DRAFT
Minutes of the June 28, 2004 Meeting of the Greenfield Planning Board
The meeting opened at 7:00 p.m. with members Cernota, Kavenagh, O’Connell, Rainier , Seigars and alternate Carrara in attendance. Minutes of June 14 were read and approved with the following addition: Bill Brooks said he was only sitting in as a member of the public. Tonight Dario is sitting in for Marilyn Fletcher.
Mike went over the mail. We received a request from the State Office of Energy & Planning to supply them with an update of our Land Use Regulations. Deb sent us a copy of the budget. The selectmen sent a notice of a meeting with department heads set for June 24. We received a letter from John Teague on the Colburn Driveway Easement.
Mike advised us that he had talked with PSNH on pole placement. They try to place poles so that they will not be hit during winter plowing. The town can have some import on placement. Therefore, the Mitchell-Mason plat has been signed and was registered on June 17 at the registry. Mike also reported that Karen Day and the town forester had looked at the Colburn property, and there seem to be violations. The Conservation Committee will send a letter to the Colburns. We believe that DES has also walked the lot with the forester. Mike also advised that Linda Ryan is not ready to come for a preliminary conceptual consultation. Linda Freeman has been sent the information she asked for. He asked the board to have an extra meeting on July 7 at 7:30 p.m.
A notice of this meeting will be put up in town.
Kevin mentioned that the Pratt and Colburn subdivisions both have issues and perhaps should go to the ZBA. In the past we advised the Pratts that they could go for a dredge & fill permit or see the ZBA. They have done nothing yet. The Colburns have wetlands problems and perhaps should go to the ZBA.
At 7:35 p.m. the board continued the Edward & Margit Colburn subdivision hearing. Mike read a letter from John Teague concerning the driveway easement. He is assuming that the driveway is shown on the plat and is satisfactory. However, the wording on losses & claims on the town is missing – this needs to be corrected. It appears that the wetlands buffer is being encroached on. We feel they should talk with the ZBA to see if they are in compliance with our zoning ordinance (see page 11 #2 of the Zoning Ordinance).
Mr. Murray presented a revised plan. He has corrected the spelling of an abutter. He has had to add more wetlands, some in the area of the proposed driveway. He introduced Chris Danforth, an environmental expert and a certified wetland scientist. We asked about repairing the logging crossing. He feels that cleaning out debris and mulching will help clean up this area. He said they will not need a site specific permit since the area of impact is only 84,000 total square feet. Mr. Colburn reported that the original approval for wetlands crossing has been received. They will probably apply to amend the original approval now that they have more wetlands on the common driveway. The lot sizing has not been revised yet. We advised that we may need to
get an extension or we can turn the subdivision down and they can resubmit it later. The extension seemed to be a preferred choice. With the new information on wetlands, we feel another site review should be conducted. We asked if they would flag the driveway. The common drive will be 22 feet wide, and each individual driveway will be 10 feet in width. We also asked for a plan showing just building envelopes, wetlands and buffer. We don’t want the envelopes in the buffer zone. The location sketch should be corrected to show Rte 31, not 32. We will continue the public hearing to July 12 at 8:00 p.m.
Mike and George have been working on a list of questions for John Teague. Mike asked us to review the list and make comments. George has been reviewing the Master Plan and has found corrections that need to be made. Until this is done we can’t print any copies. Peter Hopkins would like us to look at setbacks. In order to keep the character of an area or make properties look alike, it would be helpful to be able to follow past setbacks. Kevin said that this can be done through the ZBA so we don’t need to get involved.
Mike advised that on July 12 there will be a preliminary conceptual consultation with a resident of Dunklee Hill Road. A resident has property that is split by a road and believes that he has two lots. We are concerned that he may be on a Class VI road. Mike also advised that there will be a joint meeting with Selectmen on July 15 about the beach upgrade.
The following are items that need action:
· Mike – call John Gryval on Colburn & wetlands in general.
· Fill out Land Use Regulations Update
· Members to review list of questions for John Teague & give Mike comments. Check with NH Municipal Assoc for answers to questions also.
· Call Peter about setbacks
· Mike to work up cover letter for Deb to use with subdivision information regarding Section IV of subdivision regulations.
· Check with Duffy on driveway questions.
Mike again mentioned that he would like to try having two members study either Subdivision Regulations, Zoning Regulations or State Regulations. We should also try to hold more preliminary conceptual consultations so that applicants come in with fewer problems. Deb could give out a letter stressing the applicant read Section IV carefully for minimum requirements as well as reading the checklist. Dario suggested that we check with the town of Bennington about their recent court case concerning building on a Class VI road. He will try to check on this.
1. The board went over the proposed Driveway requirements, starting with A 1. We have already worked on #s 1 and 2. #3 remains the same. The following changes were made:
4. Add “This requirement may be modified by the Director of DPW or NH State Highway Department.”
5. Change to “The entrance to the driveway is to be a minimum of 30 feet wide tapering back to a 20 foot width, 20 feet into the lot from the edge of the traveled surface of the road.”
6. Change Town Road Agent to Director of DPW.
7. Change last sentence to read “the applicant/owner shall maintain proper drainage at all times during subdivision/construction”.
8. Change Town Road Agent to Director of DPW.
9. Stays the same.
10. Change first line to a minimum of 15 inches in diameter.
11. Stays the same.
12. Change to “All driveways shall be surfaced equal or better than the road which it abuts for a minimum of 20 feet”.
13. Stays the same.
14. Change the sketch to show a 2 ½ depression or culvert. Delete “then back up” from sentence.
15. Change the sentence to read “If abutting onto a town road, there shall be a clear line of sight from the end of the driveway along the town road for a distance of at least 200 feet in both directions. The sight line will be determined from a height of 3.5 feet at a distance of 10 feet from the edge of the town road.
16. Change Town Road Agent to Director of DPW.
17. Change to “Upon completion of the driveway, it is necessary to notify the Director of DPW. A final inspection is required in order to obtain a Certificate of Occupancy, if applicable”.
Under “These items are not included in this draft regulation” we deleted a & b. Under c we set the permit fee at $15. Under d we set the fine at $100.
Under Common Driveways we left #1 alone. #2 we changed so the first sentence reads “Length. The common portion of the driveway shall be kept to a minimum not to exceed 600 feet in length.
#3 we changed as follows:
b) Maximum grade shall be eight (8) percent.
c) Check with Duffy on minimum grade.
d) No grade in excess of three per cent (3%) shall be permitted within one hundred (100) feet of
any intersection within a subdivision.
e) Last sentence changed to read “If unpaved, an additional six (6) inch wearing surface shall be
compacted, dense, graded, crushed gravel”.
f) Change Road Agent to Director of DPW. Add to end of last sentence the words “and must be kept clear of snow in the winter.
g) Delete from line 7 the sentence starting with “Should the common driveway split, etc”
h) This paragraph was changed as follows: Building Permit. The common driveway must be completed. All drainage, crushed gravel and grading and all identification markers must be installed and approved by the Code Enforcement Officer and Director of DPW prior to the issuance of any building permit.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:20 p.m.
Jean Cernota
Secretary
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