Beach Access Agreement Delayed, Nottingham Board Faces Criticism

The Nottingham Board of Selectmen disclosed that it had received a proposed draft agreement from the Town Attorney about the road access. The board reviewed this at their prior non-public session and concluded that the draft did not meet the conditions the board had discussed with the property owners, and that the agreement would be similar to existing easements for snowmobile trails. The Town Attorney has yet to prepare a new draft, due to being preoccupied with having to spend much of last week defending the board in court. It was noted that the Town Attorney was asked in February to draft this agreement and that the Town Attorney has been made aware that the board considers resolving this to be urgent.

The board received public comments and correspondence about the ongoing situation of Town Beach being closed. There was an issue with the correspondence: even though the email was sent to bospc@nottingham-nh.gov - the address given on the town’s website - the Selectmen did not receive the correspondence and were thus unprepared to discuss the suggestions provided in the correspondence. 

The public comments were about frustration that the board has had all of this time to resolve the issue and that it has yet to do so. The board was asked to identify what the crux of the problem was. In response, Selectman Dabrieo recommended that one watch the video of the May 23 meeting where these matters were discussed.

Sign at Nottingham Town BeachPhoto byDoug Bates