Washington Planning Board

Meeting Minutes

December 6, 2022

0.0 Assembly: 6:30PM, on 2^nd floor of Town Hall

0.1 Members present: Hatch, Revane and Schwartz, Kluk and Crandall joined on Zoom

0.2 Alternates present: None

0.3 Visitors: Kristine Chidester, Joel Chidester, Peter Mellen

Hatch called the meeting to order at 6:30PM.

1.0 Minutes: November 1^st Meeting – Hatch asked if any changes were needed in the minutes, no changes or additions were mentioned. Revane made a motion to approve the minutes as written, Kluk seconded the motion. Since Kluk and Crandall were joining us on Zoom, Hatch did a roll call vote and all voted in favor.

2.0 New Business:

2.1 Chidester RV Issue – Kristine and Joel Chidester were attending to discuss an issue with home construction and an RV permit during construction. Joel said he is planning construction of a home on his lot TM 11-39-02. He has been temporarily staying in an RV at 277 Old Marlow Road on TM 11-38-01, which is owned by his parents. When they start construction on their lot they would like to be able to get an RV permit under the construction category, which allows you to stay for a longer period during construction. They would like to be able to keep the RV on the Marlow Road lot instead of moving it to the construction site lot. Kristine said this lot is abutting their lot and has power and septic hookups and is not sloped like their construction lot. Schwartz said that she thinks this is a ZBA issue and Hatch agreed. Joel said that they met with the Select Board about it. He is planning to start construction in the spring of 2023 and it will be finished within the 2-year period. Revane said that the BoS suggested that he come to the PB for an interpretation of the LUO RV section. Hatch said the ZBA recently did a variance for an RV permit during construction on a non-conforming lot. Schwartz said this is a unique situation. Hatch suggested they get their construction permit first, then apply for the variance. They have an RV permit that is good from January to April, this will give them time to apply for the variance.

2.2 Peter Mellen – presenting two minor subdivisions. The first was for Fred Douglas who owns a 28.6-acre lot, TM 15-70 at 758 Faxon Hill Road. He provided us a copy of the application and all required documents along with a waiver letter for 2 items. Douglas wants to create one lot with 12 acres and the second lot would have the existing dwelling on 16.8 acres.

The second was a minor subdivision for Margaret Ciriello, TM 9-36, a 58-acre lot at 81 Sandy Knolls Road. He gave us a copy of the application and all required documents along with a waiver letter for 8 items. Ciriello is hoping to create a 20-acre lot with the existing garage containing a living area above. The existing farmhouse would be on a 38-acre lot. Both buildings have existing wells and separate septic systems. Kluk asked if the lots could be re-subdivided in the future. A discussion of major and minor subdivisions followed. We will discuss the need to address this issue in the LUO, it is only in the Subdivision Regulations right now.

Mellen will send Schwartz a digital copy of all the documents so she can share them with members. We set a public hearing date for both subdivisions for January 3^rd at 6:30pm. Schwartz will notice for both subdivisions.

2.3 PB Report – Hatch had sent an outline of his report for inclusion in the Annual Town report. We approved of his thoughts. He will flesh it out and send the document to members.

2.4 BoS Alternative plan for protection of Camp Morgan property – Hatch sent out the email he received from Deb to alert the boards as to what the BoS were thinking. Revane said the BoS had invited all the boards to a Select Board meeting but no one could attend so he is attending all the separate board’s meetings. He said that the BoS didn’t like the concept of a conservation easement (CE) so they are looking for an alternative plan. They felt that a CE would restrict the town from siting a school or an alternative energy system on the property. He floated requiring a super majority/paper ballot to make changes on the property and a committee made up of several boards in town to oversee the property and its uses. He wants to get a group of board members together in early January and nail down some ideas to go to legal. Hatch asked if there was some precedent for going in this direction. Kluk asked if the original deed for the property had any restrictions. Schwartz thought we should do some research on this. Revane is looking for a commitment from the board to have representation on the committee. Schwartz said that the mandate from Town Meeting was to come back this year with CE language. Hatch thinks it is too rushed to come back with a legal document in time for Town Meeting, perhaps just asking if this is the way the town wants to go as opposed to a CE is enough. Hatch said our board would be in favor of being a part of the group.

3.0 Old Business:

3.1 Bruce Putnam Business Permit – To date we have not received the provided Site Plan Review application from Putnam. Schwartz sent him a letter requesting that he return the site plan application by tonight’s meeting. We will return the issue to the BoS to take care of it.

3.2 Zach Ordway – Business permit - Schwartz said that she had sent Ordway a request for information about square footage and parking and a copy of the exemption to site plan review. Nothing has been received to date.

3.3 Driveway Issues off State Roads – Schwartz sent out the reply we received from Matt Serge on our driveway question. His answer in return was confusing. Hatch will send a clean copy of the new language and ask for comments again. We will look at the deadlines for holding a public hearing in January and set a date. The hearing will also cover the changes we drafted for the sections #311 and #202.

3.4 Town Center Vision project – Crandall said the committee (with new members) will take on a new endeavor to look at the Town property next to the Library for additional such as the community garden, playground, etc. Revane said there is a shed building to hold tools, water on site and parking. He said there is a possible need for outdoor lighting. The vestibule for the Library construction is starting this week and they bought a lot of the items needed over the year and have them stored.

3.5 Old School House project – Revane said that the project is nearly done. Ciardelli is hooking up the backup furnace and furniture has been ordered and will be in soon. Several windows have glazing that is drying. The front door is getting a new lock. The upstairs bathrooms need to be finished.

3.6 Master Plan – place holder.

3.7 ZBA Report – Hatch said the board remanded a permit back to the BoS. The applicant’s attorney’s intent is to ask for a rehearing but they need to reapply with a new permit application for a new decision of why it is being sent to the ZBA.

Hatch brought up an issue with what the LUO says (#201.5 building coverage shall not exceed 10% of area of the lot and total impermeable coverage, including building coverage, shall not exceed 20% the area of the lot) and what the construction permit application (pg.4) says about impermeable surfaces. The construction permit app needs a tweak to use the same language as the LUO. The LUO may need a tweak to change “building” to “structure”. The construction permit application also needs to ask what the existing structure coverage is. We will work on this.

3.8 UVLSRPC – Hatch is attending a meeting tomorrow night. He is continuing to speak with them about reporting issues.

4.0 Unresolved Business:

4.1 Setbacks on Non-Conforming Lots – no discussion this month.

5.0 Driveway Permits: None

6.0 Mergers: None

7.0 Communications:

7.1 Resignation letter from Paul Kapteyn – we received a letter from Paul stating his intent to resign as an alternate from the board. We have been so pleased to have his participation on the board and really don’t want to lose him as an alternate. Kluk will speak with him again about continuing. We hope to keep him on in what ever capacity we can.

8.0 Date for next Planning Board meeting – January 3^rd, 2022 at 6:30pm on upper hall at Town Hall.

9.0 Adjournment: Time: 8:23 PM

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

Respectfully Submitted,

Nan Schwartz