Despite the absence of the applicant, the Rindge Select Board opened a public hearing on a junkyard application to hear from concerned neighbors and townspeople who had turned out for the hearing.
Tim Halliday has applied for a license to run a junkyard at 58 Route 202 in Rindge, under the name 202 Truck & Equipment.
In his application, Halliday describes the proposed operation as a commercial business to “dismantle, repair and part out [automobiles], trucks and heavy equipment.”
It would run Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with occasional weekend activity, and generate and recycle scrap metal, waste oil and tires.
The lot has operated as a junkyard since 1987, by Robert Van Dyke.
Due to a family emergency, Halliday was not able to be present at the Wednesday board meeting, when his application was scheduled to be heard. When contacted Monday, he declined to comment.
Due to the nearly 40 residents who attended, and the timing of the hearing required by state statute, Select Board Chairman Bob Hamilton said the board should open the hearing and take feedback from residents despite Halliday’s absence, with the understanding the hearing would be continued to another date to allow Halliday to also present his application.
If the operation is not grandfathered, it is required to include planning and zoning board approval with the application. Currently, 202 Truck & Equipment has not put a proposal forward to either board.
Selectwoman Roberta Oeser, who attended the meeting remotely by phone, objected to holding the hearing as planned, saying taking comments without the applicant present to answer questions was “ridiculous.” When she moved to continue the hearing to Oct. 2, her motion was not seconded, and the board took comments from the crowd, many of whom live in the area of the proposed junkyard.
Some of the residents argued that the Van Dyke operation shouldn’t carry over to a new business for a number of reasons – one being that it was operated by a special exception granted by the Zoning Board of Adjustment, which doesn’t carry over to a new owner of the property. Another reason, they argued, was that that property hadn’t properly carried out the conditions attached to the special exception when it was issued.
Neighbors said they were very concerned about the closeness of the business to their wells and wetlands that feed into the watershed, noise, and other impacts to the neighborhood.
“I’m within hearing distance of this establishment, and in August and September, I’ve been hearing a lot more noise,” neighbor Jeff Dickler said. “This is Rindge, we want a quiet, agrarian, rural atmosphere.”
Resident Larry Bower said he was concerned about the water quality.
“My concern is the wetland and the wells,” he said. “My well is several hundred feet away from his property, and I don’t like to drink anti-freeze.”
That concern was echoed multiple times, with people citing the closeness of the Contoocook watershed and two wells that service 12 homes on Highland Drive.
“It will diminish the value of my property, I believe that 100 percent,” resident Ben Asaff said.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.