Washington Planning Board

Minutes

June 4, 2013

0.0       Assembly:  6:30PM

            0.1       Members present:

                        Cook, Crandall, Dagesse, Schwartz

            0.2       Alternates present:

                        Kluk, Terani

            0.3       Members and Alternates Absent: Marshall

0.4 Visitors: None

0.5 Cook called the meeting to order at 6:30PM, Crandall motioned to put Ken Eastman in for Marshall, Dagesse seconded, all voted in favor.

1.0 Minutes: May 7, 2013 meeting. Kluk asked for a correction on those present and absent from the meeting, Terani asked for a clarification on 2.2 that he asked about whether the Selectmen had considered holding Town Meeting on a Saturday or evening. Schwartz will make the requested corrections. Crandall motioned to approve the minutes as corrected, Dagesse seconded, all voted in favor.

2.0       Old Business:

2.1       Master Plan – Schwartz said that she had communicated with the regional planning commission several times over the month and they send a few documents for us to look at. Kluk said that last month we had looked at how other towns compared to our Master Plan. She has looked at Goshen, Unity and a few more towns’ Master Plans and put them into a document that she passed out. The first page was a step-by-step, how-to process for us to discuss following. Another page compared the chapters in our MP to what was in the MPs from Goshen, Lempster and Stoddard. She said that one session she went to at the OEP conference really emphasized sitting down with all departments to get their vision and input. It is also important to use facilitators to do workshops and discussions with public groups, as they can be neutral parties. She had a list of ways to engage the public to get community input. Eastman asked what was the target audience and it is taxpayers. Crandall asked about what if we plan workshops and no one comes. Cook asked if we want to go through with this process and who wants to be involved. Kluk, Schwartz and Terani said they would be on the subcommittee, everyone else felt they couldn’t devote time do it. Kluk asked if we want to pull people from the public to be on the committee and everyone agreed this was a good idea. We discussed a list of people we felt might be interested. Dagesse said it would be good to have some parents and full time working people and some from different parts of town. The three Planning Board members will meet for a strategy session. Crandall asked to know when the meetings are so he can attend if possible. Anyone with other ideas for potential members should email them to Schwartz. The tentative date for this meeting is June 17^th, Monday at 10AM in the Town Hall.

2.2       Town Hall project update and Safety Complex update – Crandall asked if it is appropriate to have these items on our agenda, the Selectmen are responsible for the buildings in town and we have no standing with these projects. Terani said that these are capital projects and we should have an interest in what is going on in town.

Crandall said there is no one on the committee representing the Planning Board. Kluk said that she and Schwartz are on the committee as well as Marshall as a Selectman. Crandall thinks that the Town Hall project took several years and was not on our agenda so these should not be either. Kluk commented that we have a responsibility for the Master Plan and the Capital Improvements Program, many Master Plans have a discussion and plan for a town’s buildings in them. Cook asked Eastman if there was anything new on the Safety Complex and he said – there was nothing that applies to the Planning Board, they have gone over their needs with the architect and are going over the contract. Eastman said there was no new news on the Town Hall project. A majority of members decided to leave these items off the agenda. Terani thinks that communication is important and necessary.

2.3       Business permits: Schwartz said that we still need to finish up with Cullen – Thunder Mountain Construction, we had asked for more permit application documents and we never received them. She also noticed that Scott Snell is advertising his construction business in the town phone book and doesn’t have a permit. Dagesse will contact both.

2.4       NHOEP Conference handout – Kluk attended the Spring Planning Conference and had information to share with us. She wished that more members had attended because it is a great way to get up-to-date information and network with Planning Board members from other towns. The town attorney Matt Serge did a good workshop at the conference.

3.0       New Business:                       

3.1 Waiver of Liability for Class VI (pertains to 4.0) – Crandall asked who checks on driveways after they are constructed? Eastman said that the Selectmen go out to assign a 911 number. Crandall is very opposed to letting anyone build off a class VI road, in general. Kluk and several others agreed. We looked at the language of the waiver that Goshen uses for their building permit. If upgrades are done on the road it has to be done to the DPW director’s OK. Crandall asked if we have to approve, there should be no building on a class VI road. He recommends we talk to the town attorney about the waiver. Dagesse said that the Selectmen wanted us to look over the language to review it. We don’t have to adopt it or recommend, it is the Selectmen’s job. Schwartz said the town attorney should write and approve the document. Kluk said that it is money well spent to use the town’s attorney. Dagesse will draft a document and send to Matt Serge and he will confer with the Selectmen. Schwartz said the waiver goes to the registry of deeds and stays with the property, if it is sold in the future.

4.0       Driveway permits:

4.1 Robert Guerin, Lempster Mt. Road, TM07-06, permanent driveway for residence, Ed Thayer checked, Cook and Marshall checked the site, this proposed driveway uses Old Burbank Road, a Class VI road, for 500’ first section and requires a waiver of liability (as discussed in 3.1). Thayer had made some comments and attached them to the permit application. Kluk asked if Guerin needed to sign off on Thayer’s comments, Dagesse said they go back to him with the signed permit. Crandall said he realized that we agreed to this before and there were reasons that we agreed to using Old Burbank Road but thinks it is a bad precedent. Schwartz commented that we agreed to it because it was a bad idea to have two roads/driveway coming out on Lempster Mt Road side-by-side and running parallel to each other. It was a practical and esthetic decision that is not meant to set a precedent. Schwartz asked if there was an issue with the snowmobile trail because the club used to use Old Burbank Road to connect across Lempster Mt Road to the other trail. Dagesse thought there wasn’t an issue, because Marshall would have commented on it. Dagesse made a motion to approve, Schwartz seconded, the board voted in favor with Crandall abstaining.

5.0       Mergers: None.

6.0       Communications:

6.1       Intent to Cut, Ciriello, Sandy Knolls Rd., TM09-36

6.2       Intent to Cut, Dickinson, Back Mt. Road, TM 03-03

6.3       UVLSRPC, invitation to50th Annual Meeting, Wed., June 18, 5 to 8PM, Hanover Inn, Hanover, $40 per person, RSVP by June 7th

6.4       UVLSRPC, request for information about essential shopping locations

Eastman made a comment that he agrees that the town needs better communication and mentioned maybe having a standing survey on the town website where people could comment, good or bad, on different departments or services of the town. Schwartz said that people can use the general comments email under the “Contact Us” link on the town website for this purpose. Those comments are always forwarded to the proper people and answered.

7.0       Meeting date for next Planning Board meeting, July 2, 2013, at 6:30PM.

8.0       Adjournment:              Time 7:38PM

            Motioned by Dagesse, seconded by Crandall

Respectfully Submitted,

Nan Schwartz