They said a smaller “Home Depot Lite” might have worked — but not a 132,000 s.f. big box store. With that, the Zoning Board in Rindge, New Hampshire threw out a request from Home Depot for a special exception and a variance to build on nearly 18 acres of land on Route 202. The Zoning Board, at an earlier meeting in May, had voted to rescind Home Depot’s special exception. The retailer had been given approval last November to dredge and fill 16,000 s.f. of wetlands. The Zoning Board determined that a big box store would lower the value of the surrounding residential property, and that the special exception was in conflict with the spirit and intent of the town’s wetlands ordinance. When Home Depot came back with a new application for a special exception last week, the Zoning Board tossed them out on a 4 — 1 vote. The town’s attorney told the board that the new application was identical to the special exception request that was denied on May 11 and should be denied for the same reasons, according to the Monadnock Ledger. The Board also refused to give Home Depot a variance, because it would be contrary to public interest, due to the size and scope of the building proposed. “A Home Depot Lite could be built in there no problem,” one board member said. “I think it’s the intensity of the use. I think it’s a size 12 foot going into a size 9 boot,” another member was quoted as saying. The Ledger quoted one member of the Zoning Board as commenting that the Home Depot plan to fill in wetlands did not comply with the town’s wetlands ordinance. “They (town residents) don’t want buildings on the wetlands,” he said. “The town voted we should not build on wetlands,” another member said. “The wetlands are the kidneys of our water system.”
So Home Depot takes a kidney punch in Hew Hamsphire. Another Home Depot sinks into the wetlands. Our local contact in Rindge added this footnote: “We had our second Town of Rindge new Master Plan Meeting to see what kind of town the people want in the next 10 to 20 years. 99% want a village nodule, rural type planned-out town. It pays to fight for what you believe in.” For local contacts in Rindge who worked to defeat Home Depot, contact [email protected].
