Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 7/12/2021 4:42:35 PM
The Town of Peterborough seeks to levy hefty fines for zoning and code violations against former Walden Eco Village landlord Akhil Garland and the Garland Family Realty Trust. The town filed its own suit against Garland in May, several months after Garland blamed the town for the December 2020 eviction of all 25 tenants at the Walden Eco Village in a separate, ongoing suit that several evicted tenants filed against Garland and his associated business and land trust in December.
The mass eviction followed a site inspection that revealed a number of permit and safety violations on the site, which was comprised of rental cottages as well as tiny houses, whose tenants accessed kitchen and bathroom facilities in a separate, communal building. Peterborough officials determined that eight of 15 total rental units were missing building permits, and other permitted structures were operating beyond their permitted use. Garland in
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 5/12/2021 12:10:55 PM
Peterborough’s Article 2 – and a Planning Board candidate who backed it – both won out at Town Meeting Tuesday, as voters passed all warrant articles and elected new members to the Planning, Zoning and Select boards while reelecting Town Clerk Linda Guyette.
New Planning Board member Stephanie Hurley said she hopes to work well with her colleagues after being driven to run for office by unpleasant experiences working with the board as a citizen, after petitions to repeal and/or modify Peterborough’s Traditional Neighborhood Overlay Zones I and II two years ago eventually led to a pair of lawsuits.
Next week, Peterborough voters will decide on Article 2, which seeks to strike a clause in the Open Space Residential Development ordinance that gives Planning Board members the ability to modify the requirements. Although the allowance was intended.
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 4/8/2021 10:48:12 AM
Just a handful of questions from community members made for a short question-and-answer component of Peterborough’s virtual Town Meeting on Tuesday night. It followed an informational session on March 30, and the two events constituted the deliberative session for Town Meeting this year, Town Administrator Nicole MacStay said.
Residents can continue submitting questions through May 10, and answers will be posted to the town’s website, MacStay said. Ballot voting on all articles is scheduled for May 11 at the Community Center.
Although there is a zoning amendment on the ballot this year, Article 2, which seeks to limit the Planning Board’s discretion in Open Space Residential Development proposals by eliminating a line of the zoning code, wasn’t discussed on March 30 because zoning amendments are typically not part of a Town Meeting’s deliberative session, MacStay said.
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 3/17/2021 3:55:58 PM
The proposed 26-home subdivision on the former site of the Walden Eco Village in Peterborough was met with a considerable amount of public opposition at a Planning Board meeting on Monday. It was the first opportunity for public comment on the formal proposal.
Applicant Akhil Garland first described his plan to subdivide the Walden Eco Village in July 2020, at which point 25 tenants were renting the seven cottages and nine tiny houses, or casitas, on site. The 52-acre property is accessed via Garland Way off Middle Hancock Road in Peterborough’s rural district. The project’s application process led town staff to discover that 15 structures on the property lacked required permits, including all the casitas. Town officials observed hazardous electrical and gas configurations during a December site visit associated with the application, which caused the town to evict the site’s 25 tenants on Dec. 16. A class-action law