Sunapee board approves permits, exemptions and $266,108 in invoices

Sunapee’s Selectboard cleared a heavy stack of routine town business at its May 4 meeting, approving 17 land-use permits, a series of property-tax exemptions and $266,108.74 in invoices that Town Manager Shannon Martinez certified as valid and properly processed.

Chair Anthony Dolan, Vice Chair Jeremy Hathorn, Aaron Whipple and Frederick Gallup were present, while David Andrews was absent. Martinez and Highway Director Mike Martell also attended the 6:30 p.m. meeting, where the board signed off on an intent-to-cut filing on Garnet Hill Road, solar exemptions, veterans credits, an elderly exemption, a denied solar exemption, a denied veterans credit and land-use change tax paperwork.

The permit approvals since the previous meeting included 9 certificates of compliance, 1 demolition permit, 3 land-disturbance permits, 1 sign permit and 3 short-term-rental permits. For property owners and applicants, those decisions kept a stream of projects moving through town without added delay, while the exemption votes set the tax treatment on several parcels.

The invoice batch, which was divided across the General Fund, Hydro Fund and Special Recreation Fund, gave a clear look at how much daily municipal spending runs through a single meeting in a town the size of Sunapee. The total, $266,108.74, covered the kind of recurring obligations that keep roads, utilities and recreation operations moving.

The board also approved a set of facility-use requests that will shape public space along the waterfront and in the harbor. The Lake Sunapee Cruising Fleet and Lake Sunapee Rowing Club received approvals, along with American Legion Post 25’s Memorial Day service and cannon firing at Sunapee Harbor on May 22 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The Lake Sunapee Protective Association also won approval for its antique boat parade at Sunapee Harbor on Aug. 9, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

A public hearing on road salt brought a different kind of local tradeoff into focus. Stu Greer of the Lake Sunapee Protective Association’s Watershed Committee presented a salt-management plan aimed at reducing the amount of salt reaching surface water and groundwater, while Martell outlined the equipment that would be used and described its benefits, savings and costs. The issue lands squarely in Sunapee’s day-to-day balance between winter road maintenance and protecting Lake Sunapee.

That balance has long been part of the watershed conversation. The Lake Sunapee Protective Association says road-salt chloride is toxic to aquatic life and harmful to trees, shrubs, vehicles, bridges, pets and wildlife, and the group says the watershed management plan is meant to protect water quality while addressing development pressure and more frequent severe storms linked to climate change. New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services guidance says watershed-based plans are prepared by stakeholder groups with state support and can guide water-quality planning and implementation projects, while local monitoring has shown Lake Sunapee conductivity in the 85 to 100 µS range, shaped in part by decades of salt use.