Posted by Susy Thielen on September 24th, 2008 — in Housing News
Census: Housing costs eat up half of more than 7 million Americans’ incomes
By ADRIAN SAINZ
The Associated Press
MIAMI
Al Ray is so strapped for cash, the only time he eats out is on Wednesday or Sunday, when the local McDonald’s sells hamburgers for 49 cents.
Ray lost his engineering job last November, and has been working as high school tutor, scratching out about $1,000 a month — if he’s lucky. He struggled to make his $1,400 monthly mortgage payment and $330 monthly homeowners’ association fee until May, when he stopped paying.
Ray, 44, is looking for work and renting out a room in his two-bedroom condo in Davie, Fla., for $500, but his monthly income doesn’t match his expenses and he’s facing foreclosure.
“I barely have money to survive,” he said. Read the rest of this page »
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Posted by Susy Thielen on September 4th, 2008 — in Housing News
By Casey Farrar
Sentinel Staff
Published: Thursday, September 04, 2008
JAFFREY — The Jaffrey Zoning Board of Adjustment has given a Rindge developer the green light on plans for a 28-unit development near Mount Monadnock.
But an opposition group, made up of local residents and the Society for the Protection of N.H. Forests, has vowed to take the matter back to court.
A ruling earlier this summer from Cheshire County Superior Court Judge John P. Arnold forced developer Robert B. Van Dyke to seek a variance from town wetlands ordinances for the proposed development between Cutter Brook and Stony Brook.
Arnold’s ruling meant the 28-unit development would have to be considered separate lots, each of which would be required by town ordinances to meet a 200-foot wetland buffer.
The zoning board ruled Sept. 2 that allowing a variance of the town ordinance would not be contrary to the public interest and a 50-foot buffer is more than adequate to protect both the brook and the pond.
“Neither the pond nor the brook are ‘public waters’ governed by similar state law or regulation,” the ruling said.
Opponents argue the development, which would have only 119 feet of shoreline frontage per unit, instead of the 200 feet required by town ordinances, should include only 11 units.
The variance includes four conditions, including a stipulation that residents of the development not use fertilizers or pesticides or other chemicals behind the buildings.
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