DRAFT
Minutes of the December 12, 2005 Meeting of the Greenfield Planning Board
The meeting opened at 7:00 p.m. with members Carrara, Cernota, Halper, Marshall, O’Connell, Rainier and alternate members Morris and Pennoyer in attendance. Minutes of the November 28 meeting were read and approved with the following changes: 1st page, 1st paragraph, last line add “except health & safety regs.” 3rd paragraph, line 6, last word delete “usually” and on next line change “soils” to “wetlands”. Under mail, 4th item, should read "ZBA Notice of Decision for Alan Easton – issue referred to Planning Board.”
The draft of the report of planning board activities for the Annual Report was read and approved with the following addition to the 3rd paragraph: addition of a sentence at the end to read “The completion of the Capital Improvements Plan puts the town in a position to consider implementation of impact fees”.
Mail
· Letter from Plan NH describing their program Design Assistance for NH Projects.
· Selectmen’s minutes for 11/10, 11/17, and 11/23.
· Invoices for ad fees of $35 and Registry of Deeds fee for $50.
Preliminary Conceptual Consultation for Carl Inglestrom
At 7:25 p.m. the board met with Carl Inglestrom of Old Bennington Road. Bob read the disclaimer on Consultations. Mr. Inglestrom has property with frontage on Forest, Old Bennington and County Roads. There are three parcel descriptions and three tax bills but only two deeds. Mr. Inglestrom wonders if the parcels which are separated by County Road are considered as one lot or two. Although he has no intention of doing anything with the property at the moment, he would like to know if subdivision would be needed sometime in the future. The board suggested that he have his lawyer look into the matter. It was also brought up that the property is in both the general residence and the rural/agricultural district. The consultation ended at 7:50 p.m.
Hearing on a proposed minor subdivision for the Sarah H. Druckenmiller Revocable Trust
At 8:00 p.m. a hearing was held for a proposed minor subdivision on 89 ½ acres. All members listed above were present. Gil Morris sat in for Steve Seigars. Bob read the procedures. Kevin reported that the hearing was noticed in the Ledger and the Keene Sentinel as well as the post office and the town office. A list was passed around for abutters and members of the public to sign in. Dawn Tuomala from Monadnock Survey represented the Druckenmiller Trust. The trust owns Lot R-3-5 which has frontage on Forest Road as well as Old Bennington and County Roads. One lot will have 4.05 acres with frontage on Old Bennington and County Roads. A second lot will have 5.397 acres with frontage on County Road. Dawn passed around 6 copies of the plat and submitted a copy of the
DES Approval of Subdivision. The board went over the checklist. The following items were found to be missing:
· Fees have not been paid. Bob will give Dawn the final figure.
· Need delineation of wetland setbacks on proposed lot R3-5-2.
· Existing utilities and culverts are not shown.
· Buildings within 100 feet of the proposed lots are not shown.
· Driveway permits are missing. The road agent needs to be contacted. Also, there needs to be a line on the mylar for his signature.
· North arrows need to be added to the 2nd and 3rd pages.
Bob read a letter from our consultant, Carol Ogilvie, concerning the proposed subdivision in which she said, with a few minor exceptions, that the subdivision appeared to meet Greenfield Zoning and Subdivision regulations. Kevin had questions about wetlands buffers and a driveway. Gil moved to accept the application. All members present voted to accept.
Bob went over the fees with Dawn. She had a question on the recording fees, and Bob will check on these before giving her a final figure. The planning board then asked questions concerning the subdivision. George asked if the for-sale sign had been removed. Apparently it is still there. George remarked that advertising a nonexistent lot is illegal and that there is a fine for doing so. Bob remarked that a real estate agent had called him about the subdivision hearing long before we received an application. This is the second time that agents have apparently been advertising lots that do not exist, a practice which the planning board finds unacceptable. We asked Dawn if there was going to be any more subdivision of the property. She said she knew of no concrete plans for the
future. She also did not know how they chose the areas for the lots. She had no answers for us. George asked Peter Hopkins if he had witnessed the test pits, and Peter said he had. A question arose about septic permits for lots under 5 acres. Peter said that the building permit will address this.
Abutters were then asked if they had any questions or comments. Andrea Gilbert is worried about the aquifer and if her well will be affected. Her house may be within 100 feet of the subdivision. Dawn said she will check this and received permission from Ms. Gilbert to measure. Jami Bascom remarked that there is a culvert by her property and that in the spring and fall, if rainy, there is a lot of water coming through the Druckenmiller property. Robert Blakemore asked if there had been any effort by the town to see if the Trust would be interested in conservation. Karen Day from the Conservation Commission said she had tried to contact them but had no success. Bob said there had been no effort by the Planning Board, and George said there had been no effort by the Selectmen. Two
abutters said they understood that the Druckenmillers are planning more subdivisions to help fund their retirement. Karen remarked that the Conservation Commission is hoping to hold meetings on conservation with residents in different areas. Roger Descoteaux has worries about development and the wetlands. Carl Inglestrom questioned our definition of subdivision and whether land can be subdivided if it has been subdivided once before. Craig Morroco asked about population growth in Greenfield. Gil Morris gave him a copy of the figures he provided the board at the last meeting. The public input portion of the hearing was closed at 9:45 p.m. Deliberation on the proposed subdivision was recessed until 12/19 so that we could hold the preliminary conceptual consultation which was scheduled for 9:00 p.m.
Preliminary Conceptual Consultation with the Grants
The Consultation began at 9:50 p.m. Bob read the disclaimer. Dawn Tuomala explained what the Grants wanted to do with their land on Sawmill Road. They would like to create 5 new lots. Looking at the plans, the board saw two problems. Dawn would like to have a waiver so that 3 houses could share a common driveway rather than just the 2 houses we allow. The driveways have slopes greater than what our regulations allow, and the width of the driveways was in question. The board was polled on the question of a waiver for the number of houses on a common drive. Jean recused herself as an abutter and Gil Morris abstained. The remaining members felt that they would not grant the waiver. On the subject of waiving slope requirements, Jean recused herself and the remaining
members felt they would not grant a waiver. Concerning the driveways, the entrance width is controlled by the state. The consultation ended at 10:45 p.m.
Miscellaneous
Sheldon passed out copies of a draft concerning the Home Occupation Bylaw. He asked board members to read this as well as the information attached on accessory dwellings so we can discuss them at the next meeting. Sheldon also asked if he could speak at a hearing where he was an alternate even though he was not filling in for anyone. It was the sense of the board that he should be able to speak, but he could not vote.
George mentioned that he was approached by a budget committee member who asked why the Planning Board was not asking for $15,000 for the impact fee study rather than $5,000 for the first step. Bob will discuss this with them when they meet next.
Kevin brought in a copy of Lyme’s conservation lot definition allowing a nonconforming lot for conservation purposes. We agreed that we should look at this but it would be in the subdivision regulations rather than in the zoning regulations.
View shed protection was also discussed. We would need to come up with definitions for this. It should be a separate ordinance.
The next meeting will be on 12/19. We will meet with Dawn Tuomala at 7:30 p.m. for deliberation on the Druckenmiller proposed subdivision.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:10 p.m.
Jean Cernota
Secretary
| 
