First Plowable Snowstorm of the Season May Hit on Sunday
According to the National Weather Service and weathercasters and weather apps everywhere, New England may see its first plowable snowstorm of the season this coming Saturday night into Sunday. Or it may not...because the milder temperatures still dominating the season mean a lot of hedging is going on about rain/snow lines and cold air masses and other influences.
North Central Massachusetts always gets much more snow than Boston, and we were hit hard by at least four storms last winter. In this case, the amount of cold air and the track of the storm could mean the difference between a sloppy slushy mess or six inches or more of snow for Toy Town. Residents will need to pay close attention to the developing forecast. However, meterorologists are not calling for a "blockbuster" event no matter what state of precipitation ends up falling.
The Courier reached out to Brian Croteau, Director of the Department of Public Works, who assures residents the DPW is "fully stocked" with sand and salt and ready to roll. The department has 18 trucks, of which there are personnel to keep 15 of them on the road at one time. We can be confidant that roads and sidewalks will be cleared for school and business on Monday morning.
North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation's Regional Business Investment Fund Establishes Community Center
Funding of $216,000 to benefit Winchendon non-profit focused on expanding food and housing equity in the North Central region
From left: Sandie Cataldo, senior economic development manager, North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce and North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation; Cailte Kelley, Edward Jones and WCAC board member; Miranda Jennings, executive director, Winchendon CAC; and Rebecca Beaton, vice president of lending, North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce and North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation.
Photo courtesy of Roy Nascimento
North Central Mass. (January 4, 2024) The North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation, the economic development arm of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce, recently announced that its Regional Business Investment Fund (RBIF) would support the Winchendon Community Action Committee, Inc. (WCAC) toward the purchase and renovation of a new location at 5 Summer Drive in Winchendon.
The WCAC received a loan of $216,000 from NCMDC's RBIF, in partnership with Athol Savings Bank, to renovate the space formerly known as Playaway Bowling Alley. The non-profit organization serves more than 450 households by providing healthy food, emergency heating services, housing assistance, economic mobility, and more.
The new, larger space will allow the WCAC to grow the services it offers and expand its reach into the community. The new facility will be known as "Winchendon Works Community Hub," and has plans to include youth empowerment programs, services for those struggling with chronic health issues, and even a grocery store to promote food security.
"As the need for equitable access to healthy food, housing, and economic mobility grows, the WCAC is expanding to answer the call," said Miranda Jennings, executive director, WCAC, "Thank you to the North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation for offering this type of funding to support our expansion and helping us offer more services to those who need it the most."
The Regional Business Investment Fund (RBIF) is an initiative recommended by the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce's One North Central regional economic development plan to encourage more real estate development in the region. The funding can be used by developers for engineering, soft costs, site work, infrastructure and hard costs for specific developments in the 26 communities that make up the North Central region.
Heywood Hospital Inpatient Mental Health Unit Scheduled to Re-Open on January 11
Gardner, MA, January 2, 2024 - Heywood Hospital received approval from the Department of Mental Health to reopen six beds of the proposed twelve-bed adult unit on January 11, 2024. Additional beds will be added at a future date. Admissions will proceed according to approved staffing and a gradual and planned progression. Heywood Hospital was forced to close the Mental Health Unit in October of 2021 due to lack of qualified personnel, which persisted beyond the COVID public emergency period.
"Delivery of Mental Health Care services locally is essential to the overall health of our community. Recruitment of licensed mental health clinical staff continues to be the greatest challenge. The Mental Health Unit operates 24/7, requiring the staffing of professionals for all three shifts. We offer sign-on bonuses, flexible scheduling, tuition reimbursement, and competitive salaries, and are seeking individuals with the desire to make a difference in our community," stated Rozanna Penney, Heywood's CEO of Patient Care Services and Operations.
Heywood has invested in several upgrades prior to reopening, including a sensory room, funded by Robert J. Mullen Charitable Trust, that provides a calming environment such as a soothing mural, relaxation music/sounds, dimmer lighting, and safe rocking chairs. Additional sensory resources such as fidgets, stress balls, weighted blankets, and music and art therapy supplies will be integrated into therapy to equip patients with coping strategies after discharge. Enhanced security measures include Alertus Safety Fobs for staff, new cameras, and MOAB training (Management of Aggressive Behavior) training for all staff and security personnel.
In addition to the Inpatient Mental Health Unit, Heywood also operates a Partial Hospital Program which serves approximately 40 adult patients daily. Heywood Medical Group provides outpatient psychiatric services and counseling to adult and pediatric patients, and maintains robust school-based behavioral health services. School-based services include mental health counseling, both in person and virtually, and serve approximately 700 students annually throughout five school districts. Rozanna Penney added: "Heywood Healthcare remains dedicated to supporting the overall health of not only our patients, but also the youths and families in need in the region."
Massachusetts Farmland Action Plan to be discussed at legislative briefing
The Joint Committee on Agriculture, the Food System Caucus, and the 21st Century Agriculture Commission will host a joint hybrid legislative briefing on the recently released Massachusetts Farmland Action Plan. The hearing will convene on Wednesday, January 10, 2024 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. It will be held in the Massachusetts State House Room 428, but will be available on Zoom.
The Zoom link is https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87648228188?pwd=YVAAi4Q5vKunZx3a3bhyldiobZUcAd.1
The Massachusetts Farmland Action Plan (2023-2050) is a long-range, strategic initiative intended to address the farmland needs and goals of the Commonwealth including but not limited to increasing farmland conservation and production, addressing farmland access (including urban farmland), food security, climate resiliency, environmental justice, and preserving and expanding the economic and environmental viability of farms across all regions in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. These topics will be critical for ensuring a stable, equitable, and resilient food system in Massachusetts.
Deputy Commissioner Winton Pitcoff and staff from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources will present on the Farmland Action Plan and then take questions from attendees.
"Who Owns This Amazing Old Building in Winchendon?"
First in a series about Town Toy real estate and how it's changed since the town's heyday
The recent activism over the proposed sale of Winchendon property to a solar energy developer, and striking photos and videos of Winchendon taken by drone and posted to social media by local resident Kyle Bradley have helped increase Winchendonians' curiosity about their town. Why do we have so many properties which seem to be unused or underutilized, and in many cases, falling to ruin? In some instances, even Town Hall has lost track of the owners. What, if anything, can we do about this as a community?
This year, the Courier will be taking a deep dive into some of these questions, and looking into the histories and current status of places in town many of us have been wondering about.
Mill exterior December, 2023 (photo taken by drone)
Photo by Kyle Bradley, copyright © Kyle Bradley
Mill exterior December, 2023 (photo taken by drone)
Photo by Kyle Bradley, copyright © Kyle Bradley
The mill consists of two separate buildings, built of brick and wood. One building has a tower. According to the Assessor's records, the mill was built in 1840, so it's 183 years old. One of the buildings is far more deteriorated than the other, but even the more intact building would be extremely expensive to restore, if that's still even possible. There is no longer even a vestige of window frames or glass in any of the windows, and the interiors are fully exposed to the elements. In a tribute to old craftsmanship, much of the brick masonry still looks firm, and glows in the sunlight.
In the Assessor's records, the property is divided into four separate parcels, all listed as owned by Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC, 165 Perry Road, New Ipswich, NH. Page Hill Acquisitions acquired these parcels in 2007. The two parcels that include the buildings are identified by numbers: 6B1-0-1, 2.58 acres, assessed currently at $146,000; and 6B1-0-6, 1.67 acres, assessed currently at $122,200. Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC acquired both of these for $300,000 on October 24, 2007, according to the Assessor's records.
Two abutting parcels have no buildings on them but are also owned by Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC. These are 6B1-0-5, 1.67 acres, assessed currently at $6,800--this has frontage along Glenallen Street between 82 Glenallen Street and 68 Glenallen Street. The other is 6B1-0-35, 2.4 acres, assessed currently at $6,000, which has frontage along the Millers River North Branch behind the mill buildings. Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC acquired both of these for a total of $100,000 from Robert Van Dyke on March 7, 2007.
So Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC has owned these four parcels, assessed for $280,800, for 16 years, and has been paying taxes on them all this time. According to the Winchendon Collector's office, Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC only owes taxes for this year, FY24, so they're not behind on their taxes. They own no other parcels in Winchendon.
Who are Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC? They were formed in 2006, according to the New Hampshire Secretary of State's records, with only one person's name listed: Lars A. Traffie, as the registered agent. However, their last annual report was filed in 2009, and the corporate record says they were "dissolved" in 2010.
According to the documents filed with the Worcester County Registry of Deeds, and the records of the Winchendon Assessor's office, these parcels are still owned by Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC...which legally no longer exists. And yet the taxes are still being paid. It may be Mr. Traffie who is paying them, as he is currently president of Hutter Construction Corporation in New Ipswich, according to his LinkedIn profile, and the NH Corporate database.
As long as the taxes are being paid, the town cannot compel an owner to do anything in particular with their property. The town can offer incentives and otherwise encourage an owner to invest in the community, but that is all. This is the simple answer to the question residents often ask, "why doesn't the town do something about these properties?" The town has no jurisdiction over them. They are privately owned property.
But let's take a look at how and why Page Hill Acquisitions, Inc. acquired the two parcels with the mill buildings, and go further back in the property's history. (We can only go so far back without driving to Worcester, because the online records for the Registry of Deeds only go back to 1961.)
The parcels with the mill buildings were acquired by Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC from Glen Allen Realty Corporation. According to the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth Corporation database, Glen Allen Realty Corp was organized in 1980 by Paul Chisholm (then listed at 487 Island Road, Lunenburg, MA) and Mary Chisholm (then listed at 26 Ladd Street, Waterville MA) for the specifc purpose of acquiring the mill property from the Kamenstein Realty Corporation, which they did in November of 1980.
Fortune did not smile on the Chisholms. Based on the records filed in the Worcester County Registry of Deeds (which run to two pages), they were unable to keep up with the property taxes, and took out multiple mortgages on the property, at least one to cover $100,000 worth of building materials. The town initiated tax takings of the properties twice, in 1984 and in 1991. Meanwhile, no reports were being filed with the state Corporations Division, as are mandatory, and in August of 1998, the court dissolved Glen Allen Realty Corporation. This left their debtors in something of a bind--and that's how we get to Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC.
In 2007, Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC, applied to revive Glen Allen Realty Corporation for the sole purpose of executing a foreclosure on the two mill parcels. In the application dated March 8, 2007 and signed by Lars Traffie, it states, "Applicant is the present holder by assignment of a mortgage granted by corporation to Guaranty Bank & Trust Company on or about March 5, 1987. Corporation is in default of mortgage and has been in default for years. Applicant desires to foreclose on said mortgage."
So, Glen Allen Realty Corp was revived just long enough for the foreclosure to be processed (there are six documents filed with the Worcester County Registry of Deeds related to this), and Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC existed just long enough for the foreclosure to be completed and the property conveyed. The $300,000 paid by Page Hill Acquisitions, LLC went to pay the liens on the property for unpaid taxes and debts.
Tracking back prior to the Chisholms, Kamenstein Realty Corp. acquired the mill properties in 1973 from LL Housewares Inc. Kamenstein Realty Corp. seems to have been formed for the sole purpose of acquiring and holding the mill property, and lists David R. Kamenstein, Harrison, NY, as President, Michael D. Kamenstein of New York City as Treasurer and Clerk, and Peter D. Kamenstein of Armonk, NY as Director. Kamenstein Realty Corp. filed its last annual report in 1978 and was dissolved by the court in 1983.
LL Housewares Inc is not found in the Massachusetts corporate database, but according to the quitclaim deed filed with the Worcester County Registry of Deeds on March 5, 1973, LL Housewares Inc was "formerly, Leipzig & Lippe, Inc," doing business at 230 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.
Leipzig & Lippe Inc acquired the mill property from the Gardner Screw Corporation on December 5, 1966. The Gardner Screw Corporation was established in 1923 and it still exists--it filed its 2023 annual report with the state this July. It is not on record as owning any parcels in Winchendon at this time, and the only property it ever seems to have owned here was the mills on Glenallen Street. They are in business at 220 Union Street in Gardner (they just celebrated 100 years of operations!).
Gardner Screw Corporation acquired the mill property in March, 1962, from Gardner Wood Products Company, Inc, which had originally been formed in 1949. The owners, Michael G. and Caroline K. Marrone, voluntarily dissolved the corporation in 1985. Gardner Wood Products Company, Inc had lost the mills property in a foreclosure proceeding, according to documents filed with the Worcester County Registry of Deeds, and a couple of other parties got involved. However, their name is on the deed as conveyed to Gardner Screw Corporation.
Mill interior December, 2023 (photo taken by drone)
Photo by Kyle Bradley, copyright © Kyle Bradley
Mill interior December, 2023 (photo taken by drone)
Photo by Kyle Bradley, copyright © Kyle Bradley
But our concern looking forward is what we can do now to keep these properties and our history from being lost. The history of the Glenallen Street mill property is typical of Winchendon's commercial properties--there are some that are even more convoluted than the summary above, which leaves out pages worth of details. The town of Winchendon has always tried to work with property owners to do what was best for the town, and for all concerned. One of the goals of Destination Winchendon is to encourage serious investment in our community. The first step in this is in-depth knowledge of where we came from.
We'll be looking at more buildings and properties in Winchendon in this series. Every one of them has a unique history, and yet they have many things in common, as well. Winchendon went from a thriving manufacturing center to a community that no longer employs most of its residents. By looking back, we can better understand how we can turn this situation around.
