February 2023 Letter to the Editor - Granite State News

Letter to the Editor published in the Granite State News on Thursday, 23 February 2023 under the Title of:

Zoning Amendments Need Clarification

To the Editor:

Wolfeboro Voters are being asked to Approve nine Zoning Amendments, Questions 2-10 on our March 14th Ballot.

Although each year since 1970 I have voted for all of the Zoning Amendments recommended by our Planning Board, this year I will be voting NO on all 9. 

For decades each of our Zoning changes seem to have been worded so that Voters could readily understand the substance & reason for each change being proposed. While this year’s Articles contain many NH RSA titles & numerals there is very little in the way of explanation.

Despite having attended the Planning Board’s August “Public Forum” and its “Hearings” of 6 & 20 December, the primary purposes & effects of this year’s Amendments remained unclear.

However, when I recently searched my past Town Reports for the actual wording of those earlier voter-approved Amendments, I quickly discovered the source of my confusion: our Zoning Amendments since 2021 have not been written in the clear “voter-friendly” wording of the previous decades!

Please go to the 1st page of our Town Website www.WolfeboroNH.us and read the Zoning Articles (#2-10) on pages 2-4 of the 2023 Warrant, or read pages 8-10 of the just-released Annual Town Report 2022.

If you understand & support any of the 9 Articles, by all means vote yes on it.

If, however, you are left with questions about how some (or all) of the Amendments might affect your (& your neighbors’) use of property, then please join me in Voting NO on the March 14th Ballot …to insist that all future Zoning Amendments be more clearly written.

Ken Perry

Wolfeboro

ALSO published in The Conway Daily Sun on Tuesday, 28 February 2023 under the Title of:

Don’t vote for Wolfeboro zoning amendments