and 63 Old St., which includes the property known locally as The Old Stone Barn.
Town Planner Danica Melone notified the board there had been a noticing error, resulting in the board being unable to hear the preliminary review on Monday. The board agreed unanimously to renotice the hearing for its next meeting on July 11.
Also continued until July 11, with only minimal discussion, was a proposal for an application for a subdivision for the Walden Eco Village open space residential development. Applicant Akhil Garland and town planning staff both requested the hearing be continued to allow for plan updates. Garland or his representative is expected to meet with the town Conservation Commission prior to the next hearing.
The Planning Board is scheduled to meet next on July 11 at 6:30 p.m., in the Town House.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-92 4-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.