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Jackson Planning Board
MINUTES –September10, 2015 – REGULAR MEETING - UNOFFICIAL UNTIL APPROVED
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM by Sarah Kimball, Vice-Chair. Attending were: Members Sarah Kimball, Scott Badger, Larry Siebert, John Allen, and Betsey Harding, and Alternate Kathleen Dougherty. Dick Bennett and Bea Davis had notified the Board that they would be unable to attend. In the audience were Jerry Dougherty III, and videographer Hank Benesh, who was filming the proceedings.
Minutes of August 13: Scott moved, and Larry seconded, acceptance of the August 13th minutes, and all approved.
Public comment: None.
Review of Proposed Voluntary Mergers:
For James Jacobs Trust on Jackson Highlands, Map V07, Lots 42, 43, 44, and 45.
By State law (RSA 674:39a), the Planning Board must approve merger of any lots which an owner wishes to merge, as long as the properties are under the same ownership and such a merger would not violate the terms of the zoning ordinance. Sarah shared information about the lots, indicating that each lot was under half an acre, and that all are currently vacant, according to the assessment cards. The owner has paid the fee for the merger. Scott moved and John seconded acceptance of the proposed merger, and the Board approved; secondly, Scott moved and Larry seconded approval of the proposed merger, and all approved.
For James Jacobs Trust on Jackson Highlands, Map V07, Lots 46 and 47.
Sarah shared information about the lots, indicating that, according to the assessment cards, there is a house on Lot 46, and its septic is located on Lot 47. The owner has paid the fee for the merger. Scott moved and Larry seconded acceptance of the proposed merger, and the Board approved; secondly, Larry and Scott seconded approval of the proposed merger, and all approved.
Subdivision Regulation Review: Board members made a careful review of proposed changes to the regulations; Jay Henry had reviewed items of concern to the Highway Department, and approved them via a telephone call with Betsey. All proposed changes were approved by the Planning Board to bring forward to a Public Hearing, at which time citizens will be welcomed to make suggestions for improvements; following that Public Hearing, the Board may officially approve the Subdivision Regulations. Notice must be posted in the media at least 10 days prior to the hearing date, which will be at our next regular meeting, on October 8th. We agreed that Sarah will prepare wording for the Town Column and ENews, and Betsey will get the final copy, with visible changes, to the Selectmen’s Office for their posting and distribution to
interested citizens.
Continued work on the Master Plan: Sarah will provide a copy of the currently proposed Master Plan background material to the Board prior to the next meeting. We began a review of the Master Plan’s Directions for Future Land Use. We discussed concerns for better approaches to non-conformity issues, including permitting increased volume of improvements for residences within non-conforming lots (as Kevin Bennett had suggested at the July 9th meeting); in addition, we need to work on wording of the Regulatory Goals, as well as the idea of having more differentiated Zoning Districts. We determined that discussion among interested citizens will be very important in this next phase, so having a Listening Post session following the Public Hearing on the Subdivision Regulations would be a good approach. We agreed that some of
our concerns may not be immediately evident to voters, such as (1) the advantages of greater zoning flexibility to increase commercial opportunities, (2) the importance of retaining young families in town, and (3) the need for lower-cost housing opportunities. Kathleen mentioned that we will be able to obtain photos to enhance our final version of the new Master Plan via Kathleen Driscoll at the Jackson Chamber of Commerce.
Larry moved to adjourn the meeting, and John seconded the motion; all approved; we adjourned at 9:10 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Betsey Harding
(Note: an audio-visual record of the meeting may be found on Jacksonflicks.com)
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