Washington Planning
Board
Meeting Minutes
April 4, 2023
0.0 Assembly: 6:30PM, on 2nd floor of Town
Hall
0.1 Members
present: Crandall, Martin, Marshall, Revane and Schwartz
0.2 Alternates
present:
0.3 Visitors:
Fred Douglas, Peter Mellen, Mark Florence, Lynn Cook, Jean Kluk and Nathaniel
Taylor on zoom
Crandall called the meeting to
order at 6:30PM.
1.0
Minutes: February 13rd Meeting Ð Crandall asked if
any changes were needed in the minutes, no changes or additions were mentioned Crandall
made a motion to approve the minutes as written, Revane seconded the motion.
All voted in favor.
March 7th Hearing Ð Crandall made a motion to approve the minutes as
written, Schwartz seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
March 14th Zoom Meeting Ð Crandall made a motion to approve as written, Schwartz
seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
2.0
New Business:
2.1
Election of Officers Ð Schwartz
made a motion to make Jim Crandall PB Chair, Martin seconded the motion and all
voted in favor. Crandall made a motion to keep Schwartz as Secretary, Martin
seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Crandall said that he had looked at
the State Planning Board Handbook and it says we are required to have a Chair
and a Secretary but we are not required to have a Vice Chair. He would like to
keep the Vice Chair open for a while since we have so many new members. He
asked for any opinions. Marshall asked Crandall for his intentions. Crandall
said that he will attend in person through the year but he canÕt promise after
January, he may attend by zoom. He said we can play it by ear. Revane said the
Chair can appoint someone to sit in for him if he canÕt make it. We discussed
alternates and that we can appoint up to 5. Crandall motioned Douglas and Kluk
for alternates. Florence said he would like to be considered as an alternate,
he is staying on the ZBA as Chair. Revane said that we have 3 good candidates
as well as 2 new members. Crandall made a motion to make Kluk, Douglas and
Florence alternate members. Schwartz seconded the motion and all voted in
favor.
2.2 Online webinars Ð Schwartz sent information on the agenda for 2 webinars available to members. Planning Lunches at Noon Monthly Webinar Series Ð one hour online webinar for new members, Thursday, April 20th at noon to 1pm, link to sign up: Click here
2.3
Spring 2023 Planning and
Zoning Conference Ð free online conference on Saturday, April 29 from 8:45 to
3:30pm, agenda here: Click
here, link
to sign up: Click
here, deadline to sign up is April 26th at 4pm
3.0
Old Business:
3.1
Taylor Lot Line Adjustment Ð Crandall said that we
met on March 17th and accepted the application for a Lot Line
Adjustment for Nathaniel and Julie Taylor in East Washington. They bought an
abutting property from the Perez family (TM 23-1) that had 7 tracts in the
deed. They sold the house with its tract and kept 6 other tracts (now TM
23-1-1). They want to do a lot line adjustment between 2 of the tracts; tract
3, which is 9 acres on Deer Valley Road and tract 4, which is 1.8 acres on East
Washington Road. The result would be a 5-acre lot (tract 3) and a 6-acre lot
(tract 4), neither lotÕs road frontage changing. Crandall asked Cook if she had
any questions. She asked if the Taylors had asked to unmerge all of their
tracts. Mellen answered that they hadnÕt and all the tracts were being taxed as
a single lot. Cook asked if the 2 tracts involved with the lot line adjustment
need to be unmerged and become separate lots. Mellen said that a tract boundary
is being moved within the lot but on the tax layer is still all one lot.
Marshall asked if they are creating buildable lots. Mellen pointed out that
they are already buildable lots of record. Cook asked if Taylors would need to
go to the BoS to unmerge before they sell a lot. The answer is yes. Crandall
asked for any other comments or questions. Taylor asked to speak on his
application. He said they bought the property with 7 tracts from the PerezÕs
and sold one tract with the existing house. They intend to keep all the other
tracts as one larger lot. If needed in the future, they could possibly sell the
tract on Deer Valley Road if they needed to. They are making that tract smaller
but complying with the LUO for a buildable lot. He wanted to reassure people
that their intentions are good. They are surveying all their tracts along with
Joe ScottÕs lots (family member). Cook asked if in the future they might annex
the 6 acre (tract 4) to their abutting house lot. Taylor said that they might
merge all the tracts but JoeÕs lot might need to be added to as it is very
small. They are waiting for the larger survey to make decisions. Crandall asked
for a motion. Martin made a motion to approve the lot line adjustment as
presented, Crandall seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Crandall signed
the mylars and Schwartz will take them up to the registry.
3.2
LUO approved items - Schwartz
said that all 3 ballot items passed at Town Meeting and she has added the new
language into the Land Use Ordinance and she will post it this week. Members
from the board signed the certification page.
3.3 Town Center
Vision project Ð Revane said that the
issue of the Library adjacent land didnÕt come up at Town Meeting but there was
just an early discussion on the playground equipment. Several people were
against moving the playground to that location. Crandall felt we should
continue to look at future uses of that property but in several stages.
3.4 Old School
House project Ð Revane said the Police are
in the building and they raised more money at Town Meeting to work on the
upstairs and finish the window rehab.
3.5 Master Plan Ð We discussed the fact that the Master Plan was last
updated in 2015 and will be in need of updating in 2025. Douglas asked if we
used the Regional Planning Commission to help with the last update and Kluk
said that we did it ourselves but used UNH extension for the public input
session. We have all the materials we used last time at Town Hall if anyone
wants to take a look at it. Florence said he would like to help with the
update.
3.6 ZBA Report Ð No report but Florence
said he will bring reports to us each month if there is an issue of concern.
3.7 UVLSRPC Ð No report. Revane presented a
letter from the UVLSRPC about work force housing and meeting housing needs in
the county (ADU+). They are asking the Town to support their efforts with a
donation and a letter. They are trying to fund brokers who can help homeowners
who want to convert or create housing. The BoS wanted our input on this. We
discussed work force housing stock and how some towns have a provision for it
in their LUO and others donÕt. Revane mentioned the issue with people
AirB&Bing their ADUs.
3.8 Revane wanted to mention a problem that is showing up when
property transfer forms come into their office. There seem to be more bedrooms shown
on the form than the septic system is designed for. The BoS now has someone at
DES that they are working with on this. Douglas felt that it is a problem on
the realtor side. Revane wants to look at this moving forward.
4.0
Unresolved Business:
4.1
Setbacks on Non-Conforming Lots Ð no discussion this month.
4.2
Bruce Putnam Business Permit Ð No word from Putnam to date. Revane will contact him.
4.3
Zach Ordway Ð Business permit - Nothing more has been received to date.
4.4
Eccardt Farm Ð Schwartz
said that Sandy Eccard spoke with Hatch when he was out looking at the driveway
permit about adding more agro-tourism offerings to their existing business
permit. Schwartz spoke with her and she is taking a class right now and will
get back to us to update their permit soon.
4.5
Driveway Regulations Ð Crandall
said that we had wanted to update the driveway regs this year but werenÕt able
to get it done in time. We need to work on it this year. He explained the
issues with driveways permitted by DOT on state roads and our desire to enforce
the TownÕs driveway specs on the interior part of the driveway. Marshall
suggested that we might split the permit into 2 parts that regard the cut and
the interior drive separately. We will continue to work on this issue.
4.6
Rules of Procedure Ð Crandall
would like us to look at the rules again regarding meetings and zoom
attendance. Schwartz will send a copy of the latest document to members.
5.0
Driveway Permits:
5.1 Byers/Eccard - East Washington Road, driveway on a right-of-way to back lots TM 13-27 and 13-39, the sketch plan was provided and Hatch signed the permit.
6.0 Mergers: None
7.0
Communications: None
8.0
Date for next Planning Board meeting Ð Tuesday, May 2,
2023, at 6:30PM, in the upper hall at Town Hall.
9.0 Adjournment: Time:
8:02 PM
Motioned
by Revane, seconded by Crandall, all voted in favor.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nan
Schwartz