PLANNING BOARD
TOWN OF GREENFIELD NH
MEETING MINUTES
RECORDED BY SHARON ROSSI
May 11, 2015
Members attending: KO’Connell, JFletcher, SFox, PRenaud, KPaulsen, SAtherton, AWood, RMarshall, (alternate sitting in for AWood)
Audience Members: DCrane, Eversource, JGryval and GRainier
7:05 P.M. Meeting Opened
PRenaud began reading the April 27, 2015 meeting minutes. Several spelling changes were made. One substantive change: JFletcher motioned to accept the application as sufficient to invoke jurisdiction. Prenaud motioned to accept the minutes as amended. SFox seconded the motion. KO’Connell asked for a vote. Vote was unanimous in favor.
7:29 P.M.
JGryval spoke to the Board concerning April 27, 2015. He inquired which minutes would you like the attorney to refer to the unamended April 27 one or the amended one. He feels that lines 44-118 will be referenced by the attorney. KOConnell will correct the April 27, 2015 minutes and e-mail get them to the Board members and then to JGryval on Tuesday.
7:30 P.M. Eversource Public Hearing
KO’Connell handed the bill for the hearing to DCrane and he will make sure that a check is sent to Town of Greenfield in the amount of $123.00 KO’Connell then explained the rules of procedures to the audience.
DCrane began presenting what and where Eversource will be trimming trees. “He advised that this is part of our annual tree trimming project. It will run into next year. 95% or better will be done this year. All scenic roads specifics are the same as in the past 4 years. Generally will remove limbs 4” in diameter. The clearance height over the wires will be taken into account if there is bowing over the lines. Dead and decayed trees will come down. There are some trees that aren’t dead, but are arcing over the lines and they will come down. On the South Francestown Road, there is an oak tree, close to the line, the property owner granted that the tree can come down. The other relatively healthy tree that we want to take down, will have to have the line supervisor of
this project speak to the landowner. He was on vacation, so it may be a little while before I have an answer is available. I would like a conditional approval at this time, without an answer to this issue. Asplundh will be working on this project and they are required to contact land owners when they cut on the property. At the site walk there where two board members who had questions. I’ve relayed your concerns to the line supervisor and he will contact you. Both PRenaud and KO’Connell said they have been contacted already, although, KO’Connell said he is playing phone tag with him.
Specifics are: 15’ over the lines and 8’ to the side and 10’ under. KO’Connell asked is that 10’ under the telephone lines or not? DCrane said we try to stay under the 10’ and leave the tree for screening.
KO’Connell asked if Asplundh in their conversations with landowners, do they know that the removed tree is the landowners and that the tree is theirs. DCrane responded, “The crews know that the tree is the landowners, and they are to leave the tree if the landowner has responded as such. The card that is mailed to the landowners offers the option to keep or not keep the tree.”
DCrane said, “There has been a few instances in the past where the wood left has been removed by others.”
GRainier asked will all the roads being done in Greenfield. DCrane said yes. He commented there is another contractor working in town. Their name is Northern and they will be starting on Route 136 at Forest Road working into town and up Route 31 to CMRC road and up to the Center. KO’Connell queried, “Is the enhanced cutting by Northern, basically just 3 phase lines.” DCrane yes, and a high use customer, 3 phase line, such as CMRC, will get the enhanced cutting.
PRenaud asked on Riverbend Road where the 3 pines are on the road, have you heard from the line supervisor about those trees. DCrane said, “If this proposal is approved, then my list of proposed tree removals will go to the line supervisor. I don’t know if he has talked to the customer on Riverbend Road.
7:54 Public Hearing Portion Closed.
KO’Connell said the May 5 site walk was extended to 8:00 p.m. so that we could see all the trees to be removed. This saved us another site walk. RMarshall motioned to approve this plan. KPaulsen seconded. PRenaud asked for clarification that the trees on private property that need to be removed, the owners be contacted. So what the owner wants will be what happens. RMarshall said I’ve worked with DCrane and any trees in a right-of-way, if the pole is in the right-of-way and there is a legal pole with a license, we can remove the tree without the land owner’s permission.
7:58 Vote
KO’Connell asked for a vote. Vote was unanimous in favor. DCrane thanked the Board.
8:00 P.M. CIP Presentation by KPaulsen
KPaulsen handed to Board members the preliminary info for the CIP. He commented, “I felt at the beginning, I could do everything, but PRenaud advised I couldn’t. So, I am asking Board Members for help getting the info from the various departments.
Basic information assignments:
RMarshall - library
KO’Connell - police
PRenaud - town clerk & tax collector, school district
JFletcher - recycling center
APatt - parks & recreation
KPaulsen - fire, administration, highway plan (road maintenance), public works
KPaulsen said his intention for the highway plan is to have the roads listed as to when they will be worked on. He hopes to have all the packets ready for next week. He will have APatt put the packets in the mail slots for the various departments to fill out the sheets. All interviews need to be done in June and returned by the first week of July. PRenaud suggested to KPaulsen that Board members have a copy of the 2014 spreadsheet to go along with the interview. PRenaud will make copies for next week’s meeting.
RMarshall commented that he is hearing positive items and having APatt involved with the hearing, and having the budget committee actively involved with this process is excellent.
KPaulsen said we need more funding in the Capital Fund Reserve. We need to be saving for the future so if something happens, we will have funds on hand and we won’t have to go for a bond.
8:12 P.M. PRenaud - Site Plan Checklist
In my reviewing the site plan checklist, Section III of the checklist is required, but isn’t in the regulation. This should be part of the deliberative process on the site review application. This is a quirk of our site plan checklist and we need to change the acceptance procedures for site plan application. It should be in the approval or disapproval section. We should change the rules of procedures and add a simple sentence…. “Fulfillment of all requirements of the application is for invocation of jurisdiction of acceptance of the application.” We should remove Section III from the acceptance location and put in the deliberation location.
8:45 p.m. Economic Development Analysis Chapter
Minor corrections to final draft:
All Photo credits should be accredited to Ray Cilley
Check the formatting, it appears that when inserting the first photo it misaligned all paging.
On Table 7, widen the gross valuation column.
PRenaud said the following needs to be insert in the exempt properties paragraph: 19.7 %, and compromises 38.8% of the town’s property valuation.
Remove from Utilities –Telecommunications section from 4th paragraph, the last part of the last sentence…”remove and resident receive service etc.”
PRenaud motioned to accept the Economic Dev Analysis of the Master Plan with the minor changes discussed to be schedule for a public hearing for June 8th. SFox seconded the motion. KO’Connell called for a vote. Voting as follows: KPaulsen abstained. SFox, PRenaud, SAtherton and RMarshall voted in the affirmative. Motion carried.
9:10 P.M. Miscellaneous Business
KO’Connell handed out an e-mail from APatt in reference to driveway regulations concerning a driveway on Zephyr Lake Road. This is a marginal lot, and this driveway was originally deemed unsafe and was moved. Now the owner is trying to put in a 2nd driveway in the primary unsafe location to accommodate his 24’ travel trailer. This purposed driveway is on a blind curve. PRenaud asked do we allow 2 driveways. Yes, but we recommend one. KO’Connell said he is concerned with safety, as it is on a blind curve and over a railroad track, not safe. PRenaud can we tell MBorden that at our discretion this is OK. RMarshall said I feel we should delegate this to empower our code enforcement officer to handle this.
KO’Connell said I just received this e-mail afternoon. We don’t need to decide on this tonight. PRenaud said I need to look at this property before I make a decision. SFox said on original building plan the driveway was primary, but deemed not safe. We have had 2 town officials look at this location, then we, the Planning Board, can make the decision or have MBorden. We can make the decision next Monday.
9:30 p.m. Mail Received
Invoice from Monadnock Ledger Transcript for Eversource Tree Meeting
Upcoming agenda items: May 18, 2015
KPaulsen will have more CIP information to hand out with further discussion.
The site plan review procedure need to be addressed.
A decision to be made on driveway change on Zephyr Lake Rd.
10:05 p.m. Adjournment
PRenaud motioned to adjourn. SAtherton seconded the motion. Vote unanimous in favor.
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