Mount Washington Valley Advocacy
Noun: Advocacy /ˈadvəkəsē/
An action that speaks in favor of, recommends, argues for a cause, supports, or defends, or pleads on behalf of others.
When Bergeron Technical opened in 1999 advocacy was not something Shawn thought about but as BTS has evolved over the past quarter century, advocating for our clients has become an important part of what we do. As Bergeron Technical moves toward 30 years in the Mount Washington Valley, and for Shawn and Kate, our lifetimes here in New Hampshire, we find increasingly often that we are being asked to advocate for our clients, their causes and sometimes, for their protection. When advocating our position is simple: No one should be harmed by what others do nor should a lovely part of the world be destroyed by greed which brings profits to a few but brings harm or unhappiness to others. For an array of reasons – sometimes good people cannot speak for themselves. Often, they are faced with deep wallets, legal counsel and “professionals” that will misconstrue or misrepresent to suit their client but harm ours. That’s where this service comes in – to advocate for our clients – when they cannot or do not want to do this for themselves.
When one of the new hotels was being constructed here in the Valley, one of our clients, a neighbor to the project, called to say that “suddenly” their backyard had a small pond that had never been there before. On their behalf we did a site visit and quickly observed that things were not quite as they had been. Then, we reviewed the plans for the new hotel and quickly determined that the approved designs did not take into consideration the runoff from the adjacent highway, this runoff now being directed onto our client’s property. On their behalf we contacted the town and their planning department and pointed out the flaws in the site drainage design. As a result, the town’s staff contacted the developer and required a new drainage design which was constructed and along with maintenance easements, our client’s property will not be harmed by development on a neighboring property.
A large commercial property was sold to a new owner. The new owner proposed changing the use of the property to another commercial use, the new use having a much different effect on the neighborhood than the historical uses of the property. The new owner applied for permits and without the appropriate and legally required reviews, the permits were granted. On our client’s behalf Bergeron Technical intervened, forcing the town to revoke the permits that had been granted and requiring the new owner to go through the required permitting review process. Ultimately while the new use will be allowed, the required improvements to the property, required improvements that somehow had otherwise slipped through the cracks, have been implemented. These improvements buffered our client’s property from the new use, improved parking, and traffic movements both on and off site and generally improved what had been an eyesore property – turning it into one that is significantly improved and better for the neighborhood.
On our client’s behalf – Bergeron Technical will advocate for good projects and do what we can to protect our clients from the bad ones. New Hampshire, the Mount Washington Valley and the various communities within the Valley remain wonderful places. Let’s not let greed and poor planning mess up a good thing.
