BY JENN McDOWELL

A petition containing the signatures of 76 registered voters in Candia will require an article be included on this year’s town warrant asking whether voters are in favor of the Exit 3 land sale.

Candia Planning Board member William  Byrd dropped the petition, containing about 90 signatures, in front of selectmen at a public forum on the land sale on Monday, Oct. 8, in the selectmen’s chambers, which  were crammed with residents both opposed to the land sale vote and in support of it.

The board passed a motion to remove Exit 3 Committee members Ingrid Byrd and Betsy Kruse, both of whom signed the petition, from the committee.

Selectman Rick Lazott made the motion, saying the two women were not working in the town’s interest.

“I don’t think these people have worked in good faith,” said Lazott. “I want the taxpayers to know who is trying to slow this down.”

Selectman Tom Giffen abstained from the vote, and Selectman James Brennan was not present.

Byrd said she and Kruse were not involved in drafting the petition, but did sign it.

At the 2003 Town Meeting, voters passed a warrant article authorizing selectmen to sell the 12-acre parcel off Route 101 for a 40,000-square-foot retail establishment, namely a grocery store.

The Exit 3 Committee was formed to look into options for the sale.

According to that article, selectmen were to hold two public hearings on the issue, and would then be able to use the public’s input to vote on whether to sell the land or not.

The article also said Candia residents could submit a petition with at least 50 signatures to the board prior to that vote, which selectman had set for Monday, Oct. 15, that would require the issue be resubmitted to voters at a town meeting.

Checklist supervisors examined the petition following its submission and verified that 76 out of the 90 or so signatures qualified.

The petition asks that the question “Are you in favor of the proposed sale of town property at Exit 3?” be included on this year’s warrant.

“By signing this petition, you are asking that the voters, not just the selectmen, be given the opportunity to vote on the proposed land sale of the Exit 3 property. In addition, by Town Meeting, more information about the proposal should be available,” the petition says.

Selectman Fred Kelley said the petition is a tool to stall the development process.

“We’ve got a small minority of people in this town that are trying to shut it down,” he said. “We’ve had a bunch of people in this town calling the Town Hall that want to get their names off (the petition), but it’s too late now.”

The Byrds and Kruse both  expressed concern at the public forum that there is not yet a formal proposal for the project and that voters do not have enough information about it.

“All I’m asking for is you give people the right to vote,” Ingrid Byrd said. “I don’t believe that petition anywhere says to vote yes or no.”

Judith Zsot, who also signed the petition, said the Exit 3 Committee was not going through the correct process, and asked why architectural standards and an official proposal were not on the table.

“We have to have all our ducks in a row. Until those things are in place, nothing you say has any teeth,” Zsot said.

She added the town was unwisely limiting itself to putting a grocery store on the land, and that she was concerned about preserving the town’s traditional character in the architecture.

The Byrds and Zsot all said they were not against developing the parcel of land in question.

“It’s every single resident of this town that owns a chunk of that land,” Ingrid Byrd said after the forum, through taxes paid. “We as voters have a right to decide when it’s going to be sold.”

Kruse said she is not entirely convinced that the land should be sold.

“There’s going to be development there whether I like it or not, but I can have, hopefully, some say in what goes on there,” she said.

Lazott said at the forum it is time for the town to move forward with the land sale.

“It’s been put on the back burner for too many years. It’s time to get it done,” he said.

Giffen said he did not agree to remove Byrd and Kruse from the committee because he did not think they were necessarily against the project, but added that the selectmen’s charge is to proceed with the result of the Town Meeting in 2003 authorizing the board to sell the land.

“I think the reason this petition got out there is because the people wanted to make sure we we’re going to dot our i’s and cross our t’s,” Giffen said.

Many residents at the meeting praised the selectmen and the Exit 3 Committee for their work on the project.

Zoning Board member Frank Albert  crossed his name off the petition toward the end of the forum.

“I wish most of the people in this room would take the word of the board,” Albert said.

One resident called for Selectman Joe Duarte’s removal  the Exit 3 Committee, which prompted reactions from others in the room and resulted in a round of applause for Duarte.

Exit 3 Committee member John Cole stood up for Duarte, saying the people of the town had clearly given their blessing to sell the land for a supermarket and that Duarte was working only to that effect.

“I’m proud to serve on the same committee with him,” Cole said.