Board of Selectmen’s Meeting
Monday, March 21, 2005
6:00 p.m.
Selectmen’s Chambers,
356 S. Main St., Municipal Offices
Present: Joan Funk, Paula Proulx, Matthew Scruton, Paul Parker & George Meyer
Chairman Joan Funk convened the meeting at 6:03 pm with the Pledge of Allegiance.
1. Building Permit for Paul Ramsey – presented by Paul Esswein
Paul Esswein explained that because Paul Ramsey was applying for a building permit on a private road, it was subject to review and comment by the Planning Board and final approval or disapproval by the Selectmen based upon the condition of the road. Mr. Ramsey was in attendance, as he was asking the Selectmen for a relaxation of the recommendation forwarded by the Highway Supervisor Clark Hackett to upgrade the entire length of the road at his expense, widening it to 20 feet and placing 12 inches of new base. There was detailed discussion during which it was brought forth that the piece of property had a residential structure on it in the past that had been burned down by the Farmington Fire Department. He stated that it would be cost prohibitive and pointed out that the Fire
Department was able to get to the previous structure to burn it down. Matt Scruton indicated his discomfort in discussing and rendering any decision on reduced road upgrades as nobody on the Board of Selectmen had expertise in that area. He suggested that the issue go back to the Planning Board. It was suggested that the applicant research any vested rights he might have to replace the structure that was removed (grandfathering). Ultimately a motion was made by Matt Scruton to give approval for issuance of the building permit conditional upon successful and mutually satisfactory negotiations between Mr. Ramsey and the Planning Board on the road improvements needed and the successful upgrade of the road prior to issuance of the building permit. The motion was seconded by George Meyer. The vote was unanimous.
2. Farmington Preservation Guild, if available
Cyndi Paulin and Brad Anderson of the Farmington Preservation Guild were present, along with several of the Guild’s Boards members: Keith Zeller, Dorinda Howard and Tom Brennan (Brad Anderson is also a Board member for the Preservation Guild). Also Jim Vasherin, ex-director of the Adult Learning Center, took the opportunity to laud the efforts of Cyndi Paulin for her hard work on the establishment of the Explore program in Farmington, stating that previous efforts had not been successful. He endorsed the hiring of a Community Projects Director and the proposed partnership and co-funding with and by the Town of Farmington.
Cyndi Paulin next introduced the Board members, then launched into an explanation of what the Guild proposed to do in exchange for the infusion of $15,000 of returned CDBG funding. Paul Esswein jumped in where clarification was needed, stating that once the details were finanlized, the CDFA, current overseer and administrator of CDBG at the state level, would need to approve the proposed use of the funds. He explained that the area where the CDBG-eligible activities would take place is a benefit-wide area. In other words, according to the census data, over 50% of the population in the service area is at or below 80% of the median income of the county.
Several questions were posed by the Selectmen. A summary of responses follows:
· The Board of Selectmen and Town Staff would have a say in the sorts of grants Cyndi pursued for the Town;
· When asked about how potential conflicts of interest regarding the purchase of land would be dealt with, Cyndi stated that it was a premature question, because the Guild has not made any firm decisions yet on the projects it will pursue;
· When asked how much of a free hand she would have in pursuing grants, Cyndi responded that she would be pursuing projects the community wants, as opposed to developing a project based on available funding;
· When asked about Selectmen representation the Guild’s Board of Directors, Cyndi explained that the initial proposal was to establish a project committee with Town representation on it.
Paul Parker made a motion to approve the dedication of $15,000 of CDBG returned income toward the proposed establishment of the Community Projects Director, an employee of the Farmington Preservation Guild, contingent upon approval of the use of CDBG funds by the state, finalization of the details of the relationship and a return to the Board of Selectmen for final approval. Paula Proulx seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.
3. ZBA Decision Regarding Route 11 Project
Joan Funk asked Town Administrator Ernest Creveling to explain how Town Attorney Tim Bates responded to the question of liability to the Town as a result of the decision reached by the Farmington Zoning Board of Adjustment with regard to the Equivise project on Route 11. Creveling explained the Attorney had stated there would be no damages to the Town as a result of the decision, however, if a request for a rehearing was requested by a person or entity with standing and the ZBA denied that, or did rehear it and the person or entity did not agree with the outcome, then they might pursue it in Superior court, which could entail some legal expenses.
Paul Parker started reading portions of the Farmington Zoning Ordinance that he believes have been not properly discussed or represented by this decision. He stated several times that the members of the ZBA were inexperienced and that it should rehear this case and have an opportunity to correct the many procedural errors it committed.
There was discussion about the Selectmen needing to provide more training and education for the ZBA members.
Matt Scruton pointed out that there may have been procedural errors, but the decision reached by the ZBA was theirs to make. He went on to say that the ZBA was well-represented over the course of the deliberations and had legal counsel available.
Paula Proulx stated that there is a big misconception: there is no disagreement with the outcome, but the procedure, which was in error. She stated that a special exception was not the right way to go. She stated further that she was concerned that the Town has a board, which represents the legal aspect of the zoning ordinance and it is the Selectmen’s responsibility to ensure they do it right. She warned that right now the Town is at a disadvantage because she is aware of a group of people looking to find standing, and it would be better to have the corrections made up front.
At this point, Betty Mros, a citizen of the town, stated that she did not understand the fuss being created by Paul and Paula. She further stated that people would like to see a nice development like this. She relayed that she had recently visited a project like the one proposed by Equivise and was pleasantly surprised at how it had turned out. She said that the development we are seeing in town is awful.
Planning & Community Development Director Paul Esswein explained that procedural errors were made, but prior to the hearing, he and Tim Bates had met with the ZBA and went into great detail about what had to be determined. He went on to say, in response to Paula Proulx’s question as to whether or not he agreed with their decision, that in order to make the finding they made, one would have to determine that this is a residential use not specified, which they did and which was their determination to make as the ZBA.
He went on to explain that the ZBA conducted a site walk, to which he responded to Paul Parker’s demand about whether minutes had been taken, Paul responded that there had been little discussion and no decision made, but that he thought hand-written notes kept by Russell Stoakes were in the record.
Paul took the Selectmen through the remainder of the deliberative process, stating that the ZBA had considered directly the question of whether or not the proposed use was acceptable for consideration as a Special Exception. The ZBA made that finding as well, which is well within its authority.
Steve Mayo, a representative from Equivise commented that is was very obvious to him that Paul was not in attendance at the meeting, otherwise he would have heard the deliberations that occurred and upon which the ZBA based its decisions.
Mary Barron, a citizen and an abutter to the project, asked Paul Parker if he would be objecting to the process if the decision had gone the other way. Paul stated that he would. Paula Proulx confirmed that she thought he would, as well. Mary went on to state that if the Selectmen were going to question every board’s decision, then why have those boards? She stated that she thinks Paul’s and Paula’s objections have a lot more to do with the fact that they do not want to see this project happen.
Bill Tsiros, a citizen, pointed out that the Selectmen made a decision to go to legal counsel and get an answer to a question of liability. He pointed out that the Selectmen should live with the advice they got. He asked Paul Parker why he misrepresents the Zoning Ordinance as the law. The real problem, Bill stated to Paul, is your bias against this project.
At this point Paul Parker made a motion for the Board of Selectmen to appeal the ZBA’s decision, which died for lack of a second to the motion.
Paula Proulx made a motion that the Selectmen retain outside counsel to examine the decision making process, which was seconded by Paul Parker.
Matt Scruton stated that Paula and Paul had no evidence to merit the request. He went on to say that he is comfortable with the Town’s legal counsel with regard to the “liability” question. He further stated that hiring outside counsel would be expensive and time-consuming.
Paula Proulx and Paul Parker voted in favor of the motion, while Matt Scruton and Joan Funk voted against. George Meyer had recused himself from the discussion and vote. The motion failed.
The Selectmen took a 10-minute break beginning at approximately 6:57 pm.
At approximately 7:17, the Board reconvened. At this point residents from Winter Street wanted to talk to the Selectmen about the open gate on Winter Street coming from the trailer park (see attached letter from William and Linda Sherman. Linda Sherman, Bill Vachon Richard Parks and April Gordon all expressed concern that the gate remaining open was creating a major public safey issue. Ernest Creveling explained to the Board and the public that Director of Planning and Community Development Director Paul Esswein would be meeting with Town Attorney Tim Bates regarding this issue on the following morning, and that action would be taken once the situation was examined and clarified.
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