Washington Planning Board
Washington Planning Board
Meeting Minutes - DRAFT
May 2, 2017
0.0 Assembly: 6:30PM
0.1 Members present: Crandall, Schwartz and Williams
0.2 Alternates present: Terani and Kluk
0.3 Members and Alternates Absent: Dulac, Hatch and Russell
0.4 Visitors: Kristine Chidester
Crandall called the meeting to order at 6:30PM. He appointed Terani and Kluk to sit in for Dulac and Hatch.
1.0 Minutes:
April 4, 2017 – Williams mentioned that the BoS had voted to make Tom Marshall the substitute ex-officio when he is unavailable to attend. Kluk asked if she needed to be officially appointed as an alternate PB member. Crandall pointed out that the minutes from last meeting reflect that we did that already. Schwartz said Kluk and Hatch both need to see the Town Clerk to sign their papers. Williams motioned to approve the minutes as written, Kluk seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
2.0 New Business:
2.1 Chidester:
Kristine Chidester came in to discuss her family’s proposed subdivision. They have decided on making 4 lots for family members from their 43-acres. She said they have plenty of road frontage on Millen Pond Road for the 3 new lots and the frontage for their existing house is on Old Marlow Road. She had a question about a deeded power line right-of-way and whether it would be advantageous to use it to one new lot. Schwartz said they need to deal with Eversource about getting power to the house site but she thought it would be closer to come off the existing house power line and that Eversource charges for the number of poles needed and distance covered. Chidester showed us a sketch of what they are thinking of doing for the 4 lots. She pointed out the wetlands and steep spots and will stay away from them for planning the building sites. She mentioned the difficulty they are having finding a surveyor. Crandall suggested one for her to contact. She asked about strategies for speeding up the subdivision process. Williams suggested they could add their son to their existing property deed as a ¼ interest in the property so he could be eligible to get a mortgage. Kluk suggested they speak to a lawyer and their bank to get clarification on whether this would be possible.
2.2 Sign Certification for updated LUO:
Schwartz brought the certification page and had all present members sign it, she will get he absent members sign it next month.
3.0 Old Business:
3.1 Municipal Buildings project update:
Williams shared with us that the Town Hall project is moving forward, the new drawings are being done and BoS are meeting with Drasba and Milestone on Thursday. He said Milestone is talking about a 7-month construction window now. They are concerned about the lack of contact with both the Architect and Construction company lately and the BoS is hoping to turn up the heat and get things moving along. They are talking about a mid-July or mid-August start for the project. Crandall commented that Bradford is moving forward quickly on their TH project and the building is up on cribbing already. He said that their sign mentions a 2.99% bond rate. Williams said we got a 3.5% rate and they are signing the papers on Thursday and will have money in a week. He said they are doing two separate bonds and they have to draw over $50K at the time of signing (so they will probably take $50K + $1, at that time.)
Williams said that on the Fire/Rescue building they have made a ton of progress, they have committed to Morton Buildings for the building shell, they have spoken with concrete, Mechanical/Plumbing and fire suppression companies and have gotten positive bids back. He said that Shane Mulliner will be cutting the trees on the property next week and the wetlands permit is almost done for submission to DES. Crandall asked about Morton Buildings and expressed that when they add wainscoting the buildings look better. Williams said that Morton has spec’d a two-tone steel siding with white above and charcoal below. They are considering using a different siding on the front face of the building. He said they are waiting for feedback from the F/R building committee, who are meeting soon. He said that Morton is talking about a start in late September or October and they would hope to button up the building before the snow flies. Morton needs a month to get the shell erected. Williams said that DPW will start the site work in July and the foundation can be done in August. Mechanical, plumbing and electric can be done once the shell is up then they will blow in insulation in the attic area. They feel there is good progress and they are happy with where they are.
Schwartz asked about the Schoolhouse progress and Williams said there has not been much. Schwartz said she sent Al Krygeris all of the pertinent documents after our last meeting and she didn’t hear back from him after that. Terani asked about whether they are thinking about safeguarding the Schoolhouse when all the construction is occurring. Williams will ask Milestone about that. Williams said they are considering moving the Town Offices to the Schoolhouse during construction and either sharing the space with the Police or moving the Police to the F/R station. Schwartz said she heard that Kluk and Hendrickson are writing an LCHIP grant for the TH window and door restoration. Kluk verified that and said they were attending the grant workshop Thursday.
3.2 Master Plan – Crandall asked if we want to do something on the LUO this year and he said he would like our focus to be on our applications because they affect the public directly. Williams said that he was having a conversation with the State Fire Marshall recently and was told that in towns without a building/code inspector the use of the term “building permit” shouldn’t be used, as it is misleading, because we don’t inspect for building codes. The State Fire Marshall inspects commercial and municipal construction but residential is exempt at that level and is regulated locally. Kluk asked if we got a building/code inspector would the problem go away? Williams said yes, but suggested we pick a different name for the permit; i.e. Land Use permit or Zoning permit. He said the Occupancy permit is questionable, also. Kluk said in preparation for our next meeting Schwartz can send out Kluk’s list of action items and Schwartz’s list and we should look at the applications, too. Kluk said we could start with the building permit application, suggesting we call it the LUO Construction Permit. We decided would also look at junky yards ordinances from other towns.
3.3 Building Permit issue – Structural alterations definition:
Schwartz said Structural Alterations should probably be defined in the LUO. We decided that the Building Permit is now a new issue to look at (see 4.2). We will discuss further next month and possibly schedule a working meeting.
3.4 NHOEP Spring Planning and Zoning Conference:
Schwartz said that Hatch attended but was unable to join us tonight, so he will report on this next month.
4.0 Driveway Permits: None
Terani asked about the lot on East Washington Road where a truck has been parked in a ditch for months. There has been clearing of trees and now there is a structure visible in the woods. Williams will check on permitting issues with this property.
5.0 Mergers: None
6.0 Communications:
6.1 DES – invitation to annual Drinking Water Source Protection Conference, May 18th, Concord
6.2 Intent-to-cut – Anderson, Jefts Road, TM 18-9 and 18-12
6.3 Intent-to-cut, Manning, East Washington Rd., TM 13-9
7.0 Meeting date for next Planning Board meeting, June 6, 2017, at 6:30PM
8.0 Adjournment: Time: 7:47 pm
Motioned by Schwartz, seconded by Crandall, all voted in favor.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nan Schwartz