Effingham—October 9, 2025—Construction work on a gas station began at the former Boyle’s Market in Effingham several weeks ago.

The NH Supreme Court ended a five-year fight over the property last month by upholding the town’s approval of a site plan based on a zoning variance to pump gas there.

Opponents had argued that spilled gasoline could enter the Ossipee Aquifer because the former gravel pit is composed of highly transmissive soil. The developer assured officials that a gas station would be safe.

The Planning Board approved the developer’s site plan, but it attached conditions that are separate and incremental to the requirements imposed by NH DES. The conditions were mandated to provide extra environmental protections, and some of them are highly technical.

But the Select Board last week conceded that it does not have a plan to monitor and evaluate the developer’s compliance with the conditions, despite construction being well under way.

Effingham resident Blair Folts raised the compliance question. She also asked about a building permit that she said Zoning Officer Rebecca Boyden felt “forced” to approve.

Folts said Boyden declined to approve a building permit application earlier this year because it was incomplete and incorrect. Folts said she understood that the Select Board met with Meena’s attorney in non-public session, and then urged Boyden to issue the permit.

“Her name is on the permit because you asked her to sign it. She did not want to sign it,” Folts said.

Board Chair Leo Racine and board member Chris Seamans both told Folts “She didn’t tell you that,” according to a recording of the meeting.

“The Board of Selectmen have the authority to sign the building permit,” Seamans heatedly told Folts. Seamans said Effingham’s Town Counsel signed off on the permit application.

“I’m not getting into the personnel, but I’m going to tell you that she did not tell you that we forced her to sign,” Seamans said.

“She told me that,” Folts insisted. “What can I say? She’s not here now.”

Boyden was not at the meeting. But asked for comment, she made a statement to Ossipee Lake Alliance after reviewing the town’s recording of the meeting.

“On Tuesday, July 1, the Board of Selectmen asked me to come to the meeting room and told me they had just approved an Application for a Building Permit from Meena, Inc.,” she said.

“They instructed me to issue the Building Permit immediately. I had not seen that Application until they handed it to me, signed by the Board Chair. I issued the Permit that day.”

This is not the first time that questions have been raised about whether Effingham officials sought to exert influence over Boyden’s zoning decisions in the Meena case.

Two years ago Boyden ruled that Meena LLC’s convenience store lost its protected zoning status for remaining closed for more than two years. She said the store was a permitted use, but it would have to be brought into current zoning compliance.

Planning Board Chair George Bull appeared twice before the Select Board to ask that it “intervene” to require Boyden to retract her decision. Bull was chairing Meena’s site plan application proceedings at the time.

He said he was speaking as a resident, not as a town official. Several weeks later, Boyden reversed her decision. In her recission letter, she said the facts had not changed despite her reversal.

Bull was in the audience at the Select Board’s September 30 meeting and was asked by Chairman Racine who he thought should monitor Meena’s construction work for compliance with the Planning Board’s conditions.

Bull recommended hiring North Point Engineering because they were familiar with the site plan. The suggestion was well-received by the board, but no action was taken.

A complete archive and chronology of the Effingham gas station proceedings can be found at bit.ly/meenagas.