PLANNING BOARD
Walpole, NH 03608
MINUTES: Regular Meeting – Tuesday,
August 11, 2009 7:00pm Town Hall
Basement
Presiding: Jeff Miller, Ch.
Members Present: Ben Daviss,
Henry Fletcher, Bob Miller, V-Ch., Sheldon Sawyer, select., Jeff White, alt., Donn Lounsbury (7:30pm) Members
Absent: Eric Merklein,
Dave DeCoste
Recording: Pamela L. Aslinger,
Sec./alt.
These minutes
are unapproved and will be reviewed at the September 8, 2009 meeting for
errors, corrections and omissions. There
were 7 persons in the audience.
I. Meeting opened at 7:10pm
A. Roll call – Jeff White designated for Eric Merklein and Pam Aslinger for Dave DeCoste.
B. Ben Daviss
moved to approve the minutes as presented for the 7/14/09 meeting, seconded by
Mr. Sawyer, motion carried unanimously.
II. New Business
A. Cold River Advocacy Commission – Charles
Montgomery
submitted a document entitled “Cold River Watershed Management Plan”
covering the Towns of Acworth, Alstead, Charlestown, Langdon, Lempster, Marlow, Unity and Walpole dated April 2009. Prepared by Cold River Local Advisory
Committee and Michael Heidorn professional
geologist. Mr. Montgomery credited the Selectboard for the disaster plan created for the Town, it
being dovetailed with the State and Federal plans. Mr. Montgomery stated that the plan
summarizes natural river features recent changes to the river particularly
those caused by the 2005 flood, and offers a management plan overview. The river reached “designated river status”
as of 1999, the role of the commission is advisory only to the State of NH and
to the citizens of the Cold River watershed that is 21 miles long and occupies
102 sq. miles emptying into the Connecticut River south of the Aubuchon’s Hardware store.
The committee is made up of 3 reps from each of the eight towns on the
watershed. Walpole’s reps are Fred
Ernst, Austin Hunter and Mr. Montgomery.
He mentioned volunteer work related to trout habitat, salmon stocking and
recreational goals. Cold River has it’s
own website: www.coldriver.org. The planning board copy will be kept in the
office. The document may be viewed on
the web at des.nh.gov. Ch. Miller
thanked Mr. Montgomery for his presentation.
Members considered including a reference to the plan in the master plan.
B. Primax Properties, LLC, Mr. Frank S. Alexander,
project director from Charlotte, NC introduced himself as a developer
working on behalf of Tractor Supply Co.
They are interested in a parcel north of LaValley
Building supply owned by Mr. Fred Dill and formerly known as the Bailey
property. Their intent is to subdivide
the parcel into two lots of 4.92 acres (1) and 11.5 acres (2). Mr. Bergeron of Brickstone
Masons in Keene is engineering the building and he gave the board a brief
overview of their intentions. They intend
to build a 19,000 sq. ft. building with parking lots and a storage yard on lot
1. A shared driveway will service both
lots with 54% of the lot 1 remaining in greenspace. They referred to preliminary layout
maps. Mr. Dill will retain lot 2, they will
apply for an alteration of terrain permit with DES and would like to connect to
the water and sewer lines. The heat will
be propane and the building sprinkled with a backup water storage backup
system. Primax
Properties will lease the building to Tractor Supply and they have recently
completed six stores in Vermont. The
style of the building will be in keeping with Walpole’s character with an
agricultural influence - barnlike. Tractor supply was started as a catalog
business in the 1930’s supplying farms with tractor parts but they don’t
actually sell tractors. Today they
supply mostly home farmers. They will
employ about 15 persons, have an extensive training program and like to staff
the departments with persons who have hands on experience and are local. Their time frame is to complete the
permitting process this fall and begin construction in the spring when the
weather improves. They were asked to
contact the Secretary to be placed on the next agenda to formally
Walpole
Planning Board Meeting 8/11/09 page 2
submit the application for subdivision and site plan
review, the public hearing would be scheduled for the October meeting if they
were ready to submit in September. They
were asked to contact Mark Houghton in regard to the water/sewer hook up
possibility and the zoning board for signage.
Landscaping within the parking lot was considered for a waiver due to
snow removal. Mr. David Howell of
Walpole asked how Tractor Supply would affect existing farm businesses in the
area. Mr. Alexander said the greatest
impact would be to Agway and Community Feed Store in Westminster.
C. Vilas
Bridge – Selectman Sawyer announced a meeting set for 4:30 pm Thursday
August 13th at the Vilas Bridge to discuss the restoration and
repair. The meeting will begin on the
bridge and adjourn for discussion to the Walpole Town Hall. He said representatives from SWRPC, NH State
Reps, NW Village Commissioners, Dept. of Transportation and Bellows Falls
business persons will be on hand. He
said there’s an estimate of 9 million dollars to modernize the bridge, it is
registered as a historic bridge. It was
removed from the current 10 year plan developed in conjunction with SWRPC’s advisory representative without adequate
study. He asked the board to support re-prioritizing
the modernization. The Selectboard is hoping to help move the process along. Members discussed stimulus funds and having
our state reps introduce a bill for support.
Mr. Fletcher mentioned that in 1930 Charles Vilas donated $90 thousand dollars
to construct the original bridge.
D. Town
Hall meeting room ceiling – Mr. Sawyer reported that the delay
in repairing the ceiling is due to funding, but it has been resolved and the
construction will begin. He reported no
attendance at the public hearing they held for input.
III. Planning Discussion
Master Plan
1. Review and sign contract – Sec. Aslinger reported
the original contract was not yet available, she would check with SWRPC, action
delayed.
2. Review and discuss Land Use
pages 1-16 forwarding results to Lisa Murphy – Members offered no changes or
suggestions. Ch. Miller reminded that
Mr. Murphy was tentatively scheduled to attend the October meeting.
3. Discuss Economic Models – A few members who had
reviewed the models found sections of each that were useful but not one in
particular. Mr. Daviss
suggested setting up a subcommittee to consider Walpole’s specific needs. Ch. Miller, Bob Miller, Jeff Smith, Don Lounsbury and Mel Schupack
volunteered.
IV. Communications and Miscellaneous
A. Sec. Aslinger announced she would be absent for a
couple of months due to travel plans but will arrange to have an alternate
secretary.
V. Meeting Adjourned 8:30pm - Next regular
meeting to be held September 8, 2009
cc: PB, ZBA, WCC, BOS, Town Clerk
Posted
on or before 8/17/09 Town Hall, Lobby, Burdick’s Market and websites