What Neighborhood Guardians Have Accomplished
October 2006
Neighborhood Guardians is a local, grassroots organization founded in December 2005 by concerned residents of Nottingham and Barrington.
No doubt, by now, you have heard that USA Springs, Inc. intends to pump 309,000 gallons/day of water (112 million gallons/year) from their site on Route 4. On November 16, 2005 the Nottingham Planning Board voted to approve the USA Springs, Inc. site plan for a bottling plant to serve their wells.
This project has the potential to negatively impact property values and hence the tax burden of all residents. Plus, the increase of tractor-trailer traffic that will emanate to and from the plant will affect the safety of you and your family when traveling on Routes 4 or 125.
The fight to protect our groundwater, health, safety and property values is not over.
Despite clear-cutting the land at the proposed site this spring, USA Springs, Inc. has not begun construction of its bottling plant, and they face additional hurdles before construction or production from their wells can begin.
What has Neighborhood Guardians done so far to help ensure that USA Springs, Inc. plans are adequately scrutinized?
Neighborhood Guardians is one of several entities (town, individuals and citizen organizations) involved in lawsuits and regulatory actions related to the USA Springs, Inc. project. Several of these actions are still under consideration by the courts, or respective state or federal agency. Neighborhood Guardians appealed to the Rockingham Superior Court contesting the Nottingham Planning Board's approval of the USA Springs, Inc. site development plan. We retained Baldwin, Callen & Ransom, PLLC for this appeal.
The appeal case was heard May 22, 2006 at Rockingham Superior Court.
Attorneys for Neighborhood Guardians and the towns of Nottingham and Barrington argued that we do have the right to take actions to prevent adverse impacts to the quality of the water in our wells, and to require that the applicant escrow funds to be used in the event their large groundwater withdrawal creates water problems for households. The conditions attached to the permit by the DES address water quantity, but not quality. Neighborhood Guardians advocates a water quality monitoring plan to detect movement of pollutants in the groundwater. Several known contamination sites lie nearby and could be drawn into the aquifer by their large water withdrawal, and might possibly pollute existing household wells served by the common aquifer.
What is USA Springs, Inc. doing?
USA Springs, Inc. also filed an appeal to the Planning Board's decision in Superior Court to strip away the conditions they had agreed to in negotiation with the Planning Board. This action suggests that they were not acting in good faith when they negotiated these conditions. Ask yourself if this is the type of business neighbor you want in your community.
USA Springs' Inc. Attorney Mosca took the extreme position at the hearing that the towns are completely powerless to protect the very resource that we cannot live without. Neighborhood Guardians, Town of Barrington and Town of Nottingham attorneys argued otherwise.
The Court's Decision?
The judge ruled that the Nottingham Planning Board and the company must come to some agreement as to which conditions, if any, are pre-empted by the state's permit.
The Nottingham Planning Board and the company have come to an agreement to the conditions and submitted them back to the judge for review and decision.
What else is happening?
• The Neighborhood Guardians also appealed the Planning Board decision to the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) which granted the original special exceptions and allowed this project to move forward. At issue is non-compliance with these special exceptions. This appeal was in effect denied by the ZBA and has been appealed to superior court. The trial date has not yet been scheduled.
The ZBA in 2001 mandated that the Planning Board would work with NH Department of Environmental Services to create a water quality monitoring plan-This action did not occur!
• Neighborhood Guardians has successfully petitioned the NH Department of Transportation to hear our concerns about traffic safety. If a hearing is granted we will post the date and time on this website so please check back often.
One truck passing through the company's gates every 4½ minutes between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. will potentially create serious safety hazards along Route 4. No acceleration lane is planned for eastbound trucks (which the company states is 80% of expected traffic). This area on Route 4 already has the highest accident rate in the Town of Nottingham.
Other Activities?
• The NH Division of Historical Resources has been made aware of possible Native American and Revolutionary War gravesites on or near the property of USA Springs, Inc. A sensitivity study will need to be conducted before construction of their facility can begin.
• In March the NH Wetlands Council returned the general wetlands permit to DES for reconsideration of impacts of groundwater withdrawal itself to surrounding wetlands. At the January 2005 hearing only impacts due to monitoring devices were considered.
• The Army Corps of Engineers may consider impacts of this project on both wetlands and surface water, as this area is part of the headwaters of the Little River Watershed which is the largest tributary feeding the Lamprey River. Portions of the Lamprey River are formally designated "Scenic and Wild" by the National Park Service.
How can you make a difference?
- Make a Donation
- Join the Blue Ribbon Campaign
- Become a Volunteer