Norwich
After seeking unsuccessfully to amend the public warning for the Special Town Meeting, Selectwoman Linda Cook cast the sole opposing vote.
“I support 100 percent what we’re trying to do, but not having the details — things have gone awry and I want to be careful on that,” Cook said. “I want to see what we’re actually going to move forward with.”
Selectboard members Mary Layton and Claudette Brochu voted in favor, as did John Pepper and John Langhus, both of whom were participating in the meeting by telephone.
Town Manager Herb Durfee said that the town already has the money for the fund, $45,671, which was allocated by voters years ago.
“There is an amount that is currently available to be expended, but can’t because the fund itself, the program itself, sunsetted,” Durfee said.
The fund was first created at Town Meeting in 2005 for three years, extended at Town Meeting in 2008 for three years, and then recreated at Town Meeting in 2012 for five years. The new fund would have no expiration date.
The Selectboard’s action will allow voters on Nov. 8 to re-establish the fund “to be distributed and administered according to a process adopted by the Selectboard in consultation with the Town Manager, the Norwich Planning Commission, and the Affordable Housing Subcommittee.”
Cook objected to that language, saying it was too vague.
She said she wanted to know what the process was before voting in favor of it.
She also sought to change the date of the public vote to Town Meeting in March 2019, but found no support from the rest of the Selectboard.
Before the vote, members of the Affordable Housing Subcommittee, including Creigh Moffatt, Jeff Lubell, along with Stuart Richards — the director of Norwich Affordable Housing Inc., a nonprofit group formed earlier this year to promote the creation of small-scale affordable housing — urged the Selectboard to take swift action.
“The important thing,” Richards said, “is to get this in front of voters so they can approve this, so that it happens. … It doesn’t buy a lot when you’re talking about millions of dollars. But what it does do is, perhaps, provide seed money to put down a deposit on something. To provide the seed money for some architectural work. For some engineering work. For something.”
Affordable housing has been a much-debated topic in town over the past several years, with any aspirations for housing developments along the Route 5 corridor wilting in the face of high property costs and stiff opposition from neighbors who have said higher-density zoning allowances would threaten Norwich’s rural character.
After the vote, Cook also refused to sign the meeting warning, which created a temporary problem, as she was one of only three members who were physically present and three signatures were needed to provide legal notice for the meeting.
The issue was resolved when Pepper said he intended to come back to town on Thursday, and could add his signature.
Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.
Correction
Creigh Moffatt and Jeff Lubell are members of the town of Norwich’s Affordable Housing Subcommittee. Stuart Richards is the director of Norwich Affordable Housing Inc., a nonprofit group formed earlier this year to promote the creation of small-scale affordable housing. In addition, the affordable housing revolving fund was first created at Town Meeting in 2005 for three years, extended at Town Meeting in 2008 for three years, and then recreated at Town Meeting in 2012 for five years. An earlier version of this story misstated their respective roles and gave an incomplete history of the fund.