Washington Planning Board
Washington Planning Board
Meeting Minutes - DRAFT
November 1, 2016
0.0 Assembly: 6:30PM
0.1 Members present: Crandall, Kluk, Schwartz, Dulac and Williams
0.2 Alternates present: Terani
0.3 Members and Alternates Absent: Hatch and Russell
0.4 Visitors: None
1.0 Minutes:
October 10th working meeting: Crandall said that the minutes had been corrected after our last working meeting. Kluk had a missing word to insert and asked about the attribution of comments. Terani asked if his comments were included and Schwartz said they were. Schwartz will make the change Kluk suggested. Williams made a motion to approve the minutes as corrected, Kluk seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
October 25th working meeting: Kluk said that on page three, it was Dulac that suggested that he and Kluk work together. Williams asked about the back and forth on the F/R joint meeting minutes. He looked at the NHMA and it was a public meeting, he wants to remove the discussion and the group agreed we need to have the minutes. Schwartz said she posted them to the website. Schwartz will make the changes. Kluk motioned to approve the minutes as corrected, Williams seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
October 19th F/R and PB meeting: Williams commented that there are too many “Bob W’s” and we need to clarify which comments were his and which were Bob Wright. Schwartz will clarify who said what and repost. Williams asked if we need to accept the minutes? Kluk moved to accept the minutes with clarification, Williams seconded and all voted in favor.
2.0 New Business:
2.1 2017 PB Budget: Williams said we were cut down from what we had requested last year. Schwartz said that UVLSRPC sent a statement of our dues for next year and it only went up a few dollars to $1511. Schwartz thought $400 for training was good and hoped more could attend training next year. She thought $350 for advertising was OK and asked if we could put something in the consulting line. Kluk said that line was used for a cell tower consultant. Schwartz said we might want to have money for a structural engineer. Dulac said if it is in our budget we would have control of it. Williams said no the BoS are agents to expend. Crandall said we would have to do a warrant article for a specific purpose. Williams said we can put it in the budget but it might get cut. Crandall said put in $2K and we’ll see if it goes. Williams said we should come in with an explanation of that line item, you don’t need to give a specific purpose in the budget. Dulac said we can do it both ways and see what happens. Kluk asked what is charged against PB Operations, 197 has been spent. Schwartz will ask DeFosse. Dulac said he is concerned about knowing what goes in the budget and what needs to be a warrant article. Williams said that PB doesn’t have the ability to put items on the warrant, that lies with the BoS, we just need to be on the same page as them. Kluk said that maybe the SH should a CIP item. Kluk suggested we up the PB Operations to $300 for a total of $4811. Schwartz will put together the sheet and pass to the BoS by Thursday
2.2 2017 CIP forms, Schwartz reported she sent out the CIP request forms to town departments and committees, the requested return date is October 24.
3.0 Old Business:
3.1 Crandall Subdivision:
Crandall recused himself from the discussion and vote. Kluk asked if there was more discussion. Dulac made a motion to approve the subdivision, pending receipt of the mylars and a check for related fees, Schwartz seconded the motion and all those voting, voted in favor.
3.2 LUO Changes/additions:
Crandall said that based on the public hearing and there being no public comments or requested changes do we approve? Williams made a motion to approve the ordinances as written and bring them for a vote at Town Meeting 2017, Crandall seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Schwartz will come up with the ballot language and share with everyone next month.
3.3 Municipal Buildings project update:
Crandall said that after our meeting on October 25th, Schwartz said that F/R was open to working with us on the F/R building so Kluk and Crandall met with Atkins on Friday. At first he said that Schwartz was confused and they wanted to present their plan B, but they kept talking and Kluk and Atkins discussed some alternative plans. Kluk said that she thought they were ready to talk about an alternative to their position paper. Williams said that the message hasn’t changed. Kluk said their conversation continued and Atkins spoke about his issues with the PB proposed plan and possibilities for uses. He wants people to appreciate why the buildings should be connected. They discussed old plans including the Myers plans and she asked him to keep thinking about things. Kluk had thoughts about shifting the buildings to connect with a 2-story connector but she realized it is probably too expensive and the building would butt up against Old Marlow Road. She said we need reassurance that there is good faith to come up with a new plan and in a later email he reconsidered. Williams said so we have a position paper from F/R and some private conversations about alternatives but at this point there is nothing official. Terani asked about driving out on Old Marlow Road and the issue of DPW reconstructing the corner to make the turn. Kluk said that a big concern for Atkins is the snow loads and shed onto the connector. Williams said we need F/R to take a position to accept working on an alternative. Kluk said that potentially all they are sacrificing is doors in the rear of the building because of the topography of the lot. Williams said that no one said it can’t be done. Schwartz said the door isn’t shut yet. Dulac said that rather than get into doors and placement, the F/R has a position contrary to ours so we need to take that position. Crandall said we have 3 weeks to come up with a conceptual plan that we can buy into. Crandall said that here is the PB’s position and they need to move in 3 weeks to get our approval. The BoS has strong ideas too and they have to be satisfied. Williams said that PB has determined that the WESAC plan is not supported and they have 3 weeks to move into a place that we can come to an agreement on, the window is closing. We need to get on the same page. Terani asked about our motion, the existing plan leaves the existing station not utilized but they have all kinds of uses for it. Williams said we need a valid sensible use and not turn it into a shed.
Dulac said it is not clear to everyone that they have 3 weeks until the window closes. We need to let them know through the Chief, clearly, to the whole department, if they choose not to do anything it is on them. Kluk will draft and email letter to Brian with the motion in it to communicate with them about the need to do something within 3 weeks. Crandall wants to clarify and have a positive motion, the other one is negative. Kluk said she asked Atkins to come to the table with good intent to work on an alternative and she felt she didn’t get that, she wants to communicate our position and time frame to the whole department. Crandall is trying to be positive with his motion. Williams thinks it doesn’t reflect that we want to get on the same page with F/R and suggest a plan. Schwartz agreed. Kluk will draft a letter. Williams said she should be careful of the words she uses so it isn’t threatening, he thinks we don’t need to communicate, they get it. Dulac thinks we should be clear about our position, we want to come together and we should communicate the November 19th deadline. Terani asked if he didn’t say that at the last meeting. Kluk said we didn’t make clear and what was implied was that we were going back to the Jim and Jed plan (Plan B for both buildings) She felt the conversation was confusing at the end of the meeting. Crandall asked if we need to communicate? Three said yes. Who should draft the letter? It was decided that Kluk would draft it, we will review individually by email. Crandall suggested we meet on Thursday morning at 8:30am at TH to vote to approve the letter. Schwartz will notice the working meeting.
Williams asked for a quick update on the Town Hall. Kluk said that Drasba is coming to meet with the BoS on Thursday. Williams asked whether there was a letter on the Schoolhouse yet. Crandall said there is a draft but we aren’t in agreement on it yet, he board as a whole hasn’t seen it yet. Schwartz gave out copies of 2 versions. Dulac said they kept the plan focused on getting some moneyfor the Structural Engineer. Kluk said the BoS want a conceptual plan, she asked Williams if they want uses or structural needs. Williams said that the tone has changed, we are not including an architect, just the Structural Engineer first. Kluk said they got into specific suggestions for the structure. Dulac said it is the BoS’s prerogative to designate a space for usage. Williams said we took this on with the use as part of the planning for the buildings. If we don’t have a use we can’t ask the town for money to work on it. Either the Police stay or they go or what else will be in there. Dulac said they looked at the SH from a structural stance. He asked who should be in there. Crandall thinks Police and maybe Welfare in the back. Terani thinks Police should be with the F/R, Schwartz agreed. Dulac agreed with Terani and Schwartz but said we wanted to look at the building structurally, he feels it is a block by the BoS, Schwartz agreed. Williams said that we put proposed solutions that didn’t include the Police. Schwartz said that the BoS took the Police off the table so we couldn’t touch it. Dulac said at the F/R meeting that the Police were off the table. Williams said that the people want to know what will happen with the Schoolhouse, we don’t need a firm plan but an idea of what it will be used for. Dulac said that he and Kluk discussed it, the Schoolhouse hasn’t been discussed or voted on at a Town Meeting. The iconic nature of the building and the other two buildings is important and we need to take care of that building. We should address the town and say the building has problems and we need to fix it for the building’s sake. Kluk added for whatever purpose it is used for; the Police can stay for now or be relocated to the F/R building in the future. Crandall said it is a difficult issue. Dulac said that F/R wants Police but it is not on the table. Williams said so PB doesn’t have a position. Schwartz asked about the letter. Dulac asked do we ask the BoS whether they think the structure is important to deal with or if the use is more important. Kluk wants to add that part of the mission, the BoS took the reports on the SH and it was too much overload of information for them, we needed to come up with something simpler. Williams asked what is this trying to do. Dulac said they didn’t do all that the motion said because they thought it went too far, they wanted to go with the Structural Engineer first to see if they could get the money out of the budget. He thought we could do a CIP for the mechanical, siding, etc, he feels there is a limit to what we can do all at once. Kluk said we should not move forward until we decide what we want to recommend, you should do siding but you wouldn’t do it before the foundation. Williams said what do we want, if we don’t put in for enough money? We should put in for $50K for doing what we can in the building. Crandall said but if everyone from TH moves to the SH during construction, Police can move to the F/R for the duration.
Schwartz said she and Crandall thought that the letter was too specific on what would be done to the building. Williams said that the BoS wanted more meat and this isn’t that important to get this done tonight. Dulac said that structural integrity is the focus now, take time to consider the use. Williams said put money in the warrant to take care of it.
3.4 CIP – Draft:
Schwartz had a few corrections/additions to the CIP document. Moser is requesting new SCBA with airtanks as he thinks it is fiscally better to go ahead and replace the old equipment because they come with new bottles. Kluk said her neighbor was at a recent training and he was embarrassed about his outdated gear, there is credibility in this request. Williams asked if they need it within 2 years and why hasn’t this been on the CIP for some years. Schwartz explained that it was on the CIP years ago and last year it came up as a 2 year request for new bottles, the FD decided that replacing the old equipment would be more cost effective. Schwartz said the Radio tower is a new item for Emergency Communications. Moser said with the uncertainty with Hillsboro dispatch they need to plan for a new dispatch service. This would require an upgrade to the present tower and an additional tower at the DPW location. Schwartz asked about the Reval Fund and Williams said the contracting assessing firm does a lot of that work along the way and we may not need it to get the revaluation done. Williams requested we drop the Police Cruiser to $7500 per year and the PD equipment to $2500. Schwartz said that Thayer had a new request for municipal mowing equipment. Kluk asked about the backhoe replacement all in one year, she thought maybe we should split the cost out into multiple years. Williams asked why we aren’t funding the DPW equipment fund. Schwartz will ask Thayer. We decided to spread out the Roll-off Truck and the backhoe. Schwartz will speak with Thayer about spreading the cost of the vehicles. Kluk asked about furniture upgrades and Williams said it would be a budget item. Schwartz asked if we could change the scope of the Building Fund to include the Schoolhouse, the way it is worded it only includes the SH if the Police stay in the building. This fund was established to ease the pain of the big construction projects. Williams said we can change the scope at Town Meeting and DRA can help with the language. Kluk wants to fund the building maintenance fund also. We went down the list and Rescue is asking for their usual $25K with $15K from taxation and $10K from their funds for equipment (ambulance).
Williams said the CIP has legal standing and we recommend to the BoS but ultimately they decide what goes on the warrant. Kluk said she is comfortable with Schwartz making the changes to the CIP document and she will speak to Thayer. Kluk made a motion to accept the CIP document with the agreed on changes, Dulac seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
3.5 Master Plan – No discussion
3.6 Building Permit issue – Structural alterations definition:
Schwartz asked Williams if the BoS has discussed this, he said they hadn’t and it is too late to do anything for this year. We will move this discussion into next year.
4.0 Driveway Permits:
4.1 Mugar, TM 11-83, Millen Pond Road, Ed checked and Jim checked the site. Schwartz said that this is really a 2 car parking space (20’X26’) to get cars usually parked in the roadway off the road. Thayer suggested they try to go deeper into the lot to get away from the utility pole. Williams asked if we have a policy on having 2 driveways. Schwartz said there is no other driveway for that house, she is providing parking on the abutting lot (which she owns) for 11-83, which is a small water front lot with no room. Kluk said that Thayer approves and it follows his policy. Dulac made a motion to approve the permit, Crandall seconded, 4 voted in favor with Williams abstaining. Crandall signed the permit.
5.0 Mergers: None
6.0 Communications:
6.1 UVLSRPC letter re. 2017 dues ($1510.44)
6.2 Intent to Cut, TM 11-11, Callender, Farnsworth Hill Road.
7.0 Meeting date for next Planning Board meeting, November 1, 2016, at 6:30PM
9.0 Adjournment: Time: 9:40 pm
Motioned by Dulac, seconded by Williams, all voted in favor.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nan Schwartz