WASHINGTON PLANNING BOARD

Master Plan Update Subcommittee – Working meeting Minutes

June 16, 2015

Committee members present: Lolly Gilbert, Jean Kluk, Bob Williams, Jim Crandall and Nan Schwartz.

Visitors: None

1.0 The meeting was called to order by Jean Kluk at 2:00 PM, in the Town Hall.

2.0 Minutes from April 14, 2015 working meeting – Schwartz motioned to approve, Kluk seconded to motion and all voted to approve. Schwartz thanked Gilbert for taking the minutes in her absence and doing a wonderful job.

3.0 Review Feedback from Public Hearing - We began by discussing feedback we received at the Public Hearing for the first six chapters and the vision Statement. Kluk asked if we needed to modify anything. Crandall had one thought about the complaint that Kitty West made about zoning. He felt we considered the survey results that showed that people were for zoning by a 7 to 1 margin. Nan said she thinks we need to do some education about zoning for the community. Kluk asked if we are good to hold the Planning Board vote at the July meeting to accept these chapters as done. Everyone was in agreement. We moved onto look at the new draft chapters for Housing, Hazards, Utilities and Services and Facilities that members have been working on.

3.0 Review/Discuss new draft Chapters –

3.1 Housing Chapter – Kluk pointed out that Table 10.1 still needs verification with Dave Mazaroff from the Assessors office. She thinks the numbers are not correct for new buildings. We went through the Goals and Recommendations (G&R) and Crandall commented about A-3 and wondered if we needed to include this statement or reword it. After discussion we decided to leave it in as is. Gilbert commented that she has wording/spelling changes that she will incorporate into the final draft. Williams asked about “major” subdivisions and Kluk said that the LUO classifies subdivision above 2 lots is a “major” subdivision. On G&R B-3, Williams asked about Accessory (In-Law) apartments and asked if this was not already allowed. He feels the question is about whether they are attached or detached and what is allowed. We decided to reword to clarify and that the PB needs to look at this issue again. Kluk said the state legislature is considering a bill to allow this everywhere in the state. There were no other comments.

3.2 Natural Hazards and Emergency Planning Chapter - Schwartz said that this chapter is put together using two existing documents; the Town’s Hazard Mitigation Plan and the Emergency Operations Plan. Williams pointed out the need to make the Community Survey Input consistent with the other chapters. Schwartz will adjust the tables. Williams asked about including Rescue comments on their needs for more personnel. We discussed the Goals and Recommendations and decided to reword B-5 to say “provide adequate and required facilities and equipment for Fire, Rescue and Police and training for emergency operations and response”. There were no other comments.

3.3 Utilities Chapter – We discussed the utilities draft. Gilbert commented that internet is not capitalized, Kluk will correct. A comment about adding more cell services on the existing tower if the demand is there will be added. Schwartz will look at the FastRoads LLC website to see where they are adding fiber service in our county. We went over the Goals and Recommendations and Crandall asked about cell service in Goal A. He said we should change improve to expand, all agreed. We will remove A-2 and on goal B add speed and quality. We decided to add a recommendation in the Hazard Chapter about dispatch services. On Goal D we decided to add something about 3-phase power. There were no other comments.

3.4 Energy Chapter – Schwartz said that the Energy Chapter is being worked on by the Energy Committee, we hope to have something from them by the end of July.

3.5 Services and Facilities - Williams walked us through the latest version of the chapter. We will share it with Steve Marshall, Ed Thayer and Brian Moser to check for accuracy about their departments. In the School section we need to add something about the Dunkin/Jenkins Trust. We will check some facts with JoEllen at the Library and add something about the expansion of the library parking lot. We will add a section about the Town website and communications. The Community Survey section needs to be converted into a table. Schwartz commented that we should include the Old Highway Garage and Camp Morgan Lodge buildings in the chapter. Schwartz has a document with information about the town buildings that was written for a grant proposal. She will find it and share with the committee. Williams said our challenge is to meet our September deadline, he is going to be away for 10 days (until July 7^th). Schwartz thought we could be flexible and can go into October if we need to. We will all help with the chapter. We brainstormed the G&R section and decided that the goals should align with each service and each facility. We feel education is important but those goals should come from the School Board and we support them. Gilbert feels the goals should align with the structure of the chapter and by department we should address the service and facility of each. We will keep goals broad and recommendations specific.

4.0 Vision Statement – Kluk shared an abbreviated version of the Vision Statement drafted by Paul Dulac, an alternate member of the Planning Board. Williams commented that while it was well written, he wasn’t sure it applied to a town Master Plan. We agreed that it was too brief to convey all that we wanted to convey. We thought we could use it in a summary or elsewhere in the document. We agreed to stick with what we have.

5.0 Our next meeting is next Tuesday, July 28th at 2:00 PM at the Town Hall.

Meeting adjourned at 5:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz

Planning Board Secretary