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July 08. 2012 10:47PM
Londonderry developer to complain about impact fees tonight
LONDONDERRY — At least one Londonderry developer plans on airing grievances during Monday night’s Town Council meeting, alleging the town may have been misappropriating private funds for well over a decade.
On Friday afternoon, Bedford attorney Patricia Panciocco, who represents one of the local developers, said she planned on attending Monday’s meeting on behalf of her client.
Panciocco hopes the issue can be resolved civilly during this week’s public discussion and through other open communications with town officials. She said other developers may be attending the meeting as well.
She further noted that her client’s ultimate goal is, in essence, to get the town “to clean up its act, fix what’s wrong, return what they should return and remain within the confines of the law.”
Panciocco declined to identify her client.
Early last week, Interim Town Manager William Hart announced that the town could owe up to $1.3 million in combined impact fees to local developers and property owners, which Hart attributed to improper collections processes.
Hart, the town’s police chief, has been serving as the temporary town manager since last month, when town officials announced that Town Manager David Caron was taking a temporary leave of absence due to a family matter. It is unknown at this time when Caron will be able to resume his duties.
The Town Council plans to address the town’s impact fees situation during Monday night’s meeting, which is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the Moose Hill Council Chambers at Londonderry Town Hall.
On Friday afternoon, Council Chairman John Farrell, who was traveling out of state last week, referred all inquiries to Hart.
Hart said the town offices received a couple of phone calls on the matter since the public announcement was made, though the amount of citizen feedback received thus far was “definitely not an inordinate amount.”
According to Hart, town officials, including Caron, had been working to address the issue before Caron’s leave of absence.
“After gathering all the information and speaking with our legal counsel, we agreed this definitely needed to be addressed as soon as possible,” Hart added. “We didn’t want to wait.”
The impact fees discussion will take place at the start of Monday’s Town Council meeting, under the public comment segment. In that spirit, Hart said, citizens will be encouraged to speak up and ask questions.
Like many other Granite State municipalities, Londonderry imposes impact fees to help defray the additional costs of the town’s capital improvements.
In May 2011, Hart said it was first brought to the town’s attention that Londonderry “may have improperly collected impact fees for improvements to state highways,” and may have also failed to return impact fees that were deemed expired.
Based on the town’s records and a recent investigation into its impact fees practices, town officials have recently concluded that the town should refund the impact fees collected for improvements on state highways and the expired impact fees. The town’s record-keeping, accounting and notification practices also have been revised to ensure that the errors do not reoccur, according to Hart.
aguilmet@newstote.com
On Friday afternoon, Bedford attorney Patricia Panciocco, who represents one of the local developers, said she planned on attending Monday’s meeting on behalf of her client.
Panciocco hopes the issue can be resolved civilly during this week’s public discussion and through other open communications with town officials. She said other developers may be attending the meeting as well.
She further noted that her client’s ultimate goal is, in essence, to get the town “to clean up its act, fix what’s wrong, return what they should return and remain within the confines of the law.”
Panciocco declined to identify her client.
Early last week, Interim Town Manager William Hart announced that the town could owe up to $1.3 million in combined impact fees to local developers and property owners, which Hart attributed to improper collections processes.
Hart, the town’s police chief, has been serving as the temporary town manager since last month, when town officials announced that Town Manager David Caron was taking a temporary leave of absence due to a family matter. It is unknown at this time when Caron will be able to resume his duties.
The Town Council plans to address the town’s impact fees situation during Monday night’s meeting, which is set to begin at 7 p.m. in the Moose Hill Council Chambers at Londonderry Town Hall.
On Friday afternoon, Council Chairman John Farrell, who was traveling out of state last week, referred all inquiries to Hart.
Hart said the town offices received a couple of phone calls on the matter since the public announcement was made, though the amount of citizen feedback received thus far was “definitely not an inordinate amount.”
According to Hart, town officials, including Caron, had been working to address the issue before Caron’s leave of absence.
“After gathering all the information and speaking with our legal counsel, we agreed this definitely needed to be addressed as soon as possible,” Hart added. “We didn’t want to wait.”
The impact fees discussion will take place at the start of Monday’s Town Council meeting, under the public comment segment. In that spirit, Hart said, citizens will be encouraged to speak up and ask questions.
Like many other Granite State municipalities, Londonderry imposes impact fees to help defray the additional costs of the town’s capital improvements.
In May 2011, Hart said it was first brought to the town’s attention that Londonderry “may have improperly collected impact fees for improvements to state highways,” and may have also failed to return impact fees that were deemed expired.
Based on the town’s records and a recent investigation into its impact fees practices, town officials have recently concluded that the town should refund the impact fees collected for improvements on state highways and the expired impact fees. The town’s record-keeping, accounting and notification practices also have been revised to ensure that the errors do not reoccur, according to Hart.
aguilmet@newstote.com