Washington Planning Board
Washington Planning Board
Meeting Minutes - DRAFT
November 4, 2014
0.0 Assembly: 6:30PM
0.1 Members present: Crandall, Cook, Schwartz and Marshall
0.2 Alternates present: Kluk
0.3 Members and Alternates Absent: Dagesse, and Terani
0.4 Visitors: Lloyd Condon
Schwartz motioned to put Kluk in for Dagesse, Cook seconded, all voted in favor.
1.0 Minutes: Minutes from October 7, 2014, no changes were requested, Marshall motioned to approve, Cook seconded and all voted in favor.
2.0 Old Business:
2.1 Bartevian culvert and easement issue: Jim Crandall stated that he, Marshall and Thayer had met with John LaFleur and others just prior to our meeting last month. The town made an offer to create 3 cuts above the driveway culvert and do work on the culvert and catch basin, in exchange for the easement. He thinks we should send a letter to LaFleur to ask them to send the signed easement by December 15th or the offer is rescinded. We discussed Crandall’s draft and made a few changes to it. Crandall said he talked to Mr. Moore, who sent a letter to the Selectmen. Crandall thinks in reading the statute that DPW can do the work and bill the property owner. Marshall said that he believes it is only if the water comes back into the road and does damage. Crandall would like to close this out and move on. Marshall said we made an offer in good faith and it is time to press for this. Crandall asked if the Selectmen talked to NHMA or council? Marshall said yes and he is comfortable in sending the letter. We all agreed to send the letter as corrected. Kluk asked if we need to be specific in the letter to say what the town, would offer, Crandall said other communication was specific. Cook made a motion to send the letter, Kluk seconded and all voted in favor. Schwartz will send the letter by certified mail.
We jumped to Mergers at this point to accommodate Lloyd Condon from SDA church, see 5.1
2.2 Master Plan Update Committee – Kluk reported that the committee met on October 21st. Bissonnette had drafted several Vision statements for the document, which we reviewed and settled on the one we liked. Kluk shared the Vision statement with the board and gave copies to PB members. She explained that we are seeking input and drafting three chapters initially: Land Use and Planning, Natural Resources and Services and Facilities. We received input from the BOA (Land Use), Public Works and Rescue Squad (Services and Facilities) and the Conservation Commission (Natural Resources). She said the committee is trying to draft a first version of the three chapters by November 18th, for discussion by the group on December 2nd (MPUC’s next meeting date).
2.3 CIP - Cook stated that the Assessors need $12K a year for the “Reval” Fund in the CIP (they had requested $10K last year). Schwartz will correct the document to reflect the new amount. Kluk asked about the balance on the Rescue Vehicle account, Schwartz will check and correct. Crandall would like to urge the Selectmen to do a real Town Building fund to help save for upkeep and on-going building projects. Marshall said they can’t touch the building fund that was established previously. Kluk asked how that fund is restricted. Marshall was unclear about it and Kluk said she would investigate. Schwartz asked Marshall to have the Selectmen write up their CIP requests for next year so she can include them. He said they will this week.
2.4 Washington Event Sign – Kluk said that the cost of the informational Event Sign would be under $5000 so it won’t need to go into the CIP. She said that the idea came from feedback from the survey and the workshop; people think there is a lack of communication. She has proposed a two-sided sign to be installed at the transfer station site along Rt. 31. The sign would be managed by the Selectmen and people could sign up to use the sign for their town event. Cook commented that Harrisville has one and Kluk shared a picture of Grantham’s. Kluk is soliciting a quote from Dale’s Paint N’ Place, Maineline and Cellini and thinks it will run about $3500 or so.
2.5 Conservation Commission request for funds to update NRI maps – The Conservation Commission has been in touch with Chris Kane about getting an estimate for updating the Natural Resource Inventory (NRI) maps. We hope to have a price by next month in time for our 2015 budgeting. She has a list of the maps and requested map updates if anyone is interested in seeing it.
Cook said that the Assessors are speaking with GIS mapper CAI Technologies about working with DRA and UNH to use their data to convert the town’s tax map to GIS parcels. They are trying to get the Mosaic Parcel Map data from UNH and they are waiting to hear back from him. The DRA partnering with UNH in doing this project and eventually want to do the whole state and have it available online. Schwartz took the CAI Technologies information from Cook and will pass it on to the Conservation Commission.
2.6 Warrant article #29 – Building Projects Open House – Kluk wanted to discuss an idea she had regarding the two building projects, she thought it would be a good idea for the Selectmen to hold a mid-week open house for the community, with refreshments, at the Town Hall. The aim would be to have the plans for both buildings on display and people there to answer questions from the public in an informal setting. She said we could have an idea board for what to do with the Schoolhouse if the Police are relocated to the Safety Center, where people could post their suggestions for new uses. She feels people are reticent to discuss things in public but this might give people a chance to have a more free discussion in a different environment. Crandall said that he feels if both projects don’t come together it would be premature, but if there was agreement on the projects being together it would be a good idea. Marshall also feels that we need to show unison, a decision needs to be made on a plan and then put it in front of the people. Kluk said the two committees could come together to make the refreshments. Marshall asked why Kluk was bringing her idea up with the Planning Board as opposed to the Select Board. Kluk said that the PB is involved with Article 29 and she wanted to run it by us. Marshall said he would bring it up with the Selectmen. He thinks the public is not informed enough to make decisions, he feels that once a decision is made you can bring it before the public. Kluk feels it is a good communication opportunity; a “this is where we are now” meeting.
3.0 New Business:
3.1 Budget for 2015 – Kluk stated that the MPUC had a budget of $2500 for this year and spent $2379.92, adding that the committee will need more funds this year. Schwartz asked Marshall when Dagesse needs budget figures from us, Marshall said December. Schwartz will send the budget figures from last year to everyone and we will discuss the budget at our December meeting.
3.2 Gaskell Business Permit Application – We took a look at a business permit application from Jim and Gwen Gaskell. The way they described the business we don’t think it is a permanent business but they don’t meet the criteria for a cottage business either as they would have an outside display. They are not applying for a sign permit for the business. We felt it is like a seasonal, occasional yard sale and probably doesn’t require a business permit. We tabled the application and Marshall will discuss it with Gwen and bring back more information to the board.
3.3 Discussion of additional alternate members – Marshall feels that because of the lack of attendance at Planning Board meetings, we should look for some additional alternate members. A couple of people were mentioned as potential alternates.
4.0 Driveway permits: None
5.0 Mergers:
5.1 Lloyd Condon came in representing the Seventh Day Adventist Church on King Street. They want to build a picnic pavilion where their picnic tables are located at present. He said it would be a pole building between the parking lot and the church building. He is certain that the structure won’t meet the LUO setbacks. The Church is on a small lot TM 15-154 and they own the larger abutting lot TM 15-158. They have a toilet facility built on the second lot, which met the setbacks of the adjacent lot. He stated that to eliminate any problems with setbacks they would like to merge the two lots. Schwartz asked if both lots have structures on them and if the deeds have the same owner. Condon didn’t have the deeds so Cook looked to see if the town had copies of them in their property file. She found the deed for TM 15-154 and looked online for the other deed, which she found. We asked Condon to send all the paperwork to us when he has it done and we will take care of the merger. We requested that he also send an affidavit stating that the pastor is legally qualified to sign the merger paperwork on behalf of the SDA church.
6.0 Communications:
6.1 Letter from Skip Moore, re: culvert issue
7.0 Meeting date for next Planning Board meeting, December 2, 2014, at 6:30PM.
8.0 Adjournment: Time: 7:58 PM
Motioned by Kluk, seconded by Cook, all voted in favor.
Respectfully Submitted,
Nan Schwartz