Washington Planning Board

Meeting Minutes - DRAFT

August 4, 2015

0.0       Assembly:  6:30PM

            0.1       Members present: Crandall, Dagesse and Schwartz

            0.2       Alternates present: Kluk, Dulac, Russell, Hatch, Terani

            0.3       Members and Alternates Absent: Cook, Marshall

0.4           Visitors: Jon Gibson, Michael Berry, Maryellen Berry, Bob Williams, Lolly Gibert.

 

Crandall made a motion to have Andrew Hatch sit in for Cook, Dagesse seconded the motion, all voted in favor. He reminded the board that this was a business meeting and discussion should only be on the issues and not between each other.

 

1.0       Minutes: Minutes from July 7, 2015 meeting, no changes were requested, Hatch motioned to approve, Dagesse seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Minutes from July 22, 2015 site walk to Shane MullinerÕs business, Schwartz motioned to approve, Crandall seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

 

2.0       Old Business:

2.1       Business permit - Jon and Camille Gibson, The Board reviewed the site plan review application, the business description and the site plan map that Jon supplied to us. Schwartz stated that she filled out the business permit application for him using the information he supplied on the site plan application because it is a separate application. Gibson checked the information on the application and signed the document. Gibson stated that they are expanding their business a little and the retail showroom/learning center will be under 500 sq ft., the workshop will be 960 sq ft. The learning center will be a place where people can come and do small projects and a display space for antique pewter and information. He envisions using the right side of the barn right now and expanding into the other areas later. The barn is about 1800 sq ft total. Crandall asked about parking and Gibson said that the proposed parking area will have 3 spaces and there are another 6 spaces available by the garage. We noted that additional information on the site map. We determined he complies with the LUO for parking. Hatch asked Gibson about the new driveway permit and Gibson said it is in the DOTÕs hands and is pending approval. Crandall made a motion to accept GibsonÕs applications as complete, Dagesse seconded and all voted in favor. We set a date for the site visit for August 25th at 5PM and September 1st at 6:30PM for the public hearing.

2.2       Business Permit - Shane Mulliner, change of location for existing logging business. We conducted the site walk on July 22nd and found no problems. Schwartz said she wants to ask Mulliner where the gray water from the shop is ending up on the site (she forgot to ask on the site walk). We reviewed his applications and set a date for public hearing for September 1st at 6:30PM.

2.3       Master Plan Update – Crandall said we have two new draft chapters to review – Services and Facilities and Energy. He said that we are reviewing a slightly changed version of the Services and Facilities Chapter - version 8 that was sent out by email, the new version (9) has a few changes made by Ed Thayer, who added some clarifying facts. Schwartz passed out the newest version of the S&F chapter. He stated that if you had no problems with version 8 you will not have a problem with version 9. Kluk offered to go through the changes to the chapter but no one thought it was necessary. She stated that the Energy chapter hadnÕt changed from the version Schwartz sent out. Kluk thanked Hatch for the Energy Chapter, which was authored by the Energy Committee that he chairs. Hatch mentioned that the Energy Committee was formed in 2007 and the RSA he wanted to reference in the chapter about the formation of Energy Committees in NH was not passed until 2009. Schwartz will research the issue in the Town Meeting minutes and change the reference, if needed. Dagesse made a motion to accept the 2 chapters, Schwartz seconded the motion and all voted in favor. We set a public hearing date for the last five chapters for September 8th, Tuesday at 6:30PM in the Town Hall. It will be a similar presentation that was done for the first 6 chapters, presented by Jim Crandall and Jean Kluk.         

2.2       Event Sign - Kluk reported that the contract with MaineLine Graphics for the sign production, was recently signed by the Selectmen and a check was cut. This put the sign into production and it should be done in 4 to 5 weeks. The Public Works Dept. crew will be installing it when it is delivered, saving the town some money. Kluk is ordering the tracks and changeable letters. Hatch asked about how someone will put up a message on the sign. Kluk said we will work on writing a procedure for the signÕs use and bring it to the Selectmen. It will be similar to the process of reserving Camp Morgan but will only be open for use by town entities. We will discuss its use by local non-profits.

 

3.0       New Business:

3.1       Merger – Michael and Maryellen Berry had an issue about a past merger that they wanted to discuss with the board. They have a family trust, which owned two properties on Valley Road, TM 25-83-1and TM 25-83-2. One of the properties has a house on it and is 2053 Valley Road. MichaelÕs father, Jim Berry, wanted to merge the properties in 2004 and filled out the paperwork. Michael signed the paperwork, as trustee of the family trust, and it was notarized. He said he then had second thoughts about it and asked his father not to do the merger. The merger was done in 2004 and was signed by Jack Sheehy who was the chair of the Planning Board, at that time, and it was registered at the Registry of Deeds in December of 2004. Berry stated that he thought the merger wasnÕt done. He said they continued to receive separate tax bills for the two properties until 2014, when they received one tax bill and a credit for $1500. They had received a letter from the Assessors about it. They didnÕt understand how this could have happened and wanted the merger undone. They showed us a copy of the merger paperwork. Dagesse and Crandall stated we canÕt undo a merger. Schwartz agreed and said the paperwork was done properly and it is a legal merger. They asked us if we could subdivide the properties but we found that the property does not have enough acres to be subdivided, it would need to be 8-acres as the LUO now requires 4-acre lots. It was not large enough in 2004 to subdivide at that time either, as 2-acres were required for a lot. The lots were both under an acre each and non-conforming lots of record, when they were merged. They asked how this could have happened and it was explained that the Assessors probably overlooked the merger papers and it didnÕt turn up in their office until recently (2014). We made copies of all their paperwork. Crandall will call NHMA and the Registry of Deeds to see if anything can be done, but all seems to have been done legally and they probably have no recourse. Maryellen gave Crandall her phone and email so he can let her know what he finds out.

 

4.0       Driveway permits:

4.1       Kathleen West, 1530 Halfmoon Pond Rd., TM 8-11, Ed and Jim inspected, fee paid. Michelle made a motion to approve the driveway, Schwartz seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Crandall signed the permit.

4.2       Andrew Hatch, 1124 Faxon Hill Road, existing driveway, remove nonfunctioning culvert, Ed inspected and signed off. Hatch recused himself from this matter but was available to answer questions about it. He explained that the driveway was constructed in 2007 and a culvert was required at that time but in the 7 years since installation no water has passed through it. Large trucks have had trouble making the turn into the driveway and have ended up in the ditch and have crushed the culvert end. He is requesting to remove the culvert and make the flare wider to take care of the problem. He said the wetland nearby is now drained by a town culvert so their culvert is useless. Dagesse motioned to approve the permit, Crandall seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Crandall signed the permit.

4.3       Shane Branch, East Washington Road, TM 16-99, Ed and Jim inspected and Ed made changes to the location of the proposed driveway. Crandall stated that the original location that the owner requested had sightline issues so Thayer suggested a new location 136Õ from the north property line. He determined that no culvert was needed. Thayer spoke with Branch and he agreed to move the driveway to the new location. Dagesse motioned to approve the permit with ThayerÕs suggested changes, Crandall seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Crandall signed the permit and a copy of ThayerÕs sketch will be sent to the owner.

 

           

5.0       Mergers:

5.1       Shane Mulliner, 479 South Main Street, TM 16-76, deed provided, no fee, merging tracts 1 and 2. The merger application was not complete because it was not notarized. We tabled the merger until Mulliner gets the paperwork notarized.

 

6.0       Other Business:

6.1       Chute Land Issue – Schwartz said that she met briefly with Lionel Chute who has his properties on the market. He discovered an old subdivision plan from 1983 showing a five-acre pond front site with a 60-foot right of way leading to it. The plan was on paper and was not signed or stamped by the registry, but Diane DrewÕs name was printed on the signature block. Terani said that Drew was the chair of the Planning Board at that time. Schwartz said that she looked online at the registry and could not find the registered plan, she also looked in the drawers at Town Hall and did not find the signed mylar that Chute said exists. It was agreed that if it was never registered at the Registry of Deeds that it isnÕt a legal subdivision. Schwartz will let Chute know he needs to come up with the registered plot plan to take to the Assessors and to be able to market this property separately from the 125-acre parcel.

 

7.0       Communications:

6.1       Intent-to-cut, TM3-3, accessing from Old Mountain Rd., Bradford

6.2       Intent-to-cut, TM 23-43, Weldon, accessing from Hillsboro

            6.3       Copy of DES acceptance of permit application, 968 Faxon Hill Road, septic

            6.4       Copy of DES acceptance of permit application, 341 Ashuelot Drive, septic

            6.5       Copy DES, approval for construction of septic, 64 Lempster Mt. Rd.

 

 

8.0       Meeting date for next Planning Board meeting, September 1, 2015, at 6:30PM.

 

9.0       Adjournment:                       Time: 7:27 PM

            Motioned by Dagesse, seconded by Hatch, all voted in favor.

 

Respectfully Submitted, 

Nan Schwartz