Copyright keenesentinel
SWANZEY — A property that’s been at the center of a years-long controversy in town is for sale, and a local group is hoping to buy it. The dispute over the land on Base Hill Road, part of which is currently used by a storage facility, has appeared before Swanzey boards and at town meeting, where some neighbors pushed for sections of land along the road to be rezoned to prevent further development. Base Hill Road is a Class V highway connecting Routes 9 and 10 in the area of Horatio Colony Preserve and Yale Forest. The end toward Route 10 has other businesses along it, but as it heads toward Route 9 the road turns mainly residential, with single family homes and a mobile home park. In 2023, neighbors began protesting a proposal to expand the storage facility. They have since launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money in hopes of buying the land for conservation. The group’s concerns about further development on the property are twofold: They’ve said they’re worried about traffic on what they described as a quiet, residential road, and that the wetlands at the back of the property could be put at risk. “We have been fighting this proposed development for over a year, as it is entirely inappropriate for this location,” wrote Sharee Howard, the most vocal organizer, in a GoFundMe update she sent to The Sentinel. “... We need to buy this property to protect our homes, wildlife, wetlands, and the wildlife’s natural corridor. It’s the last open space in the area and should be placed under conservation protection.” Until recently, though, buying out the field and wetland was a bit of a pipe dream, because it wasn’t for sale. Now, Howard and her group of supporters are looking to quickly raise a big chunk of money. So far, 61 people have donated more than $25,000 to the cause. From farm to facility The storage facility on the property was built in 2000 after a farm at the site foreclosed in the ‘90s, according to property records. According to Howard, neighbors at the time weren’t aware of the sale. She said they likely would have tried to buy it then, when it sold for just $36,000, if they had known it would be sold and developed. A local company built storage containers on the site. Property records show it sold again in 2023, this time for $1.7 million to All Purpose Storage, a self-storage company with locations throughout the Northeast. The company planned to expand on what was already on the site. In August 2023, All Purpose Storage applied to the town’s planning board to build two trade-focused storage buildings that would be rented out to contractors to hold supplies and house offices with a total of 40 units. The buildings proposed would have totaled about 72,000 square feet with 51 parking spaces, according to board minutes. As of August 2024, the company was still working through the town’s zoning and planning boards to move forward with that plan, but pushback from Howard and others had complicated things. A local All Purpose Storage representative directed questions about the site to Franklin Street, the realty company that listed it. All Purpose Storage did not respond to a request for comment via email. What’s it worth? Franklin Street, a commercial real estate company based in North Carolina, now has the property listed for $2.1 million. The listing, which was created in September, describes the property as a “cash-flowing self storage asset” totaling 19,200 square feet that could “immediately increase revenue through existing customer rent increases.” In addition to the facility, the listing says the adjacent land, which is what Howard is interested in, is also for sale. The listing doesn’t set a price for that section, however. According to Avitar Associates assessing data, the entire property’s taxable value is $649,358. At Swanzey’s current tax rate of $19.06 per $1,000 valuation, the property likely contributes about $12,400 in taxes annually. Through board rooms and courts Since All Purpose Storage revealed its expansion plans for the property two years ago, Howard has been a thorn in the development’s side. Swanzey’s planning board and the town planner determined the proposed use of the construction was “services,” which is allowed in the town’s business district, according to board minutes. But Howard argued the planned use was actually better described as an “industrial park” or “warehousing.” In response, the town zoning board held an appeal hearing and determined that the use would actually be “professional and business offices,” which are also allowed. Howard appealed that decision to the Superior Court, which dismissed it in October 2024. Meanwhile, All Purpose Storage filed for a special exception from the zoning board to allow the project to go forward even if the use was found to be an industrial park or warehouse, zoning board minutes show. Zoning board members decided they couldn’t rule on that, having already decided the use was otherwise. At the July 2024 zoning board meeting, an attorney for the company argued the project wouldn’t significantly impact traffic nor harm the area with light or noise pollution, because the facility is set back from the road. Some local residents disagreed. Mary Fish told the board she was worried about noise, traffic and wetland habitats. Fish and another resident, Ali Rice, said the width of the road could prove an issue. It can’t be widened, Fish pointed out, because there are residences on one side and the Yale State Forest on the other. Traffic has increased on the road in recent years, according to a report for the Southwest Region Planning Commission’s 2025-2034 Ten-Year Plan, with heavy truck traffic becoming more common. Most of that increase has come from more travel between the two major routes, the report notes, not development along Base Hill Road itself. Those opposed to the project had the support of the town’s conservation commission. In 2023, when the project was first on the table, the commission sent a letter to the planning board saying it couldn’t support the proposal “due to major wetlands proximity, existing wildlife habitat and corridor, potential climate change-related flooding impacts, the sole existing grass-land habitat in the neighborhood and lack of onsite monitoring of potentially polluting materials.” Minutes show the planning board was split on how to handle the plans, too. When Howard petitioned to get it rezoned, three board members voted to endorse the town meeting article, while four voted not to. Like the majority of the planning board, then-selectboard Chair Sly Karasinski told The Sentinel he wasn’t on board with the petitioned article, which ultimately failed at town meeting. “We need a good mix of Land Use Zones to have a healthy mix of development in the Town. Business, Commercial and Industrial developments pay taxes that support Schools and the services the Residential developments use,” he said in an email about a month before town meeting. “Areas of Routes 10, 12, and 32 and the feeder roads like in this case Base Hill Road, have access to the transportation corridors needed for Business.” What’s next? According to Howard, she’s in talks with conservation groups in the area to help maintain the land if her group is able to buy it. But for now, the obstacle is the price tag. Because the current listing doesn’t have a set price for the part of the property not currently used by the facility, it’s not clear exactly how much neighbors need to raise. “What would be above fair is 100k,” Howard wrote in an Oct. 16 GoFundMe campaign update. She told supporters they need to “act soon” to get a fair market price. “I know it’s a scary time in our nation right now and not knowing the future,” she wrote. “One thing we all can do is protect our own environmental areas, backyards and open spaces.”
