Lyme Planning Board Minutes
September 9, 2004
Board Member & Staff: Present: Freda Swan, Dave Swanz, Jeanie McIntyre, Jack Elliott, Pete Bleyler, Dan Karnes, Dan Brand, and Victoria Davis Absent: none
Public: Barbara Street and Nora & Kevin Rhoads
Item 1: Approval of Minutes: Dave Swanz made a motion to approve the minutes of the August 26, 2004 meeting. Dan Brand seconded the motion, and unanimous approval followed.
Item 2: Informal Meeting with Barbara Street for Lot Line Adjustment.
Map 407, Lot 99; 69Pinnacle Road.
Barbara Street owns a 0.56 acre house lot and has purchased a small parcel of approximately 1500 square feet from her neighbor, Laura DeGoosh (Map 407, Lot 100) to straighten out the property line and include Barbara Street’s entire driveway with her lot. Barbara Street presented a sketch showing her new property. The Board was concerned that this annexation would make the DeGoosh lot non-conforming. Barbara Street stated she had a letter from Laura DeGoosh stating she had not problem with this lot line adjustment. The Board pointed out that she may not be aware of the impact upon her lot. There was discussion of reducing the road frontage given to Barbara Street from approximately 43’ to 36’ so the DeGoosh lot would still have a conforming 300’ of frontage.
There was some discussion about the DeGoosh lot having land across the road of 11 acres with 745’ of frontage. If Laura ever wanted to subdivide off this piece the remainder should have 300’ of contiguous road frontage. The Board asked Barbara to discuss this with Laura and call the zoning administrator if they have any questions. The Board stated Barbara’s entire lot and the annexation would have to be surveyed.
Item 3: Informal Meeting with Nora & Kevin Rhoads for Office Conversion.
Map 402, Lot 32; 188 Dartmouth College Highway.
Nora & Kevin Rhoads own the former New Canaan Academy house and “barn.” They would like to put offices in the former school building (“barn”) to do their testing and research work. They do not know how many employees they would have, but anticipate most employees will be off-site and work by computer. Their work load depends on the contracts they will obtain, so it is difficult to predict their need for help. If they get a government contract, they would need substantial help. The Board discussed that a “Home Occupation” would not apply and that a “Cottage Industry” would limit the number of on-site employees. The Rhoads will be applying to the ZBA for a special exception to do an office conversion. It was discussed that a day
care with up to 30 children and adults had been approved by the Planning Board and ZBA and a permit issued in April 2001. The day care is listed as a business in the zoning ordinance.
They discussed that the Rhoads could start as a “Home Occupation,” but once they added any employees this would require a special exception from the ZBA and site plan review from the Planning Board. The Board reviewed the section on office conversions. Jeanie McIntyre felt the ZBA might interpret this to allow the Rhoads proposal, but she did not feel the Planning Board had intended this use in the Rural District. The zoning ordinance allows more than one primary use of a lot if approved under the conversion section.
The Rhoads inquired about site plan review requirements. The Board told them they could revise the day care site plan which had been approved as part of their application. Jeanie McIntyre stated the Board may require a maximum number of employees at the site, and they should be thinking about an anticipated number. This would be for regular employees and not temporary employees for short-term jobs.
Item 4: Subdivision Regulations Amendments: The Board reviewed a few minor changes made since the last discussion. The fire protection section had been revised by Freda Swan and Mike Hinsley, Fire Chief. Jeanie McIntyre stated she agreed with most of the changes, but felt the arrangement of the information could be improved. She added that if this meant that some people would have to build a pond and others could use an existing off-site pond with an on-site dry hydrant, there should be criteria to determine the more efficient option to avoid seemingly arbitrary requirements. Freda Swan will discuss this with Mike Hinsley.
There was much discussion about the delineation of the approved development area of 25% of the agricultural soils on a “parent lot” as well as the 75% to be conserved. The Board felt that to be fair, it should make the requirement starting with the approval of the amendment at the next town meeting so it could not be interpreted to be retroactive. The Board also discussed how to map this 25% when subdivision is done in “piecemeal” over 10 years. They discussed that the applicant could develop on agricultural soils of a subdivided new lot and conserve a proportional amount of agricultural soils. Once the “parent lot” was completely developed it could not exceed the 25% development of agricultural soils. Their concern is new buyers not knowing that some of
the development rights of their lot may have been used up by development of the parent lot.
Item 5: Zoning Amendments: Freda Swan asked Dave Swanz, Jack Elliott, Dan Brand, and Dan Karnes to develop a proposed amendment to section 3.27.6 Ridgeline and Hillside Conservation District. Victoria Davis explained that it is impossible to administer as the delineation of the district is unclear. Her preference would be to have a map which clearly delineates the district so she would know if a lot is within the district or not. Several ridgeline & hillside district ordinances from other towns had been distributed to the board members for their review at an earlier meeting to use in assisting in this amendment. The group will provide a draft of the proposal at the Board’s October 14th meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 10:15 pm.
Submitted by,
Victoria Davis
Planning & Zoning Administrator
Tentative Meeting Agenda for September 23, 2004:
7:30 PM Approve minutes of the September 9, 2004 meeting.
7:40 Continued Dan & Millie Bailey Major Subdivision Hearing
8:40 Charles & Thomas Toner Lot Line Adjustment Hearing
9:00 Informal with Fred King for subdivision (M409, L63 & 71)
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