Windham residents debate merits of conservation easement
August 14, 2008
Eagle Tribune
WINDHAM — A proposed easement on 83 acres of town conservation land would protect the land from development forever.
At the town deliberative session Tuesday, residents and the selectmen laid out their reasoning for and against the proposal, to be presented to voters as Article 2 on the warrant at the Special Town Meeting Sept. 9.
Supporters said the conservation easement lends legal protection to land the town already has decided to protect. Furthermore, the town will benefit from a $177,500 well water protection grant from the state if Windham deeds the easement to a third party.
Opponents said there is no way of knowing the town’s future needs and it would be inappropriate to tie the hands of future generations.
Under the easement, the town would continue to own the land and manage it as it sees fit, said Phil Auger, a forester with the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension and a member of the Southeast Land Trust board of directors.
The easement merely extinguishes the rights to develop or mine the land, he said.
The only way the town could reclaim the development rights to the property would be through eminent domain court action — basically proving that there is an overriding public benefit for building on the conservation land.
Opponent Galen Stearns said there is no way of knowing what the town’s needs will be 25, 50 or 100 years from now.
“Let’s not give up our rights,” he said.
Supporter Margaret Crisler said the town has already decided it wants that area set aside as conservation land. She urged voters to trust the conservation effort of today and protect the land for tomorrow.
The land is made up of two parcels near several hundred acres of town conservation property.
Easement protection also would come through the oversight of a third party, the Southeast Land Trust. The trust would hold the easement deed and members would regularly inspect the land to ensure that it was not being built upon or used for dumping.
Selectmen have yet to vote on their recommendation for Article 2.
The town petitioned Superior Court to hold the special town meeting. Voting is slated for Sept. 9 between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. at Golden Brook School. The article needs a simple majority for approval.
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Note: Special meetings are ONLY supposed to be held for ‘emergencies’.