REGULAR MEETING
TOWN OF JACKSON, NH
PLANNING BOARD
Thursday, June 13th, 2013 – Jackson Town Office
Call to Order: at 7:05pm by chair Scott badger, Roll Call, Voting Member Determination and Minutes of May 9th Regular Meeting. Betsey moved and Dave seconded to approve the May 9th meeting minutes. All were in favor and the minutes were approved.
Regular Members present: Scott Badger, Dave Treadwell, Betsey Harding, Daren Levitt, Sarah Kimball, and Selectman’s rep John Allen, Larry Siebert, Dick Bennett
Alternate Members present: Bea Davis, Kathy Dougherty. Mike Mallet was not in attendance
Also attending: Joan Aubrey, Frank Benesh, Jerry Dougherty III, and filmer Hank Benesh
Public comment concerning items not on the agenda. There were none.
Criteria used by the ZBA - Frank Benesh, chair of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, and Joan Aubrey, ZBA member, gave a presentation on the criteria used when evaluating a variance request. The applicant must meet 5 criteria (see handout attached). The burden is on the applicant. Criteria 2 and 5 must determine the purpose of the ordinance. Most applications have to do with setbacks and height restrictions. Larry asked if the ZBA interpretation is always correct and wants to see the boards work together more often. Betsey would like to see a ZBA member join the master plan revision group to make sure we address the issues we need to.
Master Plan – Deadline for build out proposal is Saturday June 15.
We have 3 businesses who have already responded to the RFP, with another contacting Scott for info. Copies of the proposals will be out to members soon and we will have a meeting early in July to review and to recommend to the Board of Selectmen for the person they think would do the best. The Build out will begin no later than September and they will report back to us by mid fall so in November a questionnaire can be drafted to distribute with tax bill. There will be two colors, one for residents and one for non-residents. The Planning Board would like to have questions started so we can get a jump start. The survey will be on legal size paper and be two sided. A full report and
summary report from last survey were found by Sarah, and it was suggested to use this as template. Scott asked what Betsey would like to accomplish. She said scanning the survey in to distribute once received and add additional questions if necessary. John suggested we all get a copy of the questionnaire to look it over and make suggested changes. We have the background of the Town and we need to look to see what we want to change and what we want to keep the same. We also need to look over the changes in state law to make sure we follow current law, not past law. The 6 page guide from the link that Frank gave us is a good tool. Scott will forward to the new members and Ella so she can print it out for Bea and Kathy. Ella will scan copy of last survey questions and send to Scott. She will make copies and give back to Sarah.
Nominating Committee was moved up. Nominated were Dick Bennett as chairman with Sarah as vice chair. Dick asked Scott to finish out the meeting as chair and Scott agreed.
Old Business There was none at this time.
New Business Betsey spoke about the charrette meeting held by the MWV Housing Coalition on workforce housing. 52 people attended the Jackson meeting, 3 of which were from Bartlett. It was
regarding the 5 acres on Thompson House Eatery, 2 of which are not buildable because they are in the flood plain. Larry Baima, owner of the property, wishes to sell it in a way that works well for both him and the town. Listening to comments made at the charrette meeting, Betsey hopes for continued discussions to find other properties suitable for workforce housing - possibly part of Gray’s Inn property, currently owned by the Town. Scott asked what the next step would be. Betsey suggested a summary at the next meeting in July to go over what other options have come up. Daren said the building for low income housing in Conway ended up as section 8 housing. Betsey will check it out. If workforce housing is built in Jackson, it may not be rental housing, but sales units if we can make it
workable. Bea said that the first step is to get better working wages in the area before we can get the people to move to this area. Dick said that as a planning board, we can add to master plan some ideas of what we will allow for housing, like have 2 out of 8 units be for low income or affordable housing to prepare for the future to get people into town. Scott said we need to attract more businesses in the valley that are better paying jobs than retail. Bring a university into town…would be ideal for higher-wage-type jobs. Larry suggested that we allow people to purchase the smaller homes/camps and improve them by adding dormers, and other improvements.
Public Comment Jerry Dougherty III said that Larry’s request to work closer together with the other boards is a great idea. Jerry suggested that one of the selectmen need to attend each meeting so they know what is going on and come up with alternative ideas such as the affordable workforce housing. The requirement for 8 rooms makes it impossible; the Board needs to talk with Burr to get wording correct. Senior citizen housing is not viable as we are not close enough to doctors, pharmacies etc. that are required. Also, he stated his opinion that “highest and best use” makes affordable housing not viable. Density is part of the answer… We, the Boards and townspeople, need to correct that before the affordable housing issue can be addressed. Betsey said that Burr would like
to come in to our next meeting, regarding how to attract affordable housing, and we can ask him about accessory apartments as well. Jerry then went on to say that during Frank’s ZBA presentation, he stated that they look to Planning Board for answers; Jerry stated that they should be looking to the Master Plan first, then the Planning Board, then to ordinance wording to make their decisions.
Adjournment Betsey moved and Sarah seconded a motion to adjourn. All were in favor and the meeting adjourned at 9:50pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Ella Cressy
| 
