Freedom—December 12, 2024—Freedom’s Select Board declined to discuss Wabanaki Campground’s plan for a co-op conversion at its meeting this week, saying that property owner Mark Salvati needed to be there.

But it did share its position that any discussion about the plan should be with the Planning Board, not the Select Board.

“The Planning Board handles that,” said Board Chair Les Babb when asked about the town’s role in the conversion plan, which must be approved by the state after meeting local municipal requirements.

Asked whether Town Counsel was ever consulted about the conversion, Babb would say only that it is a Planning Board matter.

Select Board member Alan Fall said town approval is not needed because the conversion is “just another type of ownership.”

Fall said his opinion was based on a N.H. Supreme Court case, which he said he reviewed “a few months ago.”

Campground owner Salvati wants to sell ownership shares for 77 “units” that range from campsites to cottages. To do so, he needs the approval of the state’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau.

To obtain the Bureau’s approval, he must affirm to the state that he is in compliance with all of Freedom’s regulations, a requirement that provides a measure of protection for prospective shareholders.

Freedom officials have not publicly stated which municipal regulations may pertain to Salvati’s affirmation responsibility, and that has created a question mark with the state as well as with local conservation groups and the campground’s abutters.

In an eight-page letter of deficiency regarding the conversion application, the state asked Salvati in March to elaborate on his claim that town approvals were “pending.” He did not respond.

The only issue pending with the Planning Board is whether to approve the expansion of five small structures called “hutnicks.” A decision on the “hutnicks” may come as soon as next week when the Planning Board meets on December 19.

Meanwhile, environmental and land use issues have been accumulating since April, when Planning Board members raised the alarm about shoreline erosion and the need for a stormwater runoff plan after touring the site.

A recommendation by several board members to require a whole-property environmental review was set aside after the board concluded it had to limit its review to the issue before it, which was the “hutnick” expansions.

Documents submitted to the Planning Board months ago show the “hutnicks” that Salvati wants to expand and make permanent were supposed to be removed and converted to campsites in 2001 to settle legal issues with the state.

Although the campground owner concedes that at least two of the structures should have been removed from the property, the Planning Board has not taken up the issue.

Salvati informed the Planning Board in February 2023 that there were zoning violations on the property, presumed to be decks, porches and other additions to trailers and RVs that have increased the percentage of impermeable surfaces. He said he would provide the Planning Board with a list of the violations but has not done so.

Environmental concerns about the property have been discussed widely in town for months, including at the Conservation Commission, which last month decided it would compile a list of its members’ concerns and submit them.

Sales of the campsites appear to be strong, with a majority of campsites at the business reserved by campers, according to the campground’s website. Those reserving a campsite were required to make a non-binding $5,000 down payment. The agreement stated that if the co-op was not established by May 1, 2024, the deposit would be refunded or credited to the applicant’s 2024 campsite rental.