September 8, 2008
Eagle Tribune
ATKINSON, N.H. — At the polls tomorrow, voters will face three town warrant articles regarding groundwater as well as their options in the state primary.
The first article asks voters to make the town’s water withdrawal control ordinance — which was enacted at a Special Town Meeting a year ago — a health ordinance to ensure the quality of drinking water. If approved, the ordinance would remain a town ordinance, as well.
The second is a lengthy amendment to that same ordinance, aimed at protecting the water supply by beefing up local laws and enforcement.
Selectmen and many Planning Board members have spoken out against the articles, saying their approval could bring the town into costly litigation.
But Carol Grant and John Wolters say the articles will strengthen the town’s ability to prevent the Hampstead Area Water Co. from withdrawing large amounts of groundwater. The company has a petition to do so before the state Department of Environmental Services.
The final warrant article asks residents to classify seven wetlands as “prime wetlands,” which would increase the buffer zone around them by 50 to 150 feet.
The Special Town Meeting is being held in conjunction with the primary to save money. The polls will be open at the Atkinson Community Center from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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Note: There are two other special elections tomorrow; Monadnock Regional School District will vote on a teachers contract that has already been rejected 4 times, and Windham will vote on an access road which has already been rejected once. Both town/school governing bodies petitioned the court for an ’emergency’ election and though neither situation is one, the judge ruled in their favor. As for Atkinson, they should proceed with caution about the ever-increasing encroachments on private property rights by ‘regional water districts’.