PLANNING BOARD WORKSHOP MEETING
TUESDAY – JANUARY 18, 2005
356 Main Street – Farmington, NH
Members Present: Charlie King, Troy Robidas, and Hiram Watson
Absent: Robert Talon and Don MacVane
Gerry “Gary” White (On leave of absence)
Norm Russell -Absent with notification
Selectmen’s Rep: Paul Parker
Staff Present: Paul Esswein, Doreen T. Hayden
Public Present: None
Chairman Charlie King called the Planning Board Workshop Meeting to order at 7:09 p.m. and noted the Public Hearing Session will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Chairman King noted that previously the Planning Department was tasked to review and submit any changes or add recommendations to the Site Review and Sub Division Regulations. Paul Esswein commented that the language could be changed but has not modified such as yet. Paul Parker motions to continue the Site Plan Review Regulations and Sub-Division Regulations drafts to the next Planning Board Workshop Meeting of February 15, 2005 to allow the Planning Department further review and comments, 2nd by Troy Robidas, any discussion, no further discussion, all in favor, motion passes.
Chairman King has a couple of issues/points that he would like to bring before the board to allow each member time to think about the upcoming year. At this time last year the Planning Board reviewed and re-established its subcommittees and gathered together a list of priorities for them to work on, one being The Master Plan, which should be just about ready to be wrapped up, minor zoning issues to be addressed. As a board we should re-establish those sub-committees to do some additional work through next year and possibly in the next Workshop Meeting address what those priorities will be in order for “a” subcommittee or subcommittees. Some of those items that need to be wrapped up (assuming that The Master Plan is wrapped up in the next month or so) 1) C. L. O. D. This board should
officially determine what the next step should be and if it needs additional work it could be remanded back to the subcommittee and/or the Town Planner. 2) Sub-Division work complete or the board might be able to take care of. 3) A lot of public comment on the current zones and how they are laid out, Chairman King believes we could utilize some subcommittee work to address some of the fact finding information that they would use in reviewing, i.e. assessing of all current uses of properties to find out what those uses are in the zone which would allow changes within the zone to be more consistent than what is in existence. Chairman King believes and as confirmed with the public that some of the zones structure is inconsistent with how they are presently and how they were in the past used, and also based upon some of the goals that will come out of The Master Plan and recommendations of the outside consultants such as Nodal Development and Access Management on Route 11,
that subcommittees could be used to do some groundwork/ informational gathering, so that a subcommittee, The Planning Board or the Town’s Planner would have the most updated information to work from. The subcommittee has yet to address the issue of elderly housing and its’ structure in the community. Chairman King believes there is a reasonable list of items to consider for such subcommittee work and as a board we should determine what it is we want to accomplish in the next year and what seems like a good fit for at least some of the leg work to be done in the sub committee and how they should be structured. After the determination of what the subcommittee can assist the board with we should also reappoint members to this subcommittee as required.
Paul Parker makes a point now, as an open invitation to members of the public (FCTV running) if they so desire to volunteer their time to work with the subcommittees and Chairman King agrees it would be a good starting point for the public to familiarize themselves with the community. Paul Parker also makes note mention to the public on volunteering for the various boards “particularly” the Zoning Board Of Adjustment and also the Planning Board for which could use “alternate” members.
Paul Esswein – This is a good time to mention that the Board of Selectmen would like to hold a joint meeting with the Planning Board Members to discuss issues – Monday (24th) possible; Paul Parker not sure if it’s a hard fast date, a lot was dependant on the Planning Boards availability. All members present are available for Monday the 24th joint meeting
Chairman King polls the board members for thoughts regarding some of things he brought to the table? Hiram Watson – Capital Improvement Plan – early spring is the time to start; there was none last year an old version was used. The Board of Selectmen usually appoints the committee before the budget committee starts in September. April or May would be a good start date. Paul Parker and Hiram Watson feel this is a very important committee and that it does a lot of good for the town. Troy Robidas asks about advertising for members for the subcommittee, how did announcements go forward, Chairman King – believes an advertisement was done, but mostly one on one invitation, basically talking to individuals about the need and asking for their volunteerism. Paul Parker believes it’s a very rewarding and interesting position to hold.
Chairman King motions for a 5-minute recess, 2nd by Troy Robidas, any discussion, no further discussion, all in favor, motion passes. 7:26 p.m.
7:39 p.m.
Chairman King calls the Planning Board Meeting back to order, and proceeds to the Public Hearing portion of the meeting, which is Zoning Ordinance Amendments/Additions to the existing Zoning Ordinance. At this point Chairman King turns the floor over to Paul Esswein regarding the collection of changes that he has made.
Paul Esswein – He does not need to go through the entire document, he will just cover the follow-up changes as discussed in the last Planning Board Meeting:
1) Add back in Section 1.08 Zoning Permits – previously removed from draft copy and the decision was made to put this back in.
2) Innovative Land Use Controls – To make sure the phrase “applied in accordance with the Performance Standards contained in this Ordinance” this phrase was shifted to make it look like it only applied to one of the land use controls so it was moved to the end of the first sentence, under Authority. He also took it upon himself to make a change in wording; by removing “to engage in planning” it made no sense to be in there as that is the job of the Planning Department, Paul believes that the board was aiming to direct the Planning Board to administer Innovative Lane Use Controls. Paul Parker asks if we need to make a
motion to get that removed, Chairman King – we should; Paul Parker motions to remove “to engage in planning” under 1.11; so that the paragraph reads “The Town authorizes the Planning Board to administer Innovative Land Use Controls pursuant to the following sections of RSA 674:21”, 2nd by Chairman Charlie King, Troy Robidas questions the wording “the following” Chairman King advises Troy that it is the sections of the RSA 674 that we are authorized to administer, sections b, d, f, and m: and currently only 2 of the 4 sections are the only ones that the Town has implemented. Chairman King asks Paul Esswein if there are other Innovative Land Use Controls – Paul Esswein – there are 8 or 9 other listed criteria under RSA 674, that’s why the 4 have specifically been called out, as those are what pertain to the Town of Farmington, Paul believes that several of the 8 or 9 as listed could have the potential to
apply to town, but prior to suggesting the addition of any of those that it might be a good idea to have a proposed ordinance to implement them to go before the voters. Paul Parker commented that it could be something a subcommittee could work in the coming year in preparation for next year, Chairman King comments- based upon the need if we have them. Any further discussion on the motion, no further discussion, all those in favor, motion passes.
3) Table of Zoning Districts – Section 2.00 – The decision was made to call the 1st district the Agricultural Residential District to be consistent and to keep the designation AR as it was and to add under Suburban Residential add the word district, again to be consistent throughout the document. Chairman King also noted that the Rural Residential Zoning District was also to be changed throughout the document from the SR-1 annotation. Chairman King notes that at the top of page 14 there is the copy write mark that shows up, Paul Esswein advises that the particular copy write mark shows up in various parts throughout the whole
document, some type of formatting error, that will be fixed in the final version.
4) Table of Permitted Uses – Changed SR-1 category to RR for Rural Residential and changed under all categories.
5) Under Residential Use – Eliminated the row that listed “manufactured housing parks with access from a class 5 or better road”. Chairman King thinks it should have been left in, so that when an applicant requests they want a mobile home park it shows that it is not permitted. Add this option back into the table. Troy Robidas comments the last entry in each of the sections of the Table Of Permitted Uses should have the statement “uses not specified” added back in, each district column shows the requirement “SE”. Chairman King notes that the motion was made and passed, based upon leaving it the way it is
currently in the existing zoning ordinance, Paul Parker adds and supports Chairman Kings comment that it was motioned to add that “catch-all” phrase back in and to ensure that the added row “manufactured housing parks with access from a class 5 or better road” follows with the “uses not specified” “SE” designation.
6) Troy Robidas questions the “NOTE” located at the very bottom of each page of the Table of Permitted Uses being “NOTE: additional restrictions can be found within the Overlay Districts outlined in Section 4.00, and within specific Special Exception Conditions. The most restrictive conditions apply.” This note was not in the previous Zoning Ordinance, Chairman King advises that change came out of the subcommittee and was added to the draft version as well as the posted version. The intent of adding this statement was to point out that the Overlay District has additional restrictions.
7) 2.03 Section to change from Suburban Residential District to Rural Residential District. Paul Esswein asks if we should leave the 1ACRE note at the top in? Troy Robidas – probably not, doesn’t think it is necessary, Chairman King believes it should be omitted to be consistent; Troy Robidas says it was listed for clarification purposes when there was SR and SR-1 districts.
8) Section 3.01 Change the ? designation to alpha characters (A) and (B).
9) Hiram Watson – Under Section 3.03 Driveway Limitations – should Class VI be added? Discussion between Troy Robidas, Hiram Watson, Chairman King and Paul Parker on the definition of a Class VI road and private road criteria approvals. Paul Esswein adds that there are statutory requirements for building on a Class VI road that have to be followed, and that the Selectmen have to receive a waiver of liability from the property owner.
10) Section 3.10 – Private Road Standards – add “or as otherwise approved by the Planning Board” at the end of the sentence.
11) Paul Parker questions the definitions of section 3.11 Telecommunications Towers/Structures – stating that there was effort by the committee to move all the definitions into one category, should these definitions be in the main section with the other definitions or should they remain here. Chairman King doesn’t want to change them at this time, realizes there were discussions regarding the change of placement – but doesn’t have an opinion one-way or the other. Paul Parker says if someone picks up the Zoning Ordinance looking for a definition particularly for an antenna array and they go to the main section there is no definition
there, Paul Esswein – there are words that might have multiple meanings depending upon what section they are used in, there are definitions in several sections, Paul had thought about including all of the definitions as there are several definitions that are listed under each section, i.e.; housing, cluster development, housing standards, etc., Paul Parker states to leave it alone and the next time around to let the subcommittee iron it out. Chairman King, does not consider that a high priority and thinks in the next 5 years a total restructuring of the Zoning Ordinance might be taking place and could be done at that time, or could be in the next time around 1-2 years.
12) Section 3.17, 3.18 and 3.19 Added Sections: Open Space – Residential Cluster Development Standards, Phased Development Standards and Sexually Oriented Business Standards: Chairman King thinks that each of these newly added sections should start on a new page and to also be sectioned separately. Chairman King – Under section 3.17, (K) Minimum Open Space Requirements the removal of the “copy write” mark throughout the descriptive contents. Also to correct the Roman Numerals to the letters and numbers to be consistent throughout the document, except of course where it specifically references Class V, VI, etc., locations where
applicable.
13) Section 4.05 Floodplain Protection Overlay District – Add to the beginning of section (B) “Effective 05/17/2005” as previously motioned, 2nd and approved.
At this point Chairman King opens the discussion to any member of the public who would like to comment with any questions or suggestions. Ed Mullen, FCTV questions under the usage section of page 18 – no mention of mail order or web based business which either of these can be home occupations. Discussion between the members of the board and Ed Mullen about the differences of home based business and retail business; Chairman King considers retail as a point of sale to a consumer. Troy Robidas comments this particular reason is why the “catch-all” phrase is required to be put back in.
Chairman King asks if there are other public comments? No comments, at this point close the public comment portion. Anything further – nothing. Chairman King feels that if the board is accepting of all the items as written with grammatical changes as noted, that a motion should be made to forward this to town meeting. Paul Parkers asks if everyone is comfortable with the contents?
Paul Parker makes a motion to forward this Zoning Ordinance Document to the Board Of Selectmen with the changes as noted, and to place this on the Warrant Article for the March Town Meeting, 2nd by Hiram Watson, any discussion, no further discussion, all in favor, motion passes.
Chairman King notes that the Zoning Ordinance has to be on file by February 1, 2005.
Chairman King asks if there is any other business to come before the board.
Troy Robidas motions to adjourn the meeting, 2nd by Hiram Watson, any discussion, no further discussion, all in favor, meeting adjourned. 8:45 p.m.
APPROVED AS WRITTEN 02/01/2005
_________________________ ______________________
Charlie King, Chairman, Date
Farmington Planning Board
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