Shayna Pryor joins Badger Peabody & Smith Realty
Shayna Pryor has earned her real estate license from the State of New Hampshire and has joined the firm of Badger Peabody & Smith Realty as a sales associate. Pryor will be working from their Gorham, NH, office located at 603 Main Street.
“I grew up in the area and after high school left for over a decade. I came back and started our family in the area I love. Having worked in hospitality for over two decades, my passion for helping others is strong. Working in real estate combines my many interests – helping people reach their goals, working in the community and continuing my education to benefit our sellers and buyers. I am looking forward to a new chapter at Badger Peabody & Smith Realty and helping everyone experience this great area we all get to call home.”
Brendan Battenfelder, VP of Sales said, “From the moment we met Shayna, we knew she would be a great addition to our Gorham team. She enjoys working with others, is ready to learn the nuances of real estate and help our clients and customers on their real estate journey.”
Pryor will be joining other agents in the Gorham office including Don Lapointe, Jeff Gagnon and her mentor, Kate Frisk. For Badger Peabody & Smith Realty, a standard protocol is to have a mentor available to new agents and be a resource for them to expand their knowledgebase to further benefit their clients and customers.
Pryor grew up in Berlin/Milan and Gorham and knows the area extensively. She enjoys spending time with her immediate family and her extensive family who live in the area. In addition, they all enjoy the many activities the area has to offer. — Contributed to NH Business Review
MWV STR association sues Conway
Claiming that Conway has embarked on an “illegal rental licensing scheme,” the Mt. Washington Valley Association for Responsible Vacation Rentals is suing the town in Superior Court.
“Mt. Washington Valley Association for Responsible Vacation Rentals, et al. v. Town of Conway,” filed Tuesday afternoon, will be heard in the state’s land use court at Hillsborough County Superior Court North in Manchester.
This marks the second time the town and the North Conway-based association have clashed in court.
The other plaintiff in the case is White Mountain Properties, LLC of Medford, Mass. which owns several rental properties in Conway. According to the New Hampshire of Secretary of State’s Office, White Mountain Properties belongs to Jerry and James Decristofaro. Jerry Decristofaro is a past association president.
The association is represented by Matt Johnson of Devine Millimet and Branch. Johnson asks the court to determine that the program was passed without lawful authority and to prohibit the town from enforcing the program.
“While the Renters’ Association has always made safety a priority, the warrantless searches of residential property are very problematic,” said Association President David Cavanaugh in a press release Tuesday, adding the assocation prefers Jackson’s regulations which doesn’t require inspections.
“Sadly, they ignored our input. They seem determined to send Conway back to court, to decide the issue for them. We are confident N.H. courts will again uphold private property rights, like they did in the Conway v. Kudrick and Freedom v. Cotter cases we won,” he said.
The Sun informed Deputy Town Manager Paul DegliAngeli of the lawsuit. “News to us,” he said.
This is now the second time the town of Conway and assocation have clashed.
In May of last year, the New Hampshire Supreme Court sided with the assocation in a case where the town sued assocation member Scott Kudrick claiming the town’s zoning ordinance barred non-owner occupied renting. Johnson represented Kudrick.
Since then, Conway created a licensing program that requires physical inspections of long and short-term rentals, for a fee. If the rentals pass, town officials will grant a certificate of rental compliance. The program kicked off in September. Selectmen asked voters ratify the program in an April 9 vote and they did, 1,004-743.
“The town, as a creature of statute, has only the powers expressly or impliedly granted to it by the legislature,” said Johnson. “The town lacks statutory authority to implement the rental licensing scheme. The legislature has not granted municipalities the power to restrict an owner’s ability to rent his or her property unless the owner consents to a search of the premises.”
Johnson continued, “By implementing the rental licensing scheme, the town has exceeded its statutory authority. Thus, its rental licensing scheme is illegal.”
The lawsuit says the program forces property owners to choose between their right to be free from unreasonable searches and the right to use their property.
“Under the rental licensing scheme the town is unconstitutionally searching the rental properties of owners without a warrant supported by probable cause,” said Johnson. “Accordingly, the Court should declare that the rental licensing scheme violates the United States and New Hampshire Constitutions.”
Johnson asks Klass to issue a temporary or permanent injunction against the program.
“Because the town’s rental licensing scheme violates the United States and New Hampshire Constitutions, it should pay the Plaintiffs’ reasonable costs and attorney’s fees,” said Johnson.
In an interview last month, DegliAngeli and Zoning Enforcement Officer Nicholas DeVito said the first violation notices to property owners out of compliance with the Conway rental program may go out in October. — Daymond Steer, Conway Daily Sun
Boscawen’s newly formed Building Task Force met for the first time on Thursday, August 1, 2024. (Photo by Jeremy Margolis, Concord Monitor)
Boscawen to develop plan for future of aging municipal buildings
Boscawen embarked on a major evaluation of the future of its town infrastructure, including its fire station, emergency medical service site and public works building.
A five-member building task force will spend the next two years studying and ultimately proposing recommendations for how to address a crop of aging municipal buildings that have increasingly hampered town operations.
The task force, which met for the first time last Thursday, will present an interim report at next year’s town meeting and a final one the following year. Any building projects would not break ground until at least late 2026.
Rather than addressing infrastructure questions in a piecemeal fashion, Boscawen’s Select Board, which convened the task force, decided a comprehensive approach would make the most sense.
“We’re really not doing ourselves any favor to continue to kick the can down the road,” Select Board Chair Lorrie Carey said in an interview. “Essentially, we’re making this the problem of our children and our grandchildren, and that’s not right. We need to take a hold of this and solve it.”
Boscawen’s population is steadily growing, but its property tax base is not high. The town’s capital reserves will likely be insufficient to cover major building costs, and the town has not historically taken out bonds – but that may need to change.
“I think that that is the benefit of having new people move into town who’ve come from elsewhere where they’ve bonded buildings, and it has helped to maintain the stable tax rate because that cost is spread out over 20 or 30 years,” Carey said.
At the top of the task force’s list is the town’s fire station at 17 High St., which has “begun to deteriorate,” Carey said. The building is both too small and is plagued by issues with its drainage, lighting, and water line. The town has already spent approximately $23,000 this year to address urgent problems that have arisen.
The task force will also assess the future of emergency medical services. Currently, the non-profit Penacook Rescue Squad – which services Boscawen, as well as Canterbury and Salisbury – operates out of a building at 1 Oak St., but the space cannot fit the additional ambulance that an increase in service calls requires.
The task force will consider a range of options, including an expansion at the current location or bringing emergency medical services in-house. The former would mean Boscawen residents could have to foot the bill for a building that services Salisbury and Canterbury residents as well, but the latter would cost an estimated $1 million more on an annual basis.
As part of its deliberations, the task force may consider whether it makes sense to ultimately build a public safety complex that houses police, fire and EMS in one location, according to Carey.
The fate of the public works building at 13 Woodbury Lane will also be under consideration. The building has HVAC deficiencies and cannot accommodate certain vehicle sizes, Carey said.
Hanging over the prospect of future renovations will be the question of how to pay for them. An estimate for the fire station renovations alone that was conducted three years ago came out to $8.5 million, more than the town’s annual budget of $4.9 million.
Part of the task force’s work will be to communicate its recommendations directly.
“We have to come up with a sellable plan,” said Fred Reagan, a member of the task force and the former facilities director for the Merrimack Valley School District.
In addition to Reagan, the task force is composed of Bill Murphy, a longtime builder who has worked on other town projects; Josh Crawford, who has a background in property management; Tom Laliberte, the former principal of Loudon Elementary School; and Loren Martin, who has a background in assessing.
The task force’s next meeting will be on August 15 at 5:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of Boscawen’s Municipal Building. — Jeremy Margolis, Concord Monitor
A Dover developer has scaled down a proposal to bring affordable housing to 52 Old Rochester Road, dropping 16 units from the plan after proposing it last year to the city. The revised proposal will be heard by the city’s Technical Review Committee on Aug. 8. (Provided by the City of Dover Department of Planning and Community Development)
Dover affordable housing plan: 48 units.
Forty-eight affordable housing units and a commercial building are proposed to be built at 52 Old Rochester Road.
An existing office, apartment and a detached garage on the site would be replaced with the 48 one-bedroom units, spread out across two new three-story residential buildings, and a third building dedicated to commercial uses, according to plans filed with the city. The residential buildings would have a 6,007-square-foot footprint, while the commercial building would have a 3,009-square-foot footprint.
The updated pitch from Dover developer Robert Paolini, the principal behind applicant and Central Avenue-based business Dover Development LLC, will be heard by the city’s Technical Review Committee in early August. Paolini’s company is the owner of the site.
The two proposed residential buildings would each have 24 units priced in accordance with fair market rates as set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The federal department’s fair market rental rates for the Portsmouth to Rochester region state a one-bedroom housing unit should cost a maximum $1,582 a month.
Plans for the proposed commercial building at the front of the Old Rochester Road property have not been finalized by the developer.
“The commercial building is currently contemplated for 4 separate uses, but will be subject to change during finalization and fit-up,” reads a project narrative from Berry Surveying and Engineering on behalf of Paolini’s plan. “The project design currently (assumes) the majority of the commercial building will be office space with a gym and (laundromat).”
The new development, if approved, would be connected to the city’s water and sewer systems. Eighty-seven parking spaces are proposed for the site, in addition to an access point from a new private roadway that would be named “Blazer Drive.”
The private construction is estimated to cost $6.5 million as a whole, per the proposal.
The proposal notes the site was previously approved for 15 mixed-use condominium structures, a permit that has since expired. The proposed project would be located in Dover’s commercial zoning district.
“The minimum lot size of 20,000 square feet encourages moderately sized commercial uses,” city code says of the zoning district. “The district provides economic development opportunities for a mix of land uses, including retail sales, personal services, restaurants, automobile sales, hotels, offices, banks, and theaters. Other commercial uses and multifamily dwellings are allowed by special exception.”
In 2023, the applicant received a city variance for the project, allowing the project to go forward as designed, with the proposed residential and commercial uses located in separate structures.
The applicant needs city approval to purchase 34 of the proposed residential units through the city’s transfer of development rights program for no fee because of the affordable housing component.
The proposal will go before the Technical Review Committee on Thursday, Aug. 8, at 10:30 a.m. in City Hall. — Ian Lenehan, Foster’s Daily Democrat
