WASHINGTON PLANNING BOARD

Town Center Vision Subcommittee – Working meeting Minutes

August 8, 2018

Members present: Lolly Gilbert, Jim Crandall, Roxy Otterson, Jean Kluk, Andrew Hatch, Ron Jager, Kevin Provencher, Bert Bodnar and Nan Schwartz.

Visitors: None

1.0       Call to Order - The meeting was called to order by Co-Chair Jim Crandall at 8:30 AM, in the Town Hall. Crandall made note that we don’t have a set agenda for the meeting but we will follow what we have done in the past.

2.0       Minutes – Crandall asked for any changes to the minutes, Jager asked to lose the line that he was attributed as saying about the Town Pound, Schwartz will delete the line. Gilbert commented that Schneider’s name is Casey, Schwartz will correct. Bodnar made a motion to approve the minutes with the edits, Otterson seconded the motion and all voted in favor.

3.0       Old Business – Crandall commented that he has some color pictures of the Hillsboro Center Town Pond and he will share them with the group. Schwartz said she googled NH Town Pounds and there were lots of great pictures of Town Pounds from around the state worth looking at for reference.

Crandall passed out copies of the Bradford paper, the Bradford Bridge, commenting that they are going through a similar process. They just held a public Master Plan Visioning session and looked at similar issues to what we are looking at.

Crandall asked for any updates on reports from members -

Kluk said that Provencher mentioned to her that he had some good news about his contacts with the universities. He will speak about it when he arrives.

Kluk said that at our next meeting on August 22^nd she has arranged for UNH’s Penny Whitman and her colleague Jerrod, from the “First Impressions” program, are coming to meet with us at 10AM.

Crandall said that after last meeting Schwartz sent out the Old Schoolhouse assessment that was done by architect Drasba and a structural engineer. Crandall wants us to pick an option for the future use of the building. He feels there is no easy sell on the use of the building and the BoS wants to return the bond money and hold off on the project. Gilbert asked if it would be a taxpayer vote at Town Meeting to return the money or decide to use some for other purposes. Crandall said yes the law is clear on that. Kluk thinks they aren’t against doing work on the Schoolhouse but they want to do it piecemeal over time. She said Krygeris think it looks bad and would like to side it before doing structural work. Jager asked why BoS wants to return the money. Schwartz said she thinks it is because they think they promised to at last Town Meeting.

Crandall asked for thoughts or comments on the Schoolhouse report. Otterson asked if it would help to show up to BoS meetings. Kluk thinks new faces and voices would be welcome to go. Bodnar asked if we would benefit by having a community wide meeting like Bradford. Crandall said we will work toward doing that; he would like to come up with 5 or so ideas to present and ask the public for their ideas. Hatch said a charrette draws people in for a focused work session and it generates discussion. He was involved in one in Concord visualizing changes for Main Street that was really good with lots of ideas generated. Kluk said PlanNH does charrettes but there is a $6K fee required, we could look for a grant to cover the cost. She said our Master Plan session had a good turnout and people had great input.

Provencher reported that he had responses from Northeastern University, Harvard, Plymouth State and Keene State. Northeastern has master’s students in a Capstone class that does research projects over a semester with 3 to 4 students. Harvard has its Graduate School of Design in Urban Planning and has a service-learning component. They will work on specific tasks and there is a time frame for requests but it is open ended. He said Keene State has a graduate program in Urban Planning and he was referred to Michael Petrovick who is an adjunct professor who lives in Francestown and has an architecture firm in Keene. He is a preservation architect who is interested in what we are doing and would work with us free of charge. He is interested in meeting with us and Schwartz will send him the materials we have. Kluk thought this sounds terrific. He mentioned the NH Preservation Alliance is a good source for funding. Provencher said that Plymouth State has a Master of Arts in preservation under the state director of Historic Resources. He will follow up with them; we need advice on the reuse of historic buildings. Hatch asked if we need to prepare anything for the next Town Meeting. Crandall asked the likelihood of being ready to present anything at Town Meeting? Hatch said timing is everything; next year is a new opportunity. Crandall envisions office space in the Schoolhouse but it needs a good use. Hatch thinks multiuse is the way to go he sees art on the walls and use as a gathering space. Crandall’s preference is for option A or B as laid out by Drasba’s report. Kluk said this discussion goes right into the Keene State professor’s area of expertise, could we bring him in and learn how to move forward. Provencher said we could send our priorities and the report. Otterson asked when we could meet with him thinking it would be best to meet with him before the other meeting. Provencher said he would call him and try to arrange for next week. Gilbert said if we get good feedback we could go for a community meeting in September/October. Hatch asked if the upstairs project should be part of our focus. Kluk said the fundraising is already in progress and they will go to Town Meeting to vote to spend the funds raised and do the project. She said there is support from the BoS for the project. Hatch asked why we weren’t more focused on that. We acknowledge that it is already in process and doesn’t need our focus. Gilbert said that if we have a community meeting we could promote it there.

Hatch asked if we thought it would be a good idea to speak with Shelly Hatfield who is an independent grant writer in the Lebanon area that used to work for Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission (UVLSRPC). All thought it was a good idea.

Bodnar reported he had a good meeting with the neighbors about the Town Pound, they are continuing their discussion.

4.0       Other Business – None mentioned but Provencher will let us know the availability of Petrovick to meet with us in the next week or so. We decided to send him several documents prior to our meeting with him to bring him up to speed.

5.0       Next meeting – Wednesday, August 22^nd at 10:00AM in the Town Hall. The other August meeting we will let everyone know when Provencher has word on a date from him.

NOTE: A subsequent phone call set a meeting with Petrovick for August 21^st at 8AM.

Meeting adjourned at 9:35 AM.

Respectfully submitted,

Nan Schwartz

Planning Board Secretary