Pillsbury Lake commissioner asks Webster to create separate residential zoning for the district

Micheal Malecha, a commissioner with the Pillsbury Lake Water District, asked the Webster Planning Board on Jan. 6 to develop a separate residential zoning ordinance for the Pillsbury Lake Village District, saying existing deed restrictions are no longer enforceable because the district has no homeowners association to enforce them.

The request matters because, Malecha said, residents have complained to the district commissioners about problems they cannot resolve: “resident of the district had been complaining to the commissioners about the issues but nothing could be done because law enforcement and other Town officials lacked the authority because there was no existing ordinance.” He gave several examples of the complaints commissioners had been receiving but did not spell out specific cases in the record.

Select Board Chair David Hemenway said he supports collaborating with the district to find solutions but raised practical concerns about enforcement costs, asking how additional enforcement would be funded. Malecha responded that fees could be implemented to cover those costs. Member Theresa Finnemore cautioned that the Town does not have all of the enforcement powers an HOA would, noting that the Town could not, for example, take the same actions on a barking-dog complaint or impose identical fines that an HOA might.

Hemenway also warned that adopting a municipal ordinance could leave many current uses grandfathered, and he told Malecha that deed restrictions remain on the books and that property owners could pursue civil suits to enforce them. Hemenway suggested the district might re-form an HOA; Malecha said he had discussed re-establishing an HOA with the New Hampshire Municipal Association and that NHMA advised revising the zoning ordinance instead.

After a lengthy discussion about what the Town could and could not enforce, the Planning Board said it found many of the district’s concerns legitimate and agreed to work with district commissioners and residents to draft amendments. The board emphasized that any changes would need to be written so they apply only to the Pillsbury Lake Village District, and invited the district to bring draft language back for the board to review at a future meeting.

At the same meeting the board approved routine minutes and later voted to adjourn; both motions were recorded as passing 4–0.