Greenfield Planning Board
June 25, 2007
Minutes recorded by Joe Trudeau
Members Present: Halper, Morris, Adams, Fletcher, and Chairman Carrara
The meeting was brought to order at 7:05pm. Carrara read aloud the minutes from the last meeting, June 11, 2007. The following changes were noted:
Show the time that the meeting began. Trudeau was not present at the beginning to record this.
Show that the motion was seconded during the discussion of the major subdivision of Belmore heirs property.
Morris moved to accept the minutes as amended. Seconded by Halper and unanimously voted in favor by all.
Gene Mitchell major subdivision
Mitchell has 190 acres and wants to subdivide into two equally sized lots. One parcel will be where Mitchell plans on further subdividing an open space development (OSD) in the future, and the other is where his home site will remain. Nate Chamberlain, the presenter from Meridian Land Services, also wanted to present the subdivision application for the OSD lot into 28 house lots and two open space lots that surround the house lots. The Board was hesitant on accepting the two subdivisions in the same night, but the presenter saw no problem with it. He also put in a waiver request because the road is 8.2% and the ordinance states an 8% limit. The next meeting to discuss the Mitchell Subdivision applications will be July 23, 2007.
After Chamberlain left Carrara remarked that he was unsure if the Board could accept both applications in one night. Rhetorically; if the major subdivision was rejected how could the OSD subdivision be accepted? The Board agreed that Carol Ogilvie should look at both applications but put a hold on the Open Space Subdivision. O’Connell will notify the abutters regarding the major, two lot subdivision, but not the second phase into 30 lots.
Martin Smith preliminary conceptual consultation
Carrara read aloud the preliminary conceptual consultation disclaimer. Smith is working with Nate Chamberlain who remained in the audience from the previous agenda item.
Smith is considering purchasing the 80 acre Druckenmiller property which sits between County Road, Forest Road, and Old Bennington Road. His concept is to situate some ‘larger’ lots on the property, on the order of 13-15 acres. His reason for meeting the Board was see if there would be any unexpected upgrades he’d have to make to facilitate the development. In a previous subdivision he had to do an upgrade that he had not planned on which cost him $70,000. He is not here to ‘carve it up and sell it off’ all at once. Smith would be more the type to phase it in over time and maybe even donate some land to the town.
Smith added that a neighbor (C. Carpenter) had suggested the planning board would grill him on the subdivision. Morris stated that the neighbors alone cannot oppose a plan to the point that it would be denied, and the board must approve a plan if it meets the ordinances and regulations of the town. Halper added that the Board can deny a subdivision if it is shown that it would be a detriment to the town.
Halper added that Forest Road is a State Road and is subject to state regulations so that would affect driveway placement. Carrara added that from the towns standpoint driveways are better off placed on the State road, but from the State’s standpoint they are better placed on the town road. Carrara asked if he had thought about a clustered open space development. Smith responded that he was not a builder and didn’t know about the logistics of it.
Smith asked if there was any need for upgrading the road. The Board responded that they didn’t think it was the case with this idea. Carrara added that there is a 4 acre minimum, 350 feet of frontage, and there must be perc tests, Duffy (Wyatt Fox) must go out and approve driveway cuts for each lot. Wetlands would be the major issue with this plan since the lot is quite wet. One neighbor is the Board of Selectmen Chairman and Mr. Smith hoped that wouldn’t affect anything. Adams added that the proximity of their residence would not affect anything and the Board of Selectmen member would likely recluse themselves from any discussions pertaining to this development.
Mail:
LGC publications catalog
2002 Municipal Law Lecture Series Lecture #1: Growth Management
Greenfield Building Permits
Upton & Hatfield, Attorneys: letter regarding Landmark case
Board of Selectmen minutes from May 29, June 5, and June 11, 2007
Driveway application from Laura Tashjian to be forwarded to Peter Hopkins
MEMO from Catherine Shaw regarding possible acreage discrepancy for lot R9-46 (see below)
Wilco Holdings Mylar returned because registry of Deeds would not accept because of hatching. (see below)
Original worksheets from the 2007 CIP from Mr. Halper
Lot R9-46 acreage discrepancy
The property in question was listed as 3 acres on some paperwork but for some reason in 1999 was listed as ten acres, thus there is a discrepancy that must be dealt with. Morris and Halper reviewed the maps and found that the original lot was labeled as 15.1 acres and two small lots were divided off so the remaining lot was 10 acres, though it appeared the map was mislabeled since the size of the polygons seemed similar. The tax maps and the survey do not match up. However, the tax maps are not the final word and shall not be trusted as such. The registry of deeds should be consulted as the final word in these matters. Halper suggested that this is all conjecture and out of the Boards jurisdiction. He recommends that someone (not the Board) consult the HCR of Deeds for
the final word.
Wilco Holdings Mylar issue
The Board decided to have Catherine contact Dawn Tuomala to have the plats corrected. The Board will sign the corrected Mylar and backdate it to June 11.
John Halper CIP update
Halper basically addressed this discussion to Adams and Fletcher since they have not been involved in CIP in the past. He went over the letter of introduction that was distributed to department heads, the interview set-up instructions, and details pertaining to capital expenditures. He stressed that it is important to ask how anticipated town growth will affect their respective departments. Halper recommended that Karla should not engage in the highway portion of the CIP because she has not been involved much yet. Halper has done it before so he will pick it up. Halper distributed department-specific packages to each Board member that contained interviewer instructions and worksheets from the previous year (2006 CIP done in 2005). Borden was absent and could not receive
his package (Recycling Dept.) so Halper will mail it to him.
List of open working issues
Halper went over the list of working issues to sift out old discussions that were not resolved and note what needs to be revisited. The Board discussed what issues to prioritize, and driveway issues were ranked highly. The Board discussed the steep slopes ordinance that has been a topic in the past.
Halper moved to adjourn. Morris seconded, all in favor. Meeting adjourned at 9:20 pm.
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