September 15, 2008
Thomas N. Thomson
This article was written by Thomas N. Thomson, for the Moltonborough Citizens Allliance.
Jaden Thomson, is a great grandson of the late Governor Meldrim Thomson, Jr. Will he need a DES permit to dig and build his Sand Castle ?
On July 1, 2008 the new Comprehensive Shore Land Protection Act (CSPA) went into effect. A “state shore land permit” will be required after July1st for many construction, excavation or filling activities within the protected shore land. The New Hampshire statute covering CSPA is RSA 483-B and the Department of Environmental Services (DES) shore land website is www.des.nh.gov/cspa. I encourage you to review the new CSPA. Below I hope to pique your interest to do so.
These new amendments and or additions were passed by the New Hampshire Legislature and signed into law by Governor John Lynch and went into effect on July 1, 2008 just three days before we celebrated our Independence Day, July 4th and at the peak of construction season. But for many NH landowners there won’t be much celebrating once you learn of the impact to your property values and rights if your property is within the shore land protected area. I have, for years, gone out of my way to protect our water quality on the 2,400 acres of farm and forestland that we own and manage in NH; this is the same land that we share with the general public and our state. I am a Conservationist, one who lives, practices and protects the environment each and every day on our Tree Farm like nearly every other forest landowner and farmer in our state. We do the right thing because we are good stewards of the land. We don’t have to have big brother, our government, looking over our shoulder to tell us what to do. Let me make a suggestion to our elected officials in Concord, lets think outside of the box; let us try to “Educate rather than Legislate” on issues such as this!
I believe the original intent of the new CSPA was to control large development on our congested water ways such as Lake Winnipesaukee. An example might be an 8 acre lot that narrows down to a 50 foot water frontage and a developer wants to put in 75 condominiums. In this case I think there should be oversight by the state and I am sure most would agree with me. But, suppose you owned a 4 acre parcel with 290 feet of water frontage on a river, great pond or lake in NH that is now under the new CSPA and you wanted to sub-divide and give half of the water frontage and land to your son or daughter. As of July 1, 2008 you couldn’t do it, thanks to our Legislature and Governor Lynch. Under the new law “any new lots will need 150 feet of shore line frontage per residential unit whether or not there is on-site septic”. This new CSPA law supersedes any local regulations or ordinances and this should be of great concern to our NH citizens as our local control is in jeopardy. It is my opinion that the new CSPA is nothing more than state wide zoning and a taking of land owners property rights and values from our family assets by the state without any consideration of compensation. This is unacceptable in the “Live Free Or Die” state!
You may want to check to see if you are within the CSPA. This year an additional 1400 miles of NH water frontage will fall under the protection of this new law; if you are not included at this time, just wait, DES and the state are looking at taking another bite out of the apple. Stay tuned. After studying the new CSPA laws one concerned shore land owner said the following: “Under this new law, the state has taken total control of our land, our buildings, and our trees and vegetation. We can be required to go to the DES to get a permit to:
1. Dig a hole – including our children building a sand castle on the beach
2. Plant a tulip – if it is not in a state approved location
3. Remove poison ivy that may be a health hazard
4. Repair a washed out area
5. Move a rock – that may be in our children’s play area”
If you are so “lucky” to be within the CSPA then your property has a 250 foot set back (on each side of the water body) with very restrictive uses of what you can do within that 250 foot buffer on your property. The 2005 Commission (a total of 24 members) that worked on and came up with these new ideas of regulations was made up of legislators and bureaucrats of state agencies, as well as some non-governmental organizations, but only two represented private land owners; when private landowners should have made up the majority of this commission as they are the true stake holders on this issue. I have suggested to the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Services, Thomas Burack, and Governor John Lynch to request that the NH Legislature place a one year moratorium on the CSPA and put together a new commission made up of no less than 50% of private landowners to correct this unfair taking of property rights and values. Remember, between now and November many folks who are running for state offices will be asking for your vote. Ask them if they support a one year moratorium on the CSPA and a new commission, with the majority made up of the true stake holders, you the landowner. If they don’t agree with you, vote them out of office.Your family assets and property rights are a stake!
Thomas N. Thomson
Orford, NH 03777