Warner NH - A great place to live

March 18, 2007 - I'd like to thank everyone that spent the time to fully understand what the issues were concering Article 9 and that voted in favor of the wording change. As you can clearly see from the images above, there would be no difference in the maximum size of a building that can be built in Warner. The only difference was how the interior of the building was finished.
I've heard of at least two instances of elderly people in town having received what they described as a "frightening phone call" telling them they had to go to town and vote against Article 9. If you or someone you know received one of these calls and were frightened by what you heard, I'd like to hear about it. Please send me a message using our contact form and tell me about your experience.
Without this change, Warner will not be able to develop professional office space that would bring people to Warner to work and shop in our town. Instead it seems the majority of residents would prefer businesses such as gas stations, fast food restaurants, or drug stores. These types of businesses foster high volumes of automobile traffic that will likely venture no further than the exit 9 commercial area. In addtion, the taxable value of these types of businesses will be significantly less than what we could have had. Because of this, our tax bills will be higher.
I think it's sad to think that growing professional businesses that have outgrown their garage-shop or home-business roots will have to move their businesses out of town in order to grow and survive. The loss of tax revenue and employee spending from these companies will be sorely missed.
It's a good thing that the current zoning wording was not in place when Warner Power (previously known as Walker Power), Mesa International, Milton CAT, or Market Basket wanted to bring their companies to Warner. Under the current zoning, these businesses would not have been allowed to construct their buildings here in Warner.
Signed by your neighbors,
Dan and Mary Watts

PS: Definitions of Big box store on the Web:
Big box store is a colloquial term used to describe a retail store housed in a rectangular, one-floor building with a high ceiling. This design provides space for a large amount of merchandise and serves as an enormous billboard to attract customers. Opponents of retail chains criticize big boxes especially for being visually overbearing: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_box_store
This definition does not match the usage that was portrayed by Citizens for Smart Growth. I've heard people speaking on behalf of Citizens for Smart Growth refer to the rejection of Article 9 as insuring "appropriate scale" of buildings. Voting against Article 9 has done nothing to change the scale of any new buildings. Buildings can still have a footprint of 20,000 sqft and a height of 35'. Had Article 9 passed, the scale of new buildings would not have changed.

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