The following article appeared on Record Enterprise on March 23, 2006.

Interim regulations hearing set in Groton Concerned Citizens obtain noise level conclusion
Record Enterprise
STEFANIE PHILLIPS

03/23/2006 - GROTON — Residents and other area citizens are encouraged to attend a public hearing on the interim land use regulations as adopted by the planning board in February. The hearing will be held Wednesday, March 29 at 7 p.m. at Newfound Regional High School.

The planning board will be collecting input and finalizing the ordinance. A second public hearing will be held if needed. A special town meeting will be held in May for residents to vote on the regulations.

The interim regulations were presented in February by Attorney Barry Schuster, representing the Concerned Citizens for Regional Impact, who formed over concerns about a proposed military-style training facility.

North American Training Inc. showed their plans for a 150-acre facility containing indoor and outdoor shooting ranges, a skeet range, residential lodges and other training facilities, to a small group of residents in January. A second informational meeting was scheduled for Feb. 15 but was supposed to be rescheduled after the amount of attendees exceeded the Groton Town House's allowable capacity.

Under interim land use regulations, any new, major proposed commercial developments must obtain the town's approval through public hearings. If adopted, the regulations would last one year. Current businesses are exempt.

Towns without zoning regulations, "unusual circumstances requiring prompt attention," and "for the developing a growth management process" are permitted to adopt these regulations. Among the reasons these conditions exist, the planning board cited the master plan, impacts to town services, public safety and the rural character of the town.

The ordinance regulating town development designates Groton a residential community providing "rural and residential housing as well as agricultural and timber management." Non-residential uses including commercial and industrial uses require a special exception, to be granted by the board of adjustment.

The special exception has four components addressing neighborhood character, hazards, public health and safety and the site itself.

A similar proposal was made in the town of Farmington last year. The town's zoning ordinances were clear about the agricultural residential district where the property was located. Special exceptions could not be granted if the potential project created a hazard or had an affect on property values.

CCFRI recently consulted Kenneth Kaliski, director of environmental services at Resource Systems Group out of White River Junction, Vt. He reviewed the noise levels presented by NATL and concluded "noise from the range will be significantly more than NATL is presenting and thus a detailed mitigation plan should be prepared" in a letter to CCFRI.

In his findings, he said several assumptions were made, including one shot bing fired at a time, a reduction in sound levels for the doubling of distance and a reduction in noise from forest cover.

Kaliski goes on to state "the NATL presentation with regards to noise is erroneous and should not be used to evaluate the impacts of the proposed training facility." He said he has studied other firing ranges in addition to being an experienced noise control engineer.

When asked about noise levels during an interview in February, NATL President William Gifford told the Record Enterprise he did not have that information readily available.

NATL recently held a private meeting for 25 attendees at the Common Man Inn in Plymouth. The press, town officials and CCFRI members were not invited. Another meeting with NATL has not been scheduled at this time, but Gifford did say he would be holding a future meeting with the press.