Washington Planning Board
Washington Planning Board
Meeting Minutes
August 5, 2014
0.0 Assembly: 6:30PM
0.1 Members present: Crandall, Cook, and Schwartz
0.2 Alternates present: Kluk
0.3 Members and Alternates Absent: Marshall, Dagesse, Terani
0.4 Visitors: Ed Thayer, Skip Moore, Dennis O’Malley, Everett Connor
Schwartz motioned for Kluk to sit in for Dagesse for the hearing and the meeting, Cook seconded and all voted in favor.
1.0 Public Hearing – Crandall called the hearing to order. He explained that this was a hearing for the new Private Access, Drainage, Maintenance & Installation Policy and some Driveway Permit updates. He asked if everyone on the board was comfortable with the Private Access policy that is proposed. Everyone on the board answered yes. He asked the public if there were any questions, there being none, Cook made a motion to accept the Policy as written, Kluk seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
Crandall then took up the changes to the Driveway Permit, he asked if there were any questions concerning the changes, there being none, Cook made a motion to accept the changes to the Driveway Permit, Kluk seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
Thayer asked that the new policy and driveway permit be posted on the town website right away. Schwartz will do so.
Cook motioned to close the Public Hearing, Kluk seconded the motion and all voted in favor. Crandall closed the public hearing at 6:36PM
Crandall opened the regular meeting at 6:37PM.
2.0 Minutes: Minutes from July 1, 2014, no changes were requested, Cook motioned to approve, Kluk seconded and all voted in favor.
3.0 Old Business:
3.1 Bartevian culvert and easement issue, We received several letters and pictures concerning the culvert and existing drainage system from John LaFleur, who is the trustee for Patricia Bartevian. Crandall explained that he had a conversation with LaFleur about the easement proposed by the town because he thought he might think that it was somehow punitive. He wanted to explain to him that it was to continue what has been done in the past. He and Thayer had a phone conference with LaFleur also last Thursday. LaFleur wanted some recommendations from us for what could be done and Thayer is coming up with a plan and will be sending picture of some recent drainage projects the DPW has done. Thayer feels we are now on the right track with LaFleur and Bartevian. Moore stated that he was misled when he was told it was the neighbor’s problem to deal with and the town was not responsible. Last spring his foundation wall was bowed out because of freezing and thawing. He said the clay soil on the hill floats all the water onto his property. He has had perimeter drains installed at his own expense. Now he wants to alleviate the problem, he fears his well is contaminated but he hasn’t checked it because it is expensive, he doesn’t use the well anymore. He said the water from the culvert on Bartevian’s property brings gravel which clogs up the drainage trench and the water spills onto his property down the hill. He said that any drawings made for a drainage system he wants stamped by a registered engineer. He also feels we are moving in the right direction. He mentioned a natural swale between his property and John Charrett’s where possibly a pipe could be installed to send the water there. He also suggested that there is 12 feet between the stonewall and the road and a settlement pond could go in there to catch the water. He will wait and see what the engineer comes up with. Connor asked when the plans would come out. Crandall answered in the next few days. Thayer said we could include Mr. Connor when sending the information out. Schwartz asked for his email address and Mr. Connor provided it.
Crandall asked O’Malley if he had an issue he wanted to bring up and O’Malley said he was here to observe.
3.2 Warrant article #29 – Crandall stated that questionnaires went to eleven towns and we received four back (surveys received from Jackson, Bridgewater, Springfield and Sandwich). We also had Washington’s Emergency Services fill them out for reference. They are now in the Selectmen’s hands. Crandall isn’t sure if we need to analyze the answers, we were very thorough and some of the answers were redundant. Crandall feels it is still a work in progress and asked if anyone had questions on it. Kluk said you are still hoping to get some more towns to answer it, are we going to summarize the answers, what is the objective? Crandall thinks we should draw some conclusions eventually. Kluk feels we need an end goal. Thayer suggested we put it in a simple sheet for people to look at. We decided we will wait for a few more responses then we will decide.
3.3 Business Permit application and deed restrictions discussion – Q-In Medical Technologies, Gilbert Mettler, 416 Washington Dr. TM 12-131. Crandall spoke with NHMA, who said we don’t need to concern ourselves with deed restrictions as a factor in determining a business permit. Kluk said that if she had a neighbor with a business that is not allowed, she would have to ask the town to shut it down. She spoke with Jack Sheehy who said that there was, at one time, a clause in the business permit application that asked if there were deed restrictions on a property. Thayer said that we should add a line that says, “this permit approval is contingent on there being no deed restrictions”, that would put the burden on the property/business owner. Crandall commented that the “cottage industry” doesn’t need a permit. Thayer asked if “cottage industry “ is defined and Schwartz answered that it is. We all agreed to add this language to the permit application. Crandall wrote a letter to Mr. Mettler, which he shared with us. Schwartz will type up the letter and send it to Mr. Mettler. Cook made a motion to approve Mettler’s exemption to the site plan review, Kluk seconded and all voted in favor. Kluk made a motion to accept the application as a “cottage industry” or minor home based business, which does not require a business permit, Cook seconded and all voted in favor. Kluk said we should inform Mettler that if the nature of his business changes he will need to come back to the Planning Board for a different kind of permit. Crandall signed the exemption and permit. Crandall said that people in LAE are upset that we aren’t enforcing their deed restrictions. Marshall will be attending their annual board meeting to see what they are thinking. They have had their restrictions since before zoning existed in Washington. He thinks we may get some feed back from that meeting and we can discuss it further next month.
We took up the driveway permits at this point so that Thayer could leave afterward.
5.0 Driveway permits –
5.1 Michael Jubert, Valley Road, TM 25-80, Ed and Jim checked, no culvert required. There were no questions on this permit application so Schwartz made a motion to approve it, Cook seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
5.2 Carol Andrews, Snow Road at Halfmoon Pond Road, culvert replacement, Ed and Jim checked. Andrews is replacing an existing culvert at the intersection of Snow Road and Halfmoon Pond Road. Thayer said that there was a question brought up about road classification, she asked if there was a process for getting the road reclassified and Thayer sent her some case law. He asked if we feel we need a policy on this, after discussion we decided that it could be handled on a case-by-case basis. Thayer said that Snow Road is a private road. Thayer said that in this sort of permit we said we would waive the fee, we all agreed. Cook made a motion to approve, Schwartz seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
Thayer commented on a driveway permit we recently approved for Thurston, where we asked for an easement. He wanted to know if we made the permit conditional on the easement, which is a prescribed drainage system. Thayer feels the driveway shouldn’t be conditional to the easement to be fair to the landowner, we agreed. Schwartz will check the application to make sure it was not conditional.
4.0 New Business:
4.1 Krone sign proposal – We reviewed the drawings of the signs Krone is proposing. We stated before that if he isn’t changing the dimensions, just updating the existing, that he wouldn’t need a new permit. We looked at what he had proposed before and all seemed to be in order. Cook made a motion to approve the new sign samples, Kluk seconded the motion and all voted in favor.
4.2 UVLSRPC dues - We received an invoice for our 2015 dues, which are $1452.04. Kluk commented that there is good information in the newsletter that they send out each month. Schwartz will forward to all PB members when she receives it each month. Kluk commented that the dues are worth it, she motioned to pay the dues for 2015, Cook seconded and all voted in favor. Schwartz will give Dagesse the invoice for payment.
6.0 Mergers: None
It was agreed that Crandall will send the letter to Bartevian/La Fleur and Schwartz will ask Thayer to forward the pictures to them.
O’Malley said that he thought the Summer Community Informational Meeting was a great idea and had a suggestion that questions be submitted ahead of the meeting because some people are too nervous to get up in front of a crowd. We will pass this suggestion on to the Selectmen for next year’s meeting.
7.0 Communications:
7.1 Intent to Cut, Mata, Halfmoon Pond Road, TM 3-4
7.2 Intent to Cut, Mata, Halfmoon Pond Road, TM 5-1
7.3 Letter from Selectmen, re. August 2nd Informational Meeting, invitation to present
7.4 Invoice from UVLSRPC for membership dues 2015
8.0 Meeting date for next Planning Board meeting, September 2, 2014, at 6:30PM.
9.0 Adjournment: Time 7:46 PM
Motioned by Cook, seconded by Kluk, all voted in favor.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nan Schwartz