ANTRIM PLANNING BOARD
Minutes of the June 17, 2004 meeting
Members present:
Bob Edwards Scott Burnside Spencer Garrett Mike Oldershaw Ed Rowehl
Members absent:
Fred Anderson Bob Bethel Dan Valley
Public attendees:
Renee Rabideau Geraldine Rabideau Ian Johnson
Paige Spaulding Steve Lauber Burtis Lauber
Jane Lauber Smith Harriman Gayle Rochford, L.L.S.
Robert Palmer, L.L.S.
Chairman Rowehl opened the meeting at 7:00 PM by designating Mr. Edwards to sit for Mr. Anderson. The first order of business was the continuation of the public hearing on the request by Cogworks, Ltd. for a Change of Use for property located at 10 Water Street, Antrim, NH 03440 Tax Map 1A, Lot 233 in the Village Business District. The applicant proposes to renovate the upper floor as living quarters and the middle floor as a retail showroom for hand crafted hard wood furniture and accessories. Mr. Johnson presented a sketch that included information requested by the Board at the previous hearing; namely, the shape and dimension of the parking areas, location of driveways, the flow of traffic, and the location of signs and lighting. The sketch did not show the provisions for refuse disposal. Mr. Johnson said that a
cement pad already existed in back of the building and he would continue to use that location for refuse. The only change he might make would be to secure a larger dumpster. The sketch did not show a crosswalk between the parking area and the building. Mr. Johnson said he would install one. Mr. Rowehl reported that he and Messrs. Oldershaw and Bethel had conducted a site review of the property. They concluded that the proposed renovations did not present any problems and was feasible as presented. Mr. Edwards asked where the crosswalk would be placed. Mr. Johnson indicated that it would be east of the fence at the parking area if that were acceptable to the police chief. Mr. Rowehl indicated that a roll call vote was in order if there was no further deliberation. Mr. Oldershaw recused himself from the vote. Mr. Burnside moved to accept the application of Cogworks, Ltd., File # 2004-10PB for a Change of Use of property located at 10 Water Street, Antrim, NH, Tax Map 1A Lot 233
located in the Village Business District. The applicant proposes to renovate the upper floor as living quarters and the middle floor as a retail showroom for hand crafted hard wood furniture and accessories. Mr. Edwards seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Mr. Burnside – aye, Mr. Edwards – aye, Mr. Garrett – aye, Mr. Rowehl – aye.
Mr. Garrett moved to conditionally approve the application of Cogworks, Ltd., File # 2004-10PB for a Change of Use of property located at 10 Water Street, Antrim, NH, Tax Map 1A Lot 233 located in the Village Business District. The applicant proposes to renovate the upper floor as living quarters and the middle floor as a retail showroom for hand crafted hard wood furniture and accessories”. The following conditions apply:
Planning Board requirements, commitments and agreements made by the applicant and/or his agent as recorded in the meeting minutes dated June 17, 2004 as they pertain to this application are a conditional part of this approval.
The applicant is to obtain a building permit for any construction or alterations and adhere to all building, health and fire codes.
The applicant will obtain guidance from the Police Chief and provide a crosswalk from the parking area to the building.
Mr. Burnside seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Mr. Burnside – aye, Mr. Edwards – aye, Mr. Garrett – aye, Mr. Rowehl – aye.
The next order of business was on the request by Smith B. & Lois Harriman for an Excavation Site Permit. The applicant proposes to expand an excavation site on the west side of Elm Ave., Tax Map 8A, Lot 23 in the Rural District. Mr. Palmer, a licensed surveyor, representing Mr. Harriman presented a scaled plot plan of the 36 acre property which was reviewed by the Board members and interested abutters. The plan delineated three areas of excavation. Areas 1 & 2 on the western side of the property are no longer being excavated and are scheduled to be reclaimed to the 50-foot setback line. Only area 3 will remain as an active excavation area. It currently is approximately 3.7 acres in size. The expansion will add approximately one more acre. The plat is to be redrawn to show the 50 foot set back on all boundaries
except that portion on the west that abuts 8A-24 and on the east that abuts 8A- 18, 19 & 20 which have 10 feet setbacks. Th plat is also to be revised to show erosion control. Ms. Rabideau asked if there were plans to log the area. Mr. Harriman replied that there would be no logging for the next 30 years except for an occasional cord for personal use. There was some discussion as to when the reclamation is to be done. Mr. Palmer is to work up a timetable for the reclamation. When asked about hours of operation, Mr. Harriman indicated that he operated from dawn to dusk. The members felt that this was not appropriate and asked that Mr. Palmer work out a reasonable schedule for hours of operation. The secretary was asked to determine if a federal site-specific permit was required. The secretary then read a letter received from Mr. Beblowski and Ms. Pinello expressing their concerns regarding the granting of the application. The letter is in planning board file # 2004-12PB. There
being no further question from the Board or the audience, Mr. Rowehl continued the public hearing until July 1. 2004 to give Mr. Palmer the time to prepare the additional information requested by the members.
Mr. Rowehl introduced Ms. Rochford, the surveyor for Mr. & Mrs. Lauber. Ms. Rochford reviewed a conceptual subdivision of 53 acres that had boundaries on both Elm Ave. and Ashley Road. Ms. Rochford explained that an access road to the subdivision from Elm Ave. necessitated crossing wetlands and traversing a steep grade and that this approach would be very expensive. They would prefer to access from Ashley Road which is a Class VI road (discontinued subject to gates and bars). Ms. Rochford wondered if this would be permissible and if the Board would grant a subdivision if the 163 foot portion of Ashley out to Elm Ave. were brought up to Class V specifications. She indicated that some portions of the road might not be able to completely meet Class V specifications because of existing stone walls that could not be
moved. In response to a question, Ms. Rochford felt that the road could be widened to 2 rods. Mr. Oldershaw felt that Ashley was a closed road and that to reclassify it as a Class V road would require a ballot item at town meeting. There was some discussion regarding the procedure of reclassifying a road. The secretary was instructed to research the RSA’s and report back to the Board.
Mr. Oldershaw moved to accept the minutes of the June 3, 2004 meeting as corrected. Mr. Burnside seconded the motion that passed.
The Board then discussed the application of Jon Buschbaum to operate a portable sawmill on his property on Route 9. A number of aspects such as hours of operation and number of vehicles were considered. The secretary will summarize those items that the Board might consider as conditions to any approval that might be granted. Mr. Oldershaw will contact Eric Twarog of SWRPC to set up a date for a site review of the Buschbaum property.
Correspondence was presented regarding a public hearing in the Town of Deering for replacement of equipment on an existing wireless tower. A note from the town administrator regarding the code violation for the Brissette property (Map 1C lot 124) indicted that the matter was being handled by NHDES. The secretary distributed updates to the zoning manual that incorporated changes voted on at the March 2004 annual meeting.
The secretary advised the Board that the current policy of scheduling public hearings was resulting in a lack of information being available to the members and the public prior to the hearings. The end result was that it often was necessary to continue the hearings to obtain more information. The secretary asked for the Board’s permission to not schedule public hearings until he had all the information that he felt would be required by the Board to conduct a hearing. Mr. Oldershaw moved to adopt such a procedure. Mr. Garrett seconded the motion that passed.
Mr. Garrett moved to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Oldershaw seconded the motion that passed. Mr. Rowehl adjourned the meeting at 9:25 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul L. Vasques, Secretary
Antrim Planning Board
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