Unapproved Minutes
Members Present: J. Miller, Ch., D. Edkins, V-Ch., S. Sawyer, Select’s Rep., H. Fletcher, R. Miller, D. DeCoste, R. Boas, alt., F. Dill, alt.
Presiding: J. Miller, Chairman
Recording: P. Aslinger, Secretary
Meeting opened 7:40 pm, Chairman Miller designated Fred Dill to act in place of Eric Merklein, away on vacation. Minutes of 9/13/05 and 9/27/05 were approved as presented.
Review of application submitted and public hearing: Asher Construction, LLC - minor 2 lot subdivision located on Alstead Center Rd. in Drewsville, Map 15 Lot 17 3.24 acres in the Res. A zone, resulting in 2 lots, lot 17 of 2.23 acres and lot 17-1 of 1.01 acres. The application was accepted as complete at the 9/13 meeting and qualified for an expedited review. Virginia Foote was present representing the applicant.
Ch. Miller opened the public hearing. Ms. Foote presented a description of the proposal and provided a copy of the State subdivision approval. Ch. Miller called for questions or comments, being none, closed the public hearing and re-opened the meeting. Ch. Miller called for action on the proposal. A motion was made to approved the subdivision as presented, seconded, vote was unanimously in favor. Mylar was presented for signing and recording, final fee collected as well. Secretary Aslinger will record the mylar later in the week.
Ch. Miller passed over VI. Unfinished Business and called for VII. New Business:
A. Barbara
A. Salak presented a 2 lot minor
subdivision on
C. Other - Virginia Foote presented a Site Plan
Review application proposing a four bedroom bed and breakfast on
behalf of the Dance Alpaca Farm located on
Mr. Dance pointed out the designated parking spaces of four in the front and an additional ten spaces out back. Application and notification fees were presented, a motion was made to accept the application as presented and schedule a public hearing for the Nov. 8, 2005 meeting. Motion was seconded, vote was unanimously in favor.
C. Other - Mr. Joe Dion of Galloway Real Estate was present representing a client interested in purchasing a lot on Sawtaw Rd. off Valley Road, Map 13, Lot 42, 6.28 acres currently owned by Walker, which is a Class VI discontinued highway. The lot is the second lot in, on the discontinued road. Selectman Sawyer stated that some questions had been raised in the past as to the status of the road, but that it had definitely been discontinued and is a Class VI road. Mr. Dion stated that he was appearing before the Board on a preliminary basis to determine the procedure to follow to obtain permission to build on the lot, and if the lot would be “buildable”. He asked if the Planning board makes a recommendation and holds a public hearing along with the Selectmen? The Board stated that the Selectmen would hold the Public Hearing and review the request according to the “Class VI Road Resolution” to see if the proposal met the criteria outlined in the resolution, that the Planning board would make a recommendation before a final decision was made by the Selectmen. Ch. Miller suggested Mr Dion and his client attend Thursday’s selectmen’s meeting to remind them to begin the steps necessary for a public hearing. Ch. Miller cautioned that a decision by the Board of Selectmen to allow building on Class VI roads in general was contrary to the spirit of our present Master Plan and ordinances, that it creates scattered and premature development of outlying areas of Town and would lead to upgrading and improvements of additional roads in Town that haven’t been “planned” for. He further stated that the resolution was adopted to allow for a few special circumstances, he questioned how many interior lots might exceed the 600 foot limit placed on “private roads” set forth by the Town’s emergency service responders.
Chairman Miller tabled the remaining “New Business” until later in the meeting skipping to VIII. Communications and Miscellaneous - C. Build Out Study - Ch. Miller
introduced Jeff Porter from SW Reg. Planning Commission to discuss a request by
the Board and specifically Eric Merklein to address SWRPC’s capability and
costs of doing a “Build out Study” for the Town of
specific areas of the Town for
large scale housing developments, towns that are seeing mostly small
subdivisions will begin to see 40, 60 and 100 lot subdivisions in the next 5
years. He said there is a potential for
1000’s of lots in some towns. The Board
reviewed the corridor map of Rte. 101 prepared in 1998 as an example of targeting
specific areas with tests for: subdividable land that is free of severe
environmental constraints, subdividable land that meets current zoning frontage
and subdividable land that does not meet frontage. The maps had color designations for each of
the areas. Members discussed the
importance of the mapping and wondered if the current tax maps could have
overlays representing some of the data to be used for future planning and
zoning designations. A suggestion was
made to integrate the information with USDA, DOT and the Master Plan maps already
prepared for steep slopes and conservation lands. Mr. Porter felt that a good mapping resource
overlay would prove to be invaluable and could be brought to each meeting, that
it was a viable alternative to a full build out study. Members questioned whether the information
would be accurate enough to base future planning changes such as increasing lot
sizes, frontages etc. Mr. Porter referred
to
Members asked about other services from SWRPC specifically
Planning Board Assistance Program where SWRPC reviews all Site Plan Reviews and
Major Subdivisions for the planning board, submitting a list of concerns for
the board and applicants to address, the fee for the review is borne by the
applicant. Currently the SWRPC is
assisting the towns of Mason, Antrim,
Ch. Miller returned to VI. Unfinished Business
A. Lentex - Maps and mylar were signed, letter to be sent reminding them to pick them up.
B. Gohl - Ch. Miller said he had received a call from Ms. Gohl asking why the Board was holding the approval, Ch. Miller told her of the conditions, she said she had provided the information and had received a letter from the Planning Board detailing the conditions of the approval. S. Sawyer said the selectmen had been remiss in taking care of the Board’s condition regarding the tree planting, that Ms. Gohl had given the
Selectmen the information, but it was misplaced. The Board instructed P. Aslinger to send a letter to Ms. Gohl requesting duplicate information if the originals could not be located.
C. Jasse - Alyson’s Orchard has been granted a special exception from the Zoning Board, so the conditions of the planning approval have been met, maps were signed.
D. Dill - Mr. Dill stated that he had recorded his mylar with the registry.
Chairman Miller allowed Mr. Hansel representing the Walpole Tomorrow Group to present revised suggestions for zoning changes and site plan review changes. Mr. Hansel handed out copies and stated that after the lively discussion at the last work session the group had made some adjustments. He stated that he would like to discuss these at the next work session, time being a concern at tonight’s meeting.
Chairman Miller returned to VII. New
Business - B. Berkshire
Development - P. Aslinger stated she had received a telephone call from
Nick Sanders of VHB, doing a traffic study for NH DOT after their scoping
meeting, he wanted to know if the Board knew of any current or future
developments that might effect the study, other than a couple of minor
subdivisions. Ch. Miller stated that the
study might be skewed due to the additional traffic on Rte. 12 caused by the
flooding and people taking alternate routes.
P. Aslinger suggested VHB contact SWRPC for their input and mentioned
that the development may be considered a “development of regional impact” which
would involve the planning commission further in the application process. P. Aslinger also received a telephone call
from Attorney Tom Hanna, representing
D. Mr. Edkins asked if the Board could proceed to the Cray preliminary subdivision review since Mr. McCormick, N. Walpole Zoning Commissioner had been patiently waiting. Mr. Edkins described the conversations between he and Mr. McCormick regarding the denied 2 lot subdivision of the Cray property in North Walpole due to lack of frontage on the second lot. Despite much discussion regarding the mis-interpretation of the zoning ordinance by Mr. McCormick, Mr. Edkins felt that a reasonable compromise would be to allow the non-conforming subdivision as long as the second lot was designated as non-buildable. Mr. Edkins stated that Mr. McCormick’s position as Zoning Commissioner allowed him to interpret his ordinance as he sees fit. Mr. McCormick submitted a letter describing his interpretation that will be part of the re-application, he felt he had made the correct interpretation and agreed that the lot would be “non-buildable”. The Board agreed by motion to hold a public hearing at the Nov. 8th meeting providing the Cray’s submit an application and fees within the deadline. Vote was in favor except for one no vote. Some members felt the interpretation was still in error. A follow-up may be needed for confirmation and Mr. Dibo, surveyor should be contacted.
C. Scott Smith - no one was present representing
Mr. Smith. P. Aslinger said she had put
Mr. Smith on the agenda at his request for a minor 2 lot subdivision on
Mr. Dill asked for clarification on
the issuance of building permits on Class VI roads, are we wasting people’s
time by having them go through the process of review by the Selectmen and
Planning Board when the Selectmen have agreed not to issue building permits on
Class VI roads. Ch. Miller stated that
the RSA’s allow for review on a case by case basis and that
VIII.
Communications and Miscellaneous (not in order)
B. Zoning changes - D. Edkins stated that he had been in contact with the Fire Dept., they would require that multi-family buildings not be more than three stories. Mr. Edkins is planning to have a new multifamily draft ready for the work session. He said he was working on the number of parking spaces according to a parking generation manual, and was looking at open space percentages. Mr. Edkins handed out copies of a Design Review Standard article he thought would be helpful for the members on how to make developments “look better”. He also handed out a calendar reflecting deadlines for proposing zoning changes.
D. SWRPC follow up on Meredith Cooper, CIP - Ch. Miller stated that members would be reviewing the draft Capital Improvments Program at the work session. S. Sawyer complained that the draft did not include any information from the Selectmen or recycling center, that the draft was missing a lot of information. Ch. Miller said he would contact Meredith and ask her to contact the Selectmen to address their concerns.
A. Application/fee schedule adoption - P. Aslinger asked the Board to consider adoption of the new application and fee schedule at tonight’s meeting, She reviewed the final changes, the Board discussed when to make it effective. A motion was made to adopt the application and fee schedule as presented, making it effective immediately.
Motion was seconded, vote all in favor except for one no vote.
F. Dill revisited parking space sizes relating to some of the upcoming developments, he noted that parking spaces have actually gotten smaller, that the Board should consider parking layout such as diagonal when looking at the potential density of projects, that the number of spaces shouldn’t be the only criteria to create an effective layout.
D. Edkins in agreement with other members stated that the new application and fee schedule should be monitored for effectiveness, to seek some feedback from the users.
Meeting closed: 9:10PM
These minutes will be
reviewed at the November 8, 2005 meeting.
Posted: Town
Hall, Burdicks Market, Town Website, Walpolian website. CC:
All PB members, ZBA, Selectmen’s Office, Town Clerk