Does Ossipee Want to Attract Business or Not? 

The following editorial appears in the May 26, 2016 issue of the Independent

This week we report on the second rejection in as many years by Ossipee selectmen of an application by Hobbs Tavern to hold concerts on a property be- hind the restaurant. As our reporter Carol Holyoake details in her front page article, the Hobbs request this year is for only two concerts instead of the concert series it proposed last year. Rather than the last-minute request made last year, this proposal was obvious- ly given a lot of thought and took into account the concerns raised by neighborhood abutters last year. Also this year Hobbs had in hand the variance that selectmen said was needed last year.

Despite all of this extra thought and effort and an expressed willingness to work out any remaining is- sues, the selectmen once again refused to issue the needed permit. The reason given, that selectmen were respond- ing to neighborhood concerns, was less than con- vincing since the neighbors had not seen the re- vised plans. At the same time, the board’s rejection begs the question: does Ossipee really want to attract new business to the town?

In the past two years the board has apparently answered that question on a number of occasions with a resounding Yes! To take but one example: when selectmen rejected the Conservation Commission’s request for $3,000 to do a buildout analysis (a process where existing zoning rules are applied to undeveloped land to show how the town will look when all available land in town is developed), a chief concern was that the analysis would be used to con- strain commercial development. Another example is the creation this year of an Economic Development Committee (EDC).

However, when Hobbs Tavern, one of Ossipee’s success stories, comes up with a proposal that will bring customers into Ossipee for concerts, the an- swer is No! There can be little doubt that offering entertainment is a proven way to increase tourism: Wolfeboro keeps people coming into town with over- lapping series of concerts year round – and offering entertainment is a major component of agritour- ism, which the state is now encouraging.

For Hobbs, entertainment will bring diners who will hopefully discover and enjoy its brews as well. At the same time more people coming to West Os- sipee will help the other businesses already there and even encourage others to locate new businesses nearby.

While the selectmen are right to address the con- cerns of Ossipee residents and taxpayers, there is no reason why intelligent arrangements can’t satis- fy legitimate concerns. We urge them to reconsider their rejection of the Hobbs proposal and show that they indeed welcome business development in town.

3 Comments

  1. Freedom Taxpayer 8 years ago May 28, 2016

    The idea of having a concert series is wonderful. Does Hobbs’ request certain dates and times? Twelve Saturdays in the summer? Showtime 7:00-10 pm? Certainly these neighbors can tolerate 36 hours of entertainment. Assuming Hobbs is not searching for Gun n’ Roses to play, I think it’s fantastic!
    Westward Shores (ugh! another story) has music and all of us on the lake can hear it. How the heck did they get that permit? That permit should have a resounding stamp of disapproval. Oh, wait , their neighbors are mostly Freedom residents. tsk tsk. In all fairness, WS shuts the amplifiers off at 11 PM- not one minute later. However this plays out, music is an addition to vacation fun, or staycation…Much better than that eyesore we pass on rt 16, you all see it. It sells ice cream and looks like a junkyard. Count this taxpayer in for Hobbs, still not buying the WS story….something just doesn’t sound right …..

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  2. Steve Foley 8 years ago May 28, 2016

    I have no opinion regarding the issue here but do have a question and comment. Is the use of hyphenated words used here in this article to Ex-press a sarcasm in a differing o-pinion or some kind of computing error? If not an error then it is my o-pin-ion, the Carroll County Independent Is-n’t so independent after all.

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  3. dsmith1010 8 years ago May 28, 2016

    Oops. Trans-scribing er-rors made by distracted Alliance trans-scriber.

    REPLY

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