Washington Planning Board
Washington Planning Board
Meeting Minutes - DRAFT
November 3, 2015
0.0 Assembly: 6:30PM
0.1 Members present: Crandall, Marshall, Schwartz
0.2 Alternates present: Dulac, Hatch, Kluk, Russell
0.3 Members and Alternates Absent: Cook, Dagesse, Terani
0.4 Visitors: Deb Walsh
Crandall motioned to have Russell sit for Cook and Hatch sit in for Dagesse, Marshall seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
1.0 Minutes: October 6th meeting, no changes were requested to the minutes, Schwartz motioned to approve as written, Crandall seconded, all voted in favor.
Minutes: October 19th Master Plan working meeting. Hatch suggested we change emphasis to emphasize both places where it appears, Marshall suggested a wording change in the section that states we think he should emphasize a 10-year window for meeting goals to we think he should emphasize a 10-year horizon until the next update. Marshall commented that he hopes that the department and committees will read all the chapters of the Master Plan to see what they might want to be involved with. Marshall motioned to approve with changes, Hatch seconded and all voted in favor.
2.0 Old Business:
2.1 Master Plan Update: Crandall stated that the Master Plan is all done and the committee is done with their work. Kluk said we sent a formal thank you note and copy of the Master Plan document to each committee member. Russell made a motion to dismiss the committee with our appreciation, Crandall seconded and all voted in favor. Kluk mentioned that the Master Plan came in under budget. Schwartz passed out the Board members copy of the Master Plan. Kluk had a question for Marshall, she said that at our last PB meeting Marshall said the Selectmen would take a vote to endorse the Master Plan. As of their last meeting they haven’t done it yet. Marshall said they haven’t had a chance to do it yet but he will do it at this week’s meeting, he said they are supportive of the Master Plan. Kluk asked the board what we want to pick out of the goals and recommendations to get done in the next year. Crandall said we should talk about it at our January meeting. Schwartz agreed and said that January is a good time to set our goals for the next year.
2.2 Event Sign: Crandall said the sign is done and has its first message installed. The Selectmen put up the notice for the Selectmen’s Informational Meeting meeting. Kluk was concerned that there might not be enough letters to put a message on both sides of the sign but Marshall said there were plenty. Marshall said it was the consensus of the Select board to appoint a committee, each month to oversee the sign. It will be their responsibility to put the letters up and take them down in a timely manner. There was concern about a committee having responsibility for another committee’s sign and not feeling ownership to get it done on time. Marshall said they are trying to work out the policy and are open to suggestion. Crandall stated that if there are 2 events it could get complicated. Marshall wants to try it and see what happens. Dulac said that in his experience the biggest problem is getting the communication right, he suggested they keep it simple. He feels the correct information needs to go up on the sign and we should be careful to make sure it does.
2.3 CIP: Schwartz noted that CIP request forms have come in from DPW and Rescue. There are a few more outstanding. Kluk said that the fund balances still don’t reflect the monies approved at Town Meeting last year, as they have not yet been transferred to the respective funds. Schwartz went over DPW’s requests and explained that Thayer is not asking for funds for the equipment fund this year because they money is going to pay for the lease/purchase on the excavator, it is now in his regular budget. Kluk asked about the two capital building projects and if they don’t pass again at Town Meeting, could some of the money in the capitol reserve fund for Town buildings be used to do some work on one or more of the buildings. She suggested doing one or more sides of the schoolhouse. She wondered if the funds could be used in this way. Marshall said that it worked out doing that on the Town Hall and could possibly be done for the schoolhouse. Marshall said you would need to do a warrant article to do two sides of the schoolhouse and to expend funds from the reserve fund. Hatch asked about the warrant article and said the amount requested last year was $25K that was amended up to $100K. We looked at the warrant article and it was earmarked for the Town Hall, the Safety building project and Police, so technically it could be used for the schoolhouse if the Police remain there. We discussed the previous building fund and the newly established building fund and the differences between them. Schwartz reminded Marshall that the Selectmen need to get their CIP requests in too. There are several that they are responsible for. Marshall said that the Selectmen are going to the DRA soon to set the tax rate and it should be done by the middle of the month.
2.4 Letter to Scott Depot: Schwartz said we sent a letter but have no response to date. Kluk suggested we should wait and see what happens, as he is not doing business in town right now.
On another business permit question, Crandall said that the General Store is back in the hands of the previous proprietor and owner and wondered whether we need to transfer the business permit back to them. Hatch suggested contacting them and find out how they want to handle it.. Crandall will contact them.
2.5 LUO question regarding seasonal RV placement on a lot, TM 13-36&37, Kingsbury Hill Road (Class VI). Marshall said the Selectmen didn’t contact NHMA for a legal opinion. He said he is familiar with the lot and the prospective owner called about a permanent structure, Deb sent them the RSAs concerning building on a class VI road and they haven’t called back.
3.0 New Business:
3.1 All Boards meeting is scheduled for November 12th at 2PM at Camp Morgan Lodge. Crandall asked everyone to try to attend. Some had a problem with the time. Schwartz said that if other committees have a similar problem and can’t attend we could meet with them at their regular monthly meeting. Crandall said he will present for the Planning Board and Marshall said the Selectmen will be there in support and encourage everyone to work at the goals and recommendations. Kluk said that at the working meeting Hatch spoke about the four new entities that are mentioned as possibilities for organizing. Crandall said these bubbled up from the groups and Kluk said they were suggested as possibilities but not mandated. Hatch said if there is interest it could be put on the warrant for 2016. Kluk said that maybe we should evaluate each year and see what has been done. Schwartz said that hopefully if committees accomplish something they will want to brag about it each year in the town report. We all agreed to not have any handouts for the meeting but we will have Hatch’s document for reference. Hatch asked if we need to give any feedback to the facilitator of the community workshop (Dan Reedy)? Kluk said no, he was just hired to run the workshop.
3.2 2016 Budget – Crandall said that he and Schwartz did a quick budget for us to look over. Schwartz went over our budget and expenses from this year, we decided to up our training budget so more people can attend some training. Schwartz asked Marshall if we go over in one line can we use money from another line and he said if we know we are going over we need to run it by the Selectmen. Marshall suggested we go with a flat budget number. Crandall and Schwartz will finalize the budget numbers at $4500 and send it to Deb.
4.0 Driveway permits:
4.1 Marcel Trepanier, Barden Pond Road, relocating an existing driveway. Schwartz said that Thayer didn’t make it out to look at it yet. Crandall thinks he saw the stakes when he was out that way for another reason. We decided to table the permit application until it can be looked at.
5.0 Mergers:
5.1 Bill & Ruth Shannon, 818 Millen Pond Road, TM 15-111-1 & 15-169, deeds provided. Crandall said that the Shannon’s were merging their lake front lots and have another lot across the street that is not being merged. Marshall asked Crandall and Dulac to recuse themselves from the vote because they know the Shannon’s and are neighbors on the pond. Dulac stated he is only an alternate and will not be voting. Crandall didn’t feel he had a reason to recuse himself but did so anyway. Russell made a motion to approve the merger, Hatch seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Crandall signed the document and made the new lot number 15-11-1. Schwartz will send the paperwork to the Registry of Deeds.
In a side note Marshall said that Shane Mulliner is adding a shed roof addition in the back of his business building, which the Selectmen are handling.
Crandall asked Marshall about the logging plans for the Farnsworth Hill Town Forest and what roads they would be upgrading. Marshall said the plans have been tabled for now.
6.0 Communications:
6.1 Intent to cut, Eccardt Farm, TM 13-38
6.2 Copy of notice from DES, approval for use, septic system, TM14-381
6.3 Copy of notice from DES, Complaint of wetlands violation, Bilski, LAE property, TM14-490
7.0 Meeting date for next Planning Board meeting, December 1, 2015, at 6:30PM
8.0 Adjournment: Time: 8:10 pm
Motioned by Russell, seconded by Hatch, all voted in favor.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nan Schwartz