PLANNING BOARD MEETING MINUTES “SPECIAL”
TUESDAY – JANUARY 24, 2006
356 Main Street – Farmington, NH
Members Present: Charlie King, Hiram Watson, Jim Horgan, David Kestner,
Jason Lauze - Alternate
Absent: Charles Wibel – with notification
Don MacVane – with notification
Selectmen’s Rep: Paul Parker
Staff Present: Paul Esswein, Doreen T. Hayden
Public Present: None
Chairman King called the meeting to order at 6:27 p.m. and advises the board members that the Zoning Ordinance that we are here for tonight is in preparation to present to the voters for Town of Farmington March 2006 Meeting.
Public Hearing on the Amendments to the Town of Farmington Zoning Ordinance:
Chairman King turns the floor over to Paul Esswein for his review of the edits that were made from the Planning Boards last meeting of 01-17-2006. Paul Esswein quickly reviews (1) all reformatted, (2) all internal references are corrected, (3) have figured out how to get rid of the book marks and other formatting issue that were from the original pagination of the document, (4) lastly; all changes from the boards last meeting have been incorporated / applied to this document.
Chairman King seats Jason Lauze for absent Don MacVane.
Chairman King asks the board members if they have or want to make any points of discussion on the Zoning Ordinance document that is before them this evening.
Paul Esswein interjects that the only item that is not done is the actual formatting as well as some grammatical changes. He does have a couple of notes to make; between pages 38 & 39; Section 3.05 was inadvertently dropped so we have included that Section (for now) as a separate page, however I have incorporated that into the correct section of the document.
Paul Esswein reviews the changes that were discussed in last weeks meeting; Page 22 – Table Of Permitted Uses (will be referred as T. O. P. U. throughout these minutes) under the Agricultural column – 2nd item changed from PR to P: Page 37 – Section 3.01 - Paragraph 1 – add “or meets the criteria…” after Section 1.14; same section add “for both structures….”.
Chairman King comments that we still need to have legal review; Paul Esswein replies yes.
Charlie King questions if the Rear Lot Subdivision is not accepted as presented do we just drop? Discussion between Paul Parker, Charlie King and Paul Esswein on the upcoming warrant article for March 2006 Town Meeting as it will pertain to Section 3.01 and 3.04.
Paul Esswein continues with his summary; Section 3.09 – Signs – Paragraph (B) (1) defined the word “temporary” to mean “no more than thirty (30) days.
Page 43 – Section 3.10 Private Road Standards – added “ Farmington Road and Driveway Regulations” Design and Construction Standards” this document will be noted in the Subdivision and Site Review Regulations documents.
Page 45 – Section 3.12 – Heading change - was - Steep Slope Development Standards now “Sensitive Area Development Standards”.
Page 56 – Paragraph 4 – Removed “execution of a provisional agreeing….”and replace with “execution of a Waiver of Municipal Responsibility…”
Page 62 – (B) Definitions (2) and (4) – added in reference to the various building code(s) that are used.
Chairman King poses a question to Paul Esswein regarding Page 65 – item 6 - Are we enforcing this policy? Paul Esswein replies that we are working on it and having some trouble enforcing.
Page 89 – Paragraph F – added wording “subject to this section…..”
Page 93 – Paragraph F – Referencing current regulation and the removal of reference to the non-existent State RSA.
Page 94 – Paragraph (H) (4) – Removed reference to State RSA and only indicated Wetland classification.
Paul Esswein ends the review noting that is the extent of the changes.
Chairman King asks the members of the board if they have any comments, no comments heard.
Chairman Kings states since there are no comments heard from the members of the board he would like to entertain discussion regarding Page 39 (really page 40 after Section 3.05 re-entered). Discusses the minimum standards for parking, makes comment regarding the boards previous review and reassessment of these numbers, makes comments regarding the sub-committee determination that these be removed and to take this issue up at Site Review and Subdivision Review Application time(s). Chairman King further states that the Site Review Regulation that were adopted this year have conflicts with the Zoning Ordinance parking requirements and that this section should be removed from the Zoning Ordinance and just leave it in the Site Review and Subdivision Regulation(s).
Paul Esswein states that he feels it is better at Site Plan Review and not in the Zoning Ordinance and that we should just review under the Site Review Regulations.
Paul Parker asks if we can make substantial changes, Paul Esswein and Chairman King both reply yes, as we are having a Public Hearing on 02-07-2006 to formalize the Zoning Ordinance.
Paul Esswein states that he thinks the parking needs to be applied to commercial development and feels this Zoning Ordinance parking requirement is too rigid, discussion ensue between Paul Parker, Charlie King and Paul Esswein regarding this “minimum parking standards”.
Chairman King polls the members of the board for their comments/feelings on this subject. Comment heard from David Kestner feels it should be handled well under the Site Review Regulations; Chairman King directs a statement to David Kestner “do you understand that the applicant would have to go to the ZBA for a variance on the parking requirement”, David Kestner comments that he feels they should blend with one another.
Paul Esswein comments that these are the minimum standards for parking requirements.
Hiram Watson and Jim Horgan agree that this should be handled at Site Review.
Chairman King motions to amend / remove under Section 3.08 Parking (B) and (C) = Line 3 down to Section 3.09 Signs, which will leave only 2-items under “Minimum Standards for Parking”, 2nd Jim Horgan, no further discussion, all those in favor, motion passes.
Chairman King asks Paul Esswein if he has any further comments; he does – on Page 76 the minimum lot size referring to cluster development; Paul Parker states should be clarifying paragraph.
Chairman King motions to make that change, 2nd Jim Horgan, no further discussion, all those in favor, motion passes.
Paul Parker wants to re-address Page 56 – Steep Slopes; comments made that it is now “Sensitive Area Development”; Paul Parker refers to Paragraph (4) and the 30% notation and feels that is a pretty high number; Paul Esswein and Chairman King advise Paul Parker that is the way it currently is, Paul Parker again states he feels this is a little high, Chairman King refers him to paragraph (5) where it states “In no case shall any development take place on any portion greater than thirty-five percent (35%)”.
Chairman King asks the members of the board if there are any other items in the Zoning Ordinance that they would like addresses.
Paul Parker comments that he is going to try again on the T. O. P. U. and wants to go through looking at the S.E. and have more clarification on that, he states that if we are not taking out the S.E. can we enter some terminology that is specific to only that use.
Paul Esswein rebuts Paul Parkers statement and reviews the other sections of the T. O. P. U.
Chairman King states that he is not in favor at this time, but as previously indicated the T. O. P. U. does need some work.
Paul Parker motions to amend the T. O. P. U. by removing the last line of each Zone – uses not specified to only apply to the uses in that particular Zone so as to not allow some back-door approaches to the Zoning Ordinance, 2nd Chairman King for discussion, Jim Horgan feels it should be left alone for now, definitely needs an overhaul, if we piece meal it that’s no good, Hiram Watson also feels it should be left alone, would be imposing more restrictions, Jason Lauze is also in agreement and feels that the table as a whole should be reviewed, David Kestner agrees it should be discussed at a time when we can spend time reviewing and as late in the game as it is we should just leave it alone, Chairman King call for a vote, 2 in favor – Paul Parker and Chairman King, 4 opposed – David
Kestner, Jason Lauze, Hiram Watson, Jim Horgan, motion fails.
Chairman King and Paul Esswein review the upcoming 02-07-2006 Planning Board Agenda items.
Chairman King comments that the board has the ability tonight to discuss the petition that is coming before the board, Jim Horgan states the petition and petitioners do not necessarily reflect what they really want, Jim Horgan, Hiram Watson and Jason Lauze are not in favor, David Kestner has some concerns, Paul Parker discusses his feeling on the petition and reminds the board of their responsibility with regards to the petitioners request on changing the density. Hiram Watson interjects that we have discussed this before and the business people in the Town of Farmington need to be notified and that he does not think we should discuss this tonight.
Jason Lauze – agrees – no discussion on this tonight.
Chairman King motions to enter into discussion to change the density in the UR Zone, 2nd Paul Parker; Chairman King calls for discussion, Jim Horgan, Hiram Watson, Jason Lauze and David Kestner – no discussion, Chairman King calls for vote on his motion, Paul Parker in favor, David Kestner, Chairman King, Jason Lauze, Hiram Watson and Jim Horgan opposed, motion fails.
Chairman King motions to post the document as amended for the final Public Hearing on 02-07-2006, 2nd Jim Horgan, no further discussion, all those in favor, motion passes.
7:53 p.m.
Jim Horgan motions to adjourn, 2nd Jason Lauze, no further discussion, all those in favor, motion passes.
APPROVED AS AMENDED 02-07-2006;
Change to page 1 of 4; next to last paragraph; T. O. P. U. - Table Of Permitted Uses (will be referred to as
T. O. P. U. throughout these minutes). Change noted in bold type.
Change to page 3 of 4; 5th paragraph; strike out the sentence completely; (Jason Lauze – comments – but I (Doreen) could not hear what he commented!).
___________________________________ ________________________
Charlie King, Chairman Date
Farmington Planning Board
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