Washington Planning Board

Meeting Minutes - DRAFT

January 6, 2015

0.0       Assembly:  6:30PM

            0.1       Members present: Crandall, Cook, Dagesse, Schwartz and Marshall

            0.2       Alternates present: Kluk, Dulac

            0.3       Members and Alternates Absent: Terani

0.4           Visitors: None

 

1.0       Minutes: Minutes from December 2, 2014, no changes were requested, Marshall motioned to approve, Dulac seconded and all voted in favor.

 

2.0       Old Business:

2.1       Bartevian culvert and easement issue: Crandall said we have received no word from LaFleur, the deadline has passed and we should remove the issue from our agenda unless something comes up.

2.2       Warrant article #29 – Marshall said that a public informational meeting has been set for Saturday, January 31st at 10 AM at Camp Morgan Lodge. He said a mailer is going out soon about the October meeting and it will include the next meeting date of January 31st. WESAC is working on getting their design and GMP and SMAC will have their GMP next week. The Board of Selectmen is looking to get a consensus from the public as to whether they want the two building projects to go as a joint article or two separate articles. He said they would probably go for a single loan or bond if they pass (together or separately). Crandall asked about the date for Town Meeting and Marshall said it is Saturday, March 14th with the voting taking place Tuesday, March 10th. He said the School Meeting is the Saturday before.

2.3       Master Plan Update Committee – Kluk reported the group hasnÕt met yet this month and has rescheduled for January 21st at 4PM. She said they are focused on drafting the first 3 chapters: Land Use and Zoning, Services and Facilities and Natural Resources. She thinks it might be a good idea to set a public hearing for May for the first few chapters to get interim feedback from the public. They would set the next public hearing for October to cover the rest of the chapters. Marshall said he thinks it is a good idea for due diligence. Kluk said it is helpful to the committee to have a deadline to meet. Kluk asked if PB members would like to review what has been done so far after the next meeting so they can give input. Everyone thought that was a good idea.

2.4       Conservation Commission request for funds to update NRI maps – Schwartz spoke about the Conservation Commission's Natural Resource Inventory map update and said that the mapper came back with a high price for doing what was on the list. She said that Eastman had told the CC that he felt that they should split the cost of getting the maps updated with the Planning Board. Dagesse asked about what funds the Conservation Commission has at this point. Schwartz said that the CC doesnÕt have a budget; they rely on money from the Land Use Change tax. Cook said there wouldnÕt be much coming in this year from that source. Schwartz said they try to use their funds strategically to protect land as they did with the Farnsworth Hill and the McNeil projects. They have about $35K left in their land conservation fund. Marshall questioned whether the NRI is really part of the Master Plan and why we should help pay for updating the maps. Schwartz said that the Planning Board paid for the original NRI document and maps and a public hearing was held with the Planning Board and Conservation Commission presenting the NRI, Conservation Plan and maps to the community before voting to accept the documents as an appendix to the Master Plan. Marshall did not remember this happening and asked Schwartz to research the financing and acceptance of the original NRI documents. We tabled the matter for now and Schwartz will do the research. Dagesse said there is still time to add things to the budget.

 

3.0       New Business:

3.1       Budget for 2015 – Schwartz said that Dagesse removed the $2133.16 paid to UVLSRPC that was wrongly charged to our account, it was for the Hazardous Waste Day that DPW held this year. We went over our budget for 2015 again and will go with the flat budget for now with the possible addition of the map costs.

3.2       Rules and Procedures - Crandall said that he thinks that in reading our Rules and Procedures document that alternate members should have terms. Dagesse said that in order to get alternates approved we need to send a letter to the Selectmen. Schwartz said she thinks that the Planning Board is the authorizing body to approve alternates because we are elected. Schwartz said that we havenÕt had terms for alternates in the past and Kluk and Terani came on in 2011, if we decide on terms they will need to be renewed. Schwartz looked up the RSA that is referenced in the rules and it specifies that alternates should have a 3-year term. Schwartz will speak to Sandy Poole and get the paperwork straightened out. Kluk said that we still have openings for 2 more alternates and she would like to ask some of the younger kids that were involved with the Master Plan Community Workshop. She would also like to ask them to give some input on the Master Plan chapters.

 

4.0       Driveway permits: We had a driveway permit and fee come in just before our meeting this evening. It was for Rubega, 289 Smith Pond Road, TM 17-8, for a temporary driveway for logging. It is on the Class IV section of Smith Pond Road. Cook suggested that we table the permit until Thayer and Crandall have a chance to look at the site. We will get a quorum together on a Thursday to approve it once this is done. Schwartz will let Thayer know the permit is in the office and ask him to take a look at the site.

           

5.0       Mergers: None

 

6.0       Other Business: Kluk asked Marshall about the CIP document and whether the Selectmen had made any decisions on it yet. Marshall said that they have not discussed it and they need to catch up with the budgeting and the CIP. He said the existing CIP building fund they determined that it is to be used for emergencies so they are considering an alternate fund for building projects. He said they havenÕt discussed it yet but they will soon, he is not sure if it will make the cut. He said there is a lot of increase in department budgets this year so they are doing what they can to deal with that issue. Kluk asked if they ran the original building fund by the lawyer to get an opinion, Marshall said no there is town opinion that it is for emergencies. He said they started the fund because the surplus was becoming depleted and they were nervous about having any funds. Kluk said the wording of the warrant article doesnÕt reflect that it is for emergencies. Schwartz said that the fund was originally suggested by the Planning Board, as a way for the town to save for eventual town building needs and projects. Marshall asked if the CIP document if final and Schwartz said it is. He said the Selectmen would look at it soon.

 

7.0       Communications:

None

 

8.0       Meeting date for next Planning Board meeting, February 3, 2015, at 6:30PM.

 

9.0       Adjournment:                       Time: 7:24 PM

            Motioned by Cook, seconded by Dulac, all voted in favor.

 

Respectfully Submitted, 

Nan Schwartz