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From the Citizen

Ames Farm will be reviewing its options after the Zoning Board of Adjustment narrowly decided that certain activities at the lakefront resort can no longer be allowed.

The Gilford ZBA granted the appeal of the Planning Board decision of the site plan for Ames Farm that was issued earlier this summer.

"Naturally, the Ames family is disappointed," their attorney, Rod Dyer, said Tuesday.

Board members Scott Davis, Donald Chesebrough and Chairman Andrew Howe voted for the appeal to be granted, while Charles Boucher and Robert Dion voted against it.

The board concluded that the nonconforming use of Ames Farm will not be grandfathered, leaving the Ames family without a valid town approval site plan for its operations.

The group of neighboring property owners presented its case at the last meeting to overturn the site plan that was approved on July 7. The neighbors are questioning uses of the property by the general public and whether they have the right to keep current operations running.

"The Planning Board can't interrupt zoning ordinances and it should have never been approved in the first place," said attorney Paul Bordeau, who represents the neighboring property owners. "The process of making a zoning ordinance lies within jurisdiction of the zoning board."

The main debate in the Ames Farm case is whether the Ames family used the property for public use before 1962, when the town first adopted zoning. The Ames family argued that the property was in fact used as an acting marina.

"According to Bob Ames, he remembered collection money at the boat ramp from boaters," said board member Charles Boucher.

Dyer presented his testimony at the last meeting in hopes that the appeal would not be issued, but it ultimately did not go in favor of the Ames family.

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