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Those questions naturally arose on Election Day. this week With seats on the Board of Selectmen going uncontested, the focus was on the Zoning Commission and Ms. Friedman, who lost her seat in a three-way race for two open positions.
Ms. Friedman, a Republican who ran as a Democrat after failing to gain her party's endorsement, earned 579 votes, while fellow incumbent Gary Fitzherbert received 739 and newcomer Raymond Reich secured 777. Mr. Fitzherbert and Mr. Reich both had the Republican endorsement.
Ms. Friedman held the post for 11 years, and built a reputation on preserving the rural character of Washington. In that vein, she had vehemently opposed the controversial resort and spa proposed last year for the site of the former Wykeham Rise girls school.
Wykeham Road provides a link between the green area and Route 109 heading to Morris.
The plan was denied in December by a vote of 3 to 2. Mr. Fitzherbert voted in favor of the project, and Mr. Reich has said that if he had been on the zoning board at the time he would have voted to approve as well. In that scenario, the vote would have been 3 to 2 in favor of the inn.
"As we said in our ads, 'It's your town. You choose,'" Ms. Friedman said in a concession speech. "Well, now the voters have chosen-a path of less regulation and more freedom for development. I hope that we will not look back 20 years from now and wonder what happened to that rural character that once made Washington such a special place."
Under the current regulations, Wykeham Rise owner Matt Klauer could not resubmit another resort or inn proposal.
Subsequent to filing his plans with the land-use office in April 2008, the zoning ordinances were changed to clearly prohibit the development of inns on town roads. That change was made based on confusion about whether the regulations limited, or meant to limit, such developments to state roads.
Mr. Fitzherbert, who is "very happy" with the election results, confirmed that Mr. Klauer could not resubmit his proposal as is.
But if the new zoning regulation were to revert back to its previous wording, then the landowner would stand a far better chance.
"For this to move forward, the Zoning Commission would have to change again the regulations, and I'll bring that up for discussion," said Mr. Fitzherbert, a 10-year incumbent, who felt that the denied inn proposal had met all the zoning qualifications.
The matter would have to go before a public hearing, and then the zoning board would vote on it. As for the relatively short amount of time the new ordinance has been on the books, Mr. Fitzherbert noted, "You can change it back one day afterward; we have the right to do that."
Mr. Reich, who is looking forward to his first six-year term, indicated that a backlash over Wykeham Rise is not the "main message" to be gleaned from the election results.
When he takes the seat, he said, he will not initiate the first zoning conversation on the issue. "The main message is that Washington's needs can't be circumscribed by 112 pages of written regulations," said Mr. Reich. "We need to have common sense for the common good."
Fifty-three percent of the voters came out to the polls Tuesday.
