Washington Planning Board
Meeting and Hearing Minutes - Draft
January 7, 2020
0.0 Assembly: 6:30PM, Town Hall
0.1 Members
present: Hatch, Revane, Dulac,
Crandall (phone) and Schwartz
0.2 Alternates
present: Kluk (Facetime)
0.3 Members
and Alternates Absent: Chidester, Shifflett
and Terani
0.4 Visitors:
Mike Otterson, John Rankin, Police Chief Ryan Murdough, and Jed Schwartz
Hatch opened the Public Hearing at
6:30 PM.
1.0 Public
Hearing – Hatch stated that we
worked with Chief Murdough on the new Noise Ordinance
after he alerted us to problems with the existing ordinance. The existing
ordinance is based on decibel levels and although the town has monitoring
equipment it has not been maintained properly. Murdough
said that the decibel metering equipment needs to be certified and training
done in its use, but this is not happening. He brought the PB the Henniker
noise ordinance that he found success in enforcing and PB worked with that
ordinance and others to draft the new one. He said that in practice the police
will verify a noise complaint and knock on the offenderÕs door to have a
conversation about it and this generally works in most situations. He said that
most complaints they have been receiving are for noise with gunshots and fire
works at the top. They arenÕt looking to take people to court.
Hatch asked the public for any comments or questions. Otterson said he read the ordinance and is concerned about
the restricted times and also wanted to know what the problem is with jake brakes. Murdough said that
some truckers have huge pipes on their trucks that heighten the tail pipe noise
levels; these are more of a problem than regularly equipped trucks. Revane said that if we can enforce this at night it would
be helpful against the one obnoxious guy making noise with his truck. Hatch
said that the existing ordinance had different times and noise levels but this
should simplify it with restrictions from 10PM to 7AM. J. Schwartz said that the BoS has had noise complaints about shooting and asked if it
would help with that. Murdough said they canÕt regulate shooting. J. Schwartz asked if Murdough was good with the new ordinance and he said he
was. Rankin asked about fireworks. Revane pointed out
the special permission section and commented that most fire works shows are
over by 10PM. N. Schwartz asked if the ordinance would cover late night tannerite use and Murdough said
it would. There being no other questions or comments
Hatch closed the hearing at 7:42PM.
2.0 Minutes: December 3rd meeting – Kluk mentioned an extra word in 3.1 and Dulac pointed out the wrong date in 7.0. Dulac made a motion to approve with corrections, Revane seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
December
16th Public Hearing –
Kluk had a question about the stated assessors tax assessments for land use and
Schwartz said she had corrected these earlier. Revane
made a motion to approve as written, Dulac seconded
the motion and all voted in favor.
3.0 New
Business: None
4.0 Old
Business:
4.1 LUO
petitioned change to RV section 306.0 - Hatch asked where we stand after the
public hearing on December 16th. He said that regulations state that
the petition must be voted on at TM following the hearing. If the wording is
changed substantially we must hold another hearing prior to TM. He said the
petitioner put the wording together and we canÕt change it. He said we made it
clear that tonight would be the opportunity to discuss it. Garvin sent an email
apology but didnÕt go into any changes he wanted to make to the language. Since
none of the petitioners attended the meeting to discuss possible wording
changes that would be acceptable to them, Hatch made a motion to accept our
obligation to move the petitioned amendment as written, Dulac
seconded the motion and all voted in favor to move the petitioned ordinance
forward to Town Meeting as it was written and submitted to the Selectmen.
Schwartz will make up the ballot and give it to Jane Barkie.
4.2 LUO
review – Hatch said we will begin looking at
the LUO again next month.
4.3
Town
Center Vision project – Schwartz said the TCV subcommittee is meeting
tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. She said they have drone pictures of the area but
do not have ChidesterÕs plan for access, driveway,
parking and landscaping for the area around the town buildings to present at
Town Meeting yet. Crandall said we
need to give Thayer something to work with to estimate the work on the
driveway access for a warrant article. Hatch said he spoke with Jared Reynolds
about grants for drainage and paving at the General Store. He is going to meet
with the committee soon about a Rural Business Development grant, which would
be due in March.
4.4 Old
Schoolhouse project update – Revane said they have a proposal in for construction of the
annex and will have a warrant article for Town Meting. The Eversource
energy report will be due in soon. Dulac suggested
painting the building sooner rather than later.
4.5 Master Plan – this is a placeholder.
4.6 ZBA Report – Hatch said the ZBA is on the 29th since they delayed the last meeting in agreement with the applicant.
4.7 UVLSRPC - Dulac had a
handout from UVLSRPC with lots of CDFA grants available for various areas of
interest to towns. He asked Schwartz to bring it to the TCV committee. He asked
that anyone having an idea can let him know and he will pass it on to the
board. Their next meeting is February 12th.
4.8 Noise
Ordinance: Hatch said we had
no substantial input from tonightÕs hearing so we will put it forward as
written. Hatch made a motion to put the Noise Ordinance forward as written, Revane seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Schwartz
will make up the ballot and give it to Jane Barkie.
5.0 Driveway Permits: None
6.0 Mergers: None
7.0 Communications:
7.1 Intent-to-cuts – Jessica,
Michael and Kimball Ball, TM 15-164, 15-165, 15-166, Faxon Hill Road
7.2 NH
Div. of Historic Resources –copy of review for Quinn on Garfield Rd, LAE
8.0 Meeting date for next Planning Board meeting – February 4, 2020, at 6:30 PM at the Town Hall.
9.0 Adjournment: Time: 7:54PM
Motioned by Dulac, seconded by Revane, all voted in favor.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nan Schwartz