BY DARRELL HALEN

For the second consecutive year, Windham voters will be asked if they want to rezone land on Route 111 to allow retail development on the site.

State Rep. Mary Griffin and other residents have signed their names to a zoning amendment by petition that, if approved in March, would reclassify 29 acres of vacant land from Professional, Business and Technology to a Business Commercial A district.

According to the petitioners, the change is intended to allow a retail development on the land, which is located at the intersection of Route 111 and Wall Street.

Shoppers would access the new businesses through the current Route 111/Wall Street intersection, which they currently travel through to go to Shaw’s Supermarket and Sovereign Bank.

Last year, a change to the land’s zoning was opposed by the planning board and was rejected by voters by a roughly 2-to-1 margin. This year’s proposed change is opposed by most board members, who claim the plan doesn’t benefit the community and runs counter to its master plan.
Griffin said she submitted the petition at the request of a constituent, Myrtis Fineman, who owns the land with her son, Neil. The family has tried to develop the property under current zoning without success, she said.

Griffin said it’s estimated that a multi-tenant retail development could produce roughly $442,500 in property tax revenue annually. That could help offset the cost of the town’s new high school, which Griffin said she believes will cost $60 million without staff.

Griffin said she’s concerned people are going to have a hard time being able to afford to live in town if it remains a bedroom community.

Senior citizens on fixed incomes got hit hard with higher taxes under a recent property revaluation, and there is an educational funding crisis in Concord, she said.

Windham, Griffin said, is perceived in the state’s capitol as a rich town “that doesn’t need anything.”

“I think we need a commercial tax base for everything going on,” Griffin said, adding that she doesn’t believe retail shops and “mom-and-pop” stores provide enough tax revenue.

Opponents of the proposed zoning change, such as Chris Rossetti, said many residents don’t want to see big box stores built in town.

“We want to keep the rural charm and serenity, which is what attracted us to come here in the first place,” Rossetti said.

Such a development would increase traffic in Windham because it would attract people from out of town, he said. There are already large retailers just minutes away from town that Windham shoppers can go to, he said.

Rossetti said he’s also concerned about the adverse environmental impact to the town and to Cobbetts Pond that could be caused by thousands of vehicles visiting the site.

Griffin said she had been advised there would be no runoff into the pond, which she does not want
to see contaminated.

Rossetti said he also fears increased commercial property could cause the town to lose state school aid, and possibly become a donor town.

Although stores would bring in higher tax revenue, costs for increased fire and police protection will rise, he said.

Tax revenue of $442,500, Rossetti said, brings only $81 in tax relief to each residential taxpayer. He said he questions if traffic congestion, and damage to the environment and the town’s rural charm, is worth it.