Washington Planning Board

Meeting Minutes - Draft

August 6, 2019

0.0       Assembly:  6:30PM, Town Hall

0.1       Members present: Hatch, Dulac, Crandall, Revane and Schwartz

            0.2       Alternates present: Kluk, Shifflett

0.3       Members and Alternates Absent: Terani and Chidester

0.4       Visitors: None

Hatch opened the meeting at 6:30 PM

1.0       Minutes: June 2^nd meeting – Schwartz said that she had the wrong date on the minutes but it has been corrected and posted. Hatch asked if there were any comments on the minutes, there being none, Dulac made a motion to approve as written, Crandall seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

2.0       New Business:

2.1       Crandall/Collins Lot Line Adjustment – Crandall had an old plot plan and a sketch plan to explain what they are trying to do. They are straightening the borderline between the two lots. He said he would get the new drawing done by his surveyor and copies of the existing deeds. He said the carriage house on the original plot plan (on Collin’s lot) has been removed and both will be conforming lots after the lot line adjustment. He had some paper work done and gave Schwartz a copy. He will get all paperwork done for the September meeting and we will schedule a hearing for the October meeting.

2.2       Planning Board Handbooks – Schwartz handed out the new handbooks to members.

2.3       Driveway issue – Hatch brought up that Chidester spoke with him about his pending driveway on Millen Pond Road, which has a possible wetland or stream that needs to be crossed. He hasn’t yet put in a permit application but Schwartz said he should contact DES about the water crossing and he may need a wetland scientist to map the wetland and/or stream.

3.0       Old Business:

3.1 RV suggested change for LUO – Last month, Jim Garvin visited us suggesting a change to the LUO regarding RV section 306. Kluk wrote up a white paper for us on the issue that spelled out where the town has been on this issue and concerns raised by the issue. She spoke about the document, which included Master Plan comments, HUD input on RVs vs. MHs, the current LUO definition, history of the LUO ordinance from 2004 – 2017. She covered concerns about residency inequities and said we need to consider all the facts and consequences. Hatch said we don’t need to make a decision quickly and asked if there is precedent of any town allowing it. Kluk had a map of abutting towns and what they allow; none are as liberal as we are now. Revane doesn’t think it is legal to claim residency without a real residence. Kluk said that HUD doesn’t consider an RV a residence. Our LUO sees an RV as for recreational use only. Hatch said that Kluk’s paper gives us a compelling case to not consider the change. Dulac said there is ambiguity and Schwartz said not in the LUO. Hatch asked if we should invite Garvin back for a discussion and let him know how we feel, that there is an abundance of reasons why we can’t do this. Hatch will contact Garvin about coming to our next meeting.

3.2       LUO list priorities – Hatch read through the next section of Article II and took comments as we went. He asked about considering steep slope areas, we decided to work on adding this to a new section #208. Kluk asked if you have a one-acre wetland do you need 5 acres for a lot. We will add the word “four” to take away confusion. On Road frontage we thought that the section was adequate. On Setbacks Shifflett asked if we should add a Prime Wetland setback of 100’. Schwartz said we don’t have any designated prime wetlands at this point. On septic field setbacks Schwartz questioned if we should add a setback for wetlands. We decided to look further at this and Schwartz will research. We discussed septic systems and perc tests and think it may need to be added here that the Health Officer witnesses all perc tests. We will add a separate section on septic requirements (#207). We will do some research on the process. The height section is ok. We decided to add, “is” to section #204. Section #205 is ok, as well as the stormwater section. Hatch said we will start Article III next month and see how far we get with it. Kluk pointed out that #303 also deals with on-site waste disposal.

3.3       Town Center Vision project – Crandall said that he and Jager are meeting with Noah Chidester about the area surrounding the Town buildings concerning the parking and landscaping and that everyone who wants to attend is welcome. They are meeting on August 11^th at 3pm at Town Hall. Schwartz said that she and Gilbert have been working on a few things. Hatch said we stalled out after the big meeting with representatives about road issues. Crandall said that he, Ed Thayer and Kevin Provencher met on the road issues. Hatch said with his new job he finds it difficult to avoid speeding everyday when coming into town from North Main Street, as many do. He suggested another 30MPH sign to remind people to slow down. Schwartz said that a 25MPH zone would be better. Crandall suggested rumble strips. Schwartz said that they have designed a welcome sign that might slow people down. Crandall suggested that Gilbert call a meeting of the whole committee soon.

3.4       Municipal Buildings project update – Revane said the Old School House is up in the air and they are waiting for the foundation to be formed and poured next week. Shifflett asked if they found anything interesting when they dug out the foundation space. Revane said no. They will have the foundation poured and the building set back down in early September. Then they will move the utilities back in and may have money left over to frame the annex or do some work on it. He said they are putting the power lines underground to the building.

3.5       Master Plan – this is a placeholder.

3.6       ZBA Report - Hatch said they have 2 cases open right now. The public hearing for Longval was continued to the end of this month.

3.7       UVLSRPC – Dulac said that they have not met but have a meeting scheduled in the next few weeks.

3.8       Noise Ordinance – Schwartz gave an update and shared the newest version of the Noise Ordinance. She had email and input from the Police Chief, NHMA and finally the Town Attorney Matt Serge, and they approved this latest version.  She said that Kluk had commented on a change to the special permit section, suggesting we change it to special permission and not create a whole new permit for this purpose, all agreed. Hatch asked for a motion to approve this version and bring it to a hearing, Crandall made the motion; Schwartz seconded the motion, 4 voted in favor with Dulac abstaining.

3.9       Building Permit Application – we went over the latest version of the building permit application and asked Kluk to add a 75’ well radius circle to the sample drawing in the application. Everything else looked good and the Selectmen approve of it. Hatch made a motion to approve the new Permit for Construction application, Dulac seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Kluk will make the addition to the drawing and send to Deb and BoS.

4.0       Driveway Permits:

4.1       Marc Longval, Valley Road, TM 12-181-2, Ed checked the site and said that no culvert is required; Hatch looked at the site and concurred. Crandall made a motion to approve the permit, Dulac seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

4.2 Marc Longval, Valley Road, TM 12-181-3, Ed checked the site and said a culvert is required. Hatch checked the site and was concerned about the steep falloff from the road onto the property. We suggested a condition of the permit should be that a 12% finished grade could not be exceeded. Crandall made a motion to approve the permit with the condition, Dulac seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

4.3 Steven Yusko, 738 Millen Pond Rd, TM 15-115, Ed checked the site and said that this is preferable to the existing steep driveway that will be removed. They are reconfiguring the house and driveway to work better on the lot. Revane made a motion to approve the driveway permit, Schwartz seconded and all voted in favor.

5.0 Mergers: None

6.0 Communications:

6.1 NHOEP - Planning Board handbooks  

7.0 Meeting date for next Planning Board meeting – September 3, 2019, at 6:30 PM, at the Town Hall.

8.0 Adjournment:                       Time: 8:43PM

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

Respectfully Submitted,

Nan Schwartz