I’m a bit late on this but since I went to the meeting, I figured I’d post the bits that I was interested in:
- Town Beach Regulation (beach pass policy “returned” back to be residents (+ their guests) and not STR (Short Term Rentals like AirBnB, VRBO, et al, and hotels.
- The town culvert failure that had water undermine and overtop my street. That failure ruined the front and back lawns of my neighbor across the street, caused the street to fail, and caused damage to the swale that was supposed to whisk that water away (rough images below).
But I was challenged by Selectmen Gus Benavides, after he described me, to post what he said on GraniteGrok. Challenge accepted, Gus! And a bit more in that clip – after all, context IS important.
And yes, he took advantage of the discussion to make a bit of sport of me (heh!). In the end, the Selectmen rose to the issue and said the Town will do the right thing for my neighbor for almost 40 years.
The full video of the discussion of the failure is also below. But first, the change in the Beach Pass policy. As I wrote on Youtube
The last couple of years, the ability of those in Short Term Rentals (STRs like AirBnB, VRBO, et al) and hotels buying passes to the town residents’ beach has caused much alarm and angst. As I testified, parking and use of the beach because of the “I paid my money” mentality and entitlement got to the point where I no longer felt welcome at the beach after living in Gilford for almost 40 years.
Tonite, after listening to the residents at the last meeting, Selectmen Chair Kevin Hayes rolled out the new regulation in response to that feedback.
It will be formally presented to the public on Feb 8.
And the entire discussion about the culvert failure:
This past Christmas, we had a massive snow storm go through NH. At the intersection where I live, the town owned culvert that diverted the two downloading (I liive on the side of a mountain – everything down down) streams that normally sends that flow under our streets failed due clogging.
Water went around the culvert and undermined the road to the point where our underground utility conduits were openly exposed. Further, part of the road failed.
There was a wide rushing expanse of water that ALSO overtopped the street, crossed over, and scoured the shoulder sending tons of “street dirt” into both the front and backyard of my across-the-street neighbor that has lived there as long as we have.
The swale…
“A shallow troughlike depression that carries water mainly during rainstorms or snow melts.”
…that separates her and my other neighbor across the street to my left is a swale which had silted up from the culvert runoff over the decades that also ruined her backyard. This was the hearing of her complaint – and yes, it seemingly (thus far) to turn out with the right decision.
It also happened a second time just a couple of days ago which I saw coming home from doing some errands:
Pictures from the Christmas storm damage. And those “red pipes” are the underground utility conduits for the entire neighborhood.
All of that “street dirt” from the town road…
