Claremont
Following the controversy last month when the city’s contracted assessor and city manager abated $220,000 in back taxes on a Myrtle Street property referred to as the Topstone building, Lovett immediately moved to have the policy committee explore a board of assessors to make the abatement process more public.
At Wednesday night’s council meeting, Lovett said one sticking point is the term “governing body,” when it comes to granting abatement on a brownfield, or contaminated, property.
“What does governing body mean?” Lovett asked, noting that the policy committee aims to ensure a clear definition with roles and responsibilities spelled out clearly.
Resident Joe Osgood, who addressed the council earlier in the meeting, said the state makes clear that for cities, except Nashua and Manchester, the city council is the governing body. Nashua and Manchester each have a board of aldermen.
Osgood had told the council the Topstone abatement issue “is not over,” because in his opinion the council, as the governing body, should have approved the Topstone tax abatement, which it did not do. The decision has been appealed to the state Board of Land and Tax Appeal by Osgood.
He cited RSA 76:19-a, which states that a person eligible to be in the brownfields program can apply to the “governing body of the municipality” for an abatement of prior years’ taxes and accrued interest. Topstone has contamination and is labeled as a brownfield site.
City Manager Ryan McNutt has defended the abatement, which was approved in August, saying it is the only way to allow the owner of the Topstone to begin redevelopment of the five-story brick building.
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, Bruce Temple, Sullivan County’s representative on the state Fish and Game Commission, told the council the commission is fighting not to allow the state to transfer ownership of the stalled Wild Goose boat launch site on Lake Sunapee, as a commission recommended earlier this year.
“(The Council on Resources and Development) could transfer the property to someone else and we are working diligently behind the scenes to make sure it doesn’t move in that direction,” Temple said. “If CORD was to do that, it would be unprecedented with the (Fish and Game) director and commission working to hang on to that property. We do not want to lose that property.”
In February, a commission appointed to study public boat access on the lake concluded that the boat launch should be abandoned by the state Department of Fish and Game and the property transferred to the Division of Parks and Recreation, which would then make recommendations on public access, including car-top access for boats and canoes, fishing and perhaps camping.
Additional boat access at Wild Goose, located on the lake’s southwestern shore in Newbury, has been debated for more than 25 years but is no closer to construction that it was when Fish and Game took ownership of the property.
Fish and Game has been told to search for an alternative site, but there has been no recommendation for another location.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
