WASHINGTON PLANNING BOARD
Town Center Vision Subcommittee – Working meeting Minutes
July 11, 2018
Members present: Lolly Gilbert, Jim Crandall, Jean Kluk, Andrew Hatch, Ron Jager, Kevin Provencher and Nan Schwartz.
Visitors: None
1.0 Call to Order - The meeting was called to order by Co-Chair Jim Crandall at 8:00 AM, in the Town Hall.
Crandall informed us that a petition is on the counter at the General Store to disband this subcommittee, we discussed the issue and Jager said we should make a concerted effort to bring Ryan to the table, all agreed. Hatch commented that if you have a parking problem it is good because it means people are coming to your store. Crandall let us know that Jon Gibson had given him a letter of resignation from the subcommittee. We thank Jon for his efforts on behalf of the committee. Crandall suggested we add some more people to the subcommittee. Kluk had a few suggestions for members.
2.0 Minutes – Crandall asked for any changes to the minutes, Kluk made a motion to approve the minutes, Provencher seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
3.0 Old Business – Crandall asked for the reports of members, who took on assignments for looking at possible consultants and grant possibilities. Gilbert spoke with Ed Thayer and had a copy of the proposed new driveway scheme for the Town buildings. She commented that Gaskells and GibsonÕs both oppose this approach. She said he has a $20K estimate for the paving. Schwartz said she had asked the Selectmen to hold off on going forward with any plan until our subcommittee had a chance to do its work. Jager said we could offer an opinion on the new design. Gilbert also shared a good collection of historical photos of the Main Street area that she got copies of from Gwen Gaskell out of the Historical Society archives. Gilbert reported that Thayer said the Library parking lot could possibly be enlarged and that we should consult with UVLSRPC about traffic studies and road issues. Kluk would like to do a traffic study soon. Jager said we should look at our preconceptions; do we think traffic is moving too fast through town. Kluk would like to get numbers on speed and traffic counts. Schwartz said UVLSRPC was on her list and they have been contacted and she is waiting to hear back from one of the planners there. She said that from what she could find most of DOT and Federal road projects are done through the Regional Planning Commissions around the state. Kluk asked if we need a traffic count for Faxon Hill Road. Schwartz thought Thayer might have done one before the paving project started. Gilbert will speak with Thayer about that.
Hatch said he had a useful conversation with CDFA and there are 2 potential contacts there. He said they do block grants but there was not a good match for our purposes. He spoke with USDA and there were 2 contacts in that office. They said grants are available and they encouraged a RBDG (Rural Business Development Grant), these are for communities under 50K population and are in the $10K to $500K range. He explained that NH gets $174K and rewards grants of $30K. Hatch asked for a list of project or case studies of successful grant recipients. They will send him some. He said they generally work with community investment groups with a jobs and economic development focus, doing marketing plans, feasibility studies, hiring consultants and planning grants. They said they would walk him through the process. The deadline was April 30th but a new round opens in November/early December and closes in February 2019. They ask for a letter of intent. He said if we come up with an idea they will help us develop it. Kluk said we need a consortium of business owners that would be interested in being involved. Jager asked if we have a tentative idea what we would use the money for. Hatch said we would need an economic development reason or it wonÕt fly. Kluk said the Master Plan has a chapter on Economic Development and we should look at that.
Provencher reported that he contacted the college deans of the civil engineering school at UNH and Dartmouth. He said that Dartmouth asked for a personal visit. His UNH query received no response from the dean and got kicked to UNH Cooperative Extension. He thinks it might be because they are not in session at this point. Kluk asked if UNH has an Urban Planning department and Provencher said no they are tilted to the technical side but they do some urban planning classes in the civil engineering department. He said he would contact Harvard to see if they might want to help. We suggested he contact Keene State, Antioch, Colby Sawyer and NEC, also. He said that UNH students did a study of Dover under the First Impression program. Kluk said she had that program on her list. She explained that this program figures out what people think when they come to town and it is aesthetically focused. She has contacted them. She said we have identified the issues and they are willing to meet with us about identifying assets and opportunities, action planning and grant possibilities. We all felt we should get them to come meet with us. Gilbert suggested we try to get their assessment tool to us. Kluk will speak with them again. She also had the NH Preservation Alliance and feels they could help with a structural assessment report on the Old Schoolhouse and Town Pound. Her other item was LCHIP and she feels this could be a possibility for planning or work on the Old Schoolhouse.
Crandall said that Bert Bodnar wasnÕt able to attend but he sent a letter to say he looked into the ŌSave AmericaÕs TreasuresĶ program and it is now closed. Others were also not in attendance to report what they had researched.
Jager raised the issue of junky yards and asked where the town is on this issue and whether we are clear on whatÕs happening with this. Kluk said that the BoS is very concerned with this issue and asked for help to write some regulation on the issue. Matt Serge (town attorney) and Margaret from NHMA have held a few workshops recently on this subject for Health Officers and town officials. The issue was researched as to what other towns have on the books and a regulation was drafted based on this. Serge read over what has been drafted and approved of it. A public hearing has been scheduled to present the draft regulation to the community on July 24th and we hope people will show up to discuss and support it. We know that there is a lot of discussion going on about it on Facebook but it seems people are misunderstanding the regulation and need explanations. This issue seems to be getting mixed up in the Town Center Visioning project to the detriment of both issues.
4.0 Issues to discuss at next meeting – We will continue discussing information we have gathered from our sources. We are not ready for decisions at this point.
5.0 Next meeting – July 25th at 8AM in the Town Hall.
Meeting adjourned at 9:10 AM.
Respectfully submitted,
Nan Schwartz
Planning Board Secretary