Neighbors don't want Goffstown YMCA water, view

GOFFSTOWN --- 04/13/07:  Neighbors of the Goffstown branch of the Greater Manchester Family YMCA at a public hearing last night took exception to expansion plans that members of the organization said are necessary to make the facility safer and more accessible. 

Referring to several engineering drawings, Ron Tetu, vice president of the abutting Medvil Cooperative told the planning board that it appears all of the runoff would dump onto his neighborhood. 

Despite assurances from engineers that the replacement of outdoor tennis courts with a grassy area would alleviate the problem, Tetu said the drawings for the project suggest otherwise. 

Tetu also said it was not true that the Medvil storm water system is inadequate. “May I remind you that you approved that storm water system and that it was properly designed for storm water originating on our property,” Tetu told the board. 

John Burpee, a Medvil resident, questioned the size of the new parking areas. Burpee cited a June 29, 2006 letter from Derek Horne, the town code zoning enforcement officer, which said the YMCA was required to have 191 parking spaces. After the expansion, the facility will have 246, which the letter described as a “surplus of parking.”  Tricia Wynne, a bus driver, said many of those spaces are taken up by parked buses. 

Wynne said some of the parking was inaccessible to disabled persons visiting the YMCA. Meg Norklun, the gymnastics director, said the additional parking also would be safer for mothers with young children. 

The YMCA plans include shifting the east entrance closer to the center of the property. Wynne said the existing entrances make it especially dangerous to drive a bus out of the facility. “I can tell you because I drive it, it is scary at best,” she said. 

Neighbors across the street, meanwhile, were worried about the visual impact of the new parking areas and the addition of 4,805 square feet to a building which they said already has a footprint of an acre and a half. They said they were worried the YMCA would cut down trees between that building and their properties. 

Tree cutting, one Goffstown Back Road resident said, would also affect the water table in the area. “We all know those trees are like giant straws sucking up the water,” said Jean Walker. 

Dave Doiron, president of the Medvil Cooperative, said the board was so concerned about the possibility of more flooding that it had hired an attorney and was also seeking out its own engineer to avert what he said were “very significant health hazards.”  The planning board continued the meeting to May 10.  Several board members said they thought the plans for the addition might change.