WASHINGTON PLANNING BOARD
Town Center Vision Subcommittee – Working meeting Minutes
November 28, 2018
Members present: Lolly Gilbert, Roxy Otterson, Kevin Provencher, Andrew Hatch and Nan Schwartz.
Visitors: None
1.0 Call to Order - The meeting was called to order by Co-Chair Lolly Gilbert at 9:30 AM in the Town Hall. She asked Schwartz if she had spoken to UVLSRPC about help with DOT and she said she hadn't yet, but indicated that she would.
Gilbert asked if the minutes were ok and everyone said they were.
2.0 Gilbert said that there was the suggestion about asking the BoS to hold off on spending the FD leftover bond funds but they have made the decision to pay down the bond. Hatch said that the only benefit to paying down the bond in one payment is on the back end so they are going to use the funds to pay the frontend payments over time to have tax relief now. Schwartz said the use of this money could still be discussed at Town Meeting since the money will still be around.
Gilbert said she received an email from Penny, which we reviewed. She will be sending her report at the end of next week. Schwartz will send out to members when we receive it.
Hatch asked about next steps. Gilbert said we should start with the suggestion boxes and a very concise summary report that we can put with the boxes. Otterson said we should cover areas we have considered simply. Gilbert had an idea for the boxes, which she shared with Schwartz. Schwartz asked if we should put the boxes out in January, all agreed. We will put boxes at the Library, PO, Town Hall, the store, the farm and at the church (maybe the East Washington church too). Otterson asked about who will check the boxes and how often. Provencher suggested a roving box to put at events such as the Senior Luncheon. Hatch suggested checking and stocking the forms weekly. He suggested taping a pouch with forms to the box and a pencil or pen attached with a string. We decided we can have different people check separate sites. Gilbert asked Hatch to summarize for the box document and she will format it and print it. She said we are looking for input rather than check off boxes and show the diversity of what we are looking at. Hatch said that we can have people answer also by email as an alternative. We will use the pb@washingtonnh.org email address for this. Schwartz will work on some design ideas for the boxes.
Hatch reported that the BoS are possibly meeting with the architect (Petrovich) at their next meeting, he will be checking on that and will attend if it is happening. We feel it is important to stay involved with the process. He said that at this point the energy audit that was done might be dismissed because it is some years old. Provencher said that the signage in Jaffrey Center is really nice and Petrovich was involved with getting it done.
Provencher said he will draft a letter to send to Harvard, UNH and Northeastern to thank them and hold them off for now. Kluk was hoping to go see the pitches at UNH for the grad student involvement.
Hatch said the suggestion boxes, summary and ideas will lead us to the community meeting next summer, in mid-June. Gilbert suggested we communicate electronically for the rest of December and schedule a meeting for January that Penny can attend. Hatch wants to keep Jared in the loop, he thinks he has good energy and ideas. He mentioned the budget discussion at the PB meeting, the requested amount started high but we settled on $1000 for 2019.
Otterson suggested we create a visual of the Town Common without the Schoolhouse, she feels it is important to create a vision for the town center.
We set the next meeting for Wednesday, January 9th at 9:00am; Gilbert will check the availability of Penny and Jared.
Gilbert suggested giving Bob Hofstetter the LoveSullivan card and ask him to put up some of his wonderful pictures of Washington.
3.0 Next meeting – Tentatively Wednesday, January 9th at 9:00am in Town Hall.
Meeting adjourned at 10:35am.
Respectfully submitted,
Nan Schwartz
Planning Board Secretary