PLANNING BOARD
Work Session Tuesday April 22, 2008,
7:00pm Town Hall Basement
Minutes
Present: Jeff Miller, Bob Miller, Ben Daviss, Shane O’Keefe,
Dave DeCoste, Fred Dill, Henry Fletcher, Mel Schupack, Dennis Marcom, Mary Lou
Montgomery, Bob Jasse
Recording: Pamela Aslinger, Secretary
Meeting opened
at 7:00pm.
Purpose of the meeting was
to review a draft of the Master Plan Land Use Section Vision Statement dated 4/20/08.
Jeff Miller asked Ben Daviss
to present the draft vision statement. Mr. Daviss stated the purpose of the
vision statement is to meet the legal requirement in the NH RSA’s. The draft was derived from the existing
plan’s intent, the survey results, Mel Schupack’s draft and
All attending reviewed the
draft (copy attached) item by item
making helpful comments, corrections, additions and revisions where needed. Mr.
Daviss made complete notes of the changes and will prepare a final draft for
the Planning Board and Master Planner’s Group to review. In addition the Board will have a copy of the
final drafts of the Goals and Objectives and Vision Statement reviewed by SWRPC
on an hourly basis prior to the May 27, 2008 work session. Once finalized the Board
can schedule the first public hearing for citizen input.
Attendees discussed a variety of
issues pertaining to the individual sections of the draft vision statement (somewhat in order) such as:
- Restricting building permits on Class VI roads due
to premature and scattered development. Placing an annual building permit limitation to allow
infrastructure to keep pace.
- Conflicts of the vision statement with current
zoning ordinance and designated zones, how to implement the vision statement
into the zoning ordinance and when.
- Using careful consideration on potential loss of
an individual’s property rights since the survey results did not address all
possible topics on the minds of all Walpole’s citizens.
-
- Consider the limited amount of Rte. 12 commercial
and industrial districts, preserve south part of rural
agricultural lands from allowed commercial and industrial uses by special
exception.
- Committee vs association vs commission wording for
agricultural or economic study groups.
- Sprawl vs. development, housing posing a greater
growth threat due to the very limited commercial area available.
- Shoreland protection and open space, creation of
more restrictive town buffers such as 75 feet instead of relying on lesser
State requirements.
- Include incentives for affordable housing,
inclusionary zoning, increasing density on super large
subdivisions of 20 lots plus, consider interim growth controls if residential
subdivisions exceed services, economic and natural resources.
- Historical resources - whether creating an actual
district, which has failed two recent attempts, or if preferable, using an
overlay district to preserve only important existing buildings. Les Hubbard’s vision for preservation was
mentioned as an example.
Meeting closed at 8:45pm
Cc: PB, MP,
ZBA, Town Offices Posted: Town Hall, Lobby, Burdick’s Market, websites