Lyme Planning Board Minutes
October 28, 2004
Board Member & Staff: Present: Freda Swan, Dave Swanz, Jeanie McIntyre, Jack Elliott, Dan Brand, and Victoria Davis Absent: Pete Bleyler and Dave Karnes
Public: Ro & Bill Wyman, and Nancy Snyder
Item 1: Approval of Minutes: Jack Elliott made a motion to approve the minutes from the October 14, 2004 meeting. Dan Brand seconded the motion, and unanimous agreement followed.
Item 2: Informal with Ro Wyman to discuss subdivision of Shine King Farm; Map 405, Lot 28, River Road: Ro Wyman presented a 1986 survey of the King farm. She stated she would like to subdivide the property into two or three house lots. The lot has 580’ of frontage on River Road, and she has discussed possibly swapping land with the Hanlons, owners of the abutting lot (Map 405, Lot 29 shown as Barr on the 1986 survey map). This proposed swap would give the King lot more road frontage to meet the 300’ per lot requirement and the Hanlons frontage on the Connecticut River. Ro Wyman stated they would remove all the buildings including the house, greenhouse, barns, and other outbuildings. She would like to build low “Prairie” houses, a barn for common use,
and a dock for common use. Ro Wyman stated the Hanlon deed does not allow further subdivision. Nancy Snyder corrected this statement to say, it is a physical restraint for subdivision due to poor soils for another septic system and not a deed restriction.
Freda Swan pointed out that if there are developable non-agricultural soils on the lot, the development must occur in that area. If there it is found that there is no where to build except the agricultural soils, then the applicant will only be allowed to develop a contiguous 25% of the agricultural soils and the remainder must be put under a zoning easement. Another option is to build where there is an existing grandfathered house footprint. It was pointed out that a house could not be built to replace a barn since a barn is a permitted use on agricultural soils and a house is not. The Board reviewed the conservation district map and pointed out that the map shows an area which has not been designated as agricultural soils. Jeanie McIntyre explained that the map is only an indicator, and the
applicants may wish to do soil testing to determine if the agricultural soils are accurately mapped. She also pointed out that they could not obtain enough road frontage from the Hanlons to accommodate three lots due to the location of the Hanlon house. However, they could possibly obtain enough for two lots.
The Board discussed lot size averaging requirements in showing a “paper survey” with traditional lots meeting all the dimensional requirements and acceptable access to establish lot density prior to a more desirable layout of lots. It was also pointed out that a minor subdivision of a lot of record is not subject to the lot size reductions by conservation districts or the 4:1 lot depth to width rule. This lot appears to be a lot of record (unchanged since the adoption of the zoning ordinance). Freda Swan expressed concern that there may be a steep ledge area where one of the accessways would be proposed. Nancy Snyder stated is flat and not a problem. A brief discussion of the 1.4 acre parcel of the lot on the eastern side of River Road indicated there could be no development
of this piece.
Item 3: Zoning Amendment Discussions:
Victoria Davis distributed a draft of proposed zoning amendments dated 10/28/04 with recent changes based upon the ZBA hearing the previous evening. The Board reviewed the list of miscellaneous issues which may require amendment. There was discussion about the meaning of the term, “structure.” It is not clear to Victoria Davis, Zoning Administrator if the term includes temporary structures such as the Bailey’s large plastic “Quonset” hut for their turkeys. She had asked for clarification from the ZBA who determined the Planning Board should clarify the issue. The Board determined that it should only include buildings with permanent attachment to the ground, although travel trailers used for residential use are currently included in the structure definition.
She pointed out that all buildings, grading, dredge and fill, etc. must be permitted in the flood zones per the State Office of Energy and Planning. She stated that she has been requiring permits for all structures. The Board asked her to revise this definition to clearly exclude buildings without permanent attachment to the ground.
It was also determined to re-evaluate the driveway length issue, and Freda Swan asked Victoria Davis to locate the old proposed amendment from a few years ago. Minor changes were made to several proposed amendments. Jeanie McIntyre is working on the definition of “Outdoor Recreation” and its use throughout the ordinance. She is concerned about the potential uses of “trails,” the uses of which are not clear in the ordinance as well as other recreational uses which currently seem to be allowed in protected areas. Jack Elliott requested that the Hanover zoning be obtained to see how they deal with this issue. Dan Brand briefly discussed the amendment to section 3.27.6 Ridgeline and Hillside Conservation District. He mentioned the possibility of requiring
builders to maintain a certain tree basal area for screening. Jeanie McIntyre pointed out this would be hard to police, and they would need the base line information of the basal area to enforce any changes. Dan Brand also stated he did not believe the Board should completely eliminate develop on the ridgelines and hillsides. Discussion of amending section 4.46 Conversions and 4.49 Planned Development was postponed until Victoria Davis finishes revising them. A great deal of discussion centered around the proposed amendment to delete section 5.13 A. Freda Swan and Victoria Davis had discussed Lyme’s septic system requirements with the head of the Subsurface Bureau at NH DES and had been convinced that the new technologies and State restrictions were adequate environmental protection without added town restriction. In addition, Joe Homer, State Soil Scientist had agreed with this view. However, Jeanie McIntyre pointed out that
the Board had gone to a great deal of trouble several years ago working with septic designers and coming up with the current restrictions to protect the ponds and bogs. She did not feel comfortable deleting this section without knowing the science behind the proposed amendment. She added that if the Board ever decided it wanted to get control of the septic designs again in the future if the section were deleted, it would be more difficult to re-gain that control.
The Board discussed section 6.22 Size of Signs to determine if buildings with more than one business should be granted more sign area. Jeanie McIntyre suggested that the section remain the same, but add that greater sign area might be granted during Site Plan Review. Section 9.25 Permit Fees was discussed and it was determined that persons building without a permit should pay a penalty, but it should be the specific amount of $500 rather than doubling the permit fee.
The meeting adjourned at 10:45 pm.
Submitted by,
Victoria Davis
Planning & Zoning Administrator
Tentative Meeting Agenda for November 11, 2004:
7:30 Approve minutes of October 28, 2004
7:40 Informal with Ro Wyman regarding subdivision of Shine King farm (Map 405, Lots 33 & 12)
8:00 Review Zoning Amendments & vote on article to allow Planning Board required preliminary subdivision review
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