Peterborough ZBA says no to Monadnock Rod & Gun Club appeal
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The Monadnock Rod and Gun Club in Peterborough. STAFF FILE PHOTO BY BEN CONANT
By JULIA STINNEFORD
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 2/9/2022 11:26:45 AM
Modified: 2/9/2022 11:25:05 AM
Monadnock Rod & Gun Club suffered a setback in its efforts to re-establish a shooting range on its property, as the Peterborough Zoning Board of Adjustment denied its appeal of an administrative decision on the grandfathered status of the property, but left avenues open for the applicants to pursue further action.
The administrative decision, delivered in November by Tim Herlihy, the town’s code enforcement officer and building inspector, was in response to a site plan review application submitted by the club to the Planning Board. The club was shut down after a series of lawsuits from the town and abutters when it was found to have expanded one of its ranges without proper permits, filled in wetland areas and crossed over an abutting property line, and is looking to have a shooting range on the property as a way to recoup legal costs and allow the business to function again.
In his decision, Herlihy stated that the club’s application should not move forward, as the location of the club’s outdoor shooting range was not grandfathered within the town’s 2019 ordinance banning outdoor shooting ranges.
The vote to deny the appeal was unanimous. Vice Chair Peggy Leedberg explained the decision by comparing the shooting range to the example of an illegal boathouse.
“If you have one that was there before they’re made illegal, you can continue using it,” she said. “You have the right to maintain and to use it. What you cannot do is pick it up and move it 50 feet. They had a shooting range, they changed it, and now they want to move it back. Well, you can’t do that, because once you moved it, you abandoned where it was.”
Arguing in defense of his administrative decision, Herlihy presented aerial photographs of the property showing the original shooting range went from east to west from 1997 to 2015, at which point the club began encroaching on abutting property and extending into a new range that went in a south-to-north direction.
“They abandoned the grandfathered location here,” Herlihy said. “Both the direction of firing and the location of firing have changed.”
Upon the board’s decision, Chair Sharon Monahan made it clear that the decision was narrow and focused upon the issue of location.
“I want it to be specific that they are still grandfathered as an outdoor shooting range and that this has to do with the footprint," she said. “I know how important it is for people to retain their grandfathered rights, I just do.”
Just prior to the vote denying the appeal, Monahan recommended that the club next come before the ZBA seeking a special exception.
Attorney Kelly Dowd, representing the club, argued that Herlihy’s decision was flawed, and that the board should focus on the use being grandfathered rather than the location.
“This is not a proper land-use decision,” he said.
Among other arguments, Dowd said state law prohibited the ordinance in question and that the nature of use, having not changed, should allow the overturning of Herlihy’s decision.
“It seems as if this business is being specifically singled out,” he said.
Dowd also acknowledged the club’s history, and said, “They’re trying to do things right and make amends.”
“But they need approval in order to do so,” he said. “My client would like to work with the ZBA and the Planning Board and code enforcement to do this, and do it right, and make amends for everything that was done in the past, and contribute to the community in that way.”
Attorney Phil Runyon, speaking for the Perry family, whose property was trespassed upon by the shooting range, argued that due to the club’s actions, they had given up all rights to being grandfathered.
“I don’t know why the board would think that the club would retain any rights or acquire any rights on a south-to-north range that was a trespass on other people’s property,” he said. “Tim’s decision was right on the money as far as we’re concerned.”
Club members also spoke up during the meeting, expressing their concerns for the future of the club. Member Tom Cooney said the rich history of the club, dating back to the 1940s, should be considered.
“We’re here to fix an egregious thing by maintaining a use that is truly grandfathered,” he said.
Another member, George Striker, pointed out that the club did more than just operate the shooting range, including offering hunter education and fishing.
“That club was there for a long time," he said. “I’d like for everybody to stop beating up on the club, I don’t think that’s right.”