Lyme Planning Board Minutes
September 22, 2005
Board Members & Staff:
Present: Freda Swan, Dick Jones, Jeanie McIntyre, Dan Brand, and Victoria Davis
Absent: Dave Swanz, Jack Elliott, Don Dwight, and Ben Kilham
Public: Earl Strout and Rod Finley, Pathways Consulting
Freda Swan called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. She appointed Dan Brand to sit for Jack Elliott.
Item 1: Approval of Minutes: Dan Brand recommended a couple changes to the September 8, 2005 meeting minutes including amending the Crossroads discussion to include, “It was the feeling of the Board that the change in entrance should only be made when the Route 10 improvements are constructed as planned.” Dan Brand made a motion to approve the minutes as amended. Dick Jones seconded the motion, and unanimous agreement followed.
Item 2: Continued Site Plan Review and Conditional Use Approval Hearing for Beverly Strout; Map 201, Lot 83; Application #05-11; Possible conversion to retail at 4 Britton Lane: Rod Finley presented a new plan dated September 22, 2005 for the Strout application. He explained that an area of a former gravel access road would be reclaimed decreasing the lot coverage and allowing the addition of the parking spaces giving a total of 52 spaces: 48 spaces for office/retail and 4 spaces for industrial use. The existing “grandfathered” lot coverage is 36,864 square feet. The proposed lot coverage is 35,819 square feet.
The Board noted that the plan was at a scale of 1”=30’ rather than the required 1”=20’. In addition, the Board had not required a survey with metes and bounds as provided under the regulations. Dick Jones made a motion to grant two waivers. Dan Brand seconded the motion, and unanimous agreement followed. The Board felt this plan was a huge improvement over the original map submitted with the application, and felt the process had helped the Strouts figure out how to meet the regulation requirements more readily.
The Board revised the draft conditions of approval which they had reviewed at the previous hearing:
Conditions of Approval:
1. Building A may be used for office/retail/industrial; buildings B and C may be used for the grandfathered industrial use. The density of such uses shall not exceed the requirement for 52 parking spaces as calculated in Appendix A of the Site Plan Review Regulations.
2. The following fire protection requirements shall be met:
· A key box system be purchased and installed by the building owner (use the Knox® Box system);
· The fire alarm system report automatically to dispatch center serving the Lyme Fire Department (currently Hanover Dispatch); and
· The sale, manufacture, processing or storage of hazardous materials (e.g. fireworks, flammable chemicals, etc.) be prohibited without the review and approval of the Lyme Fire Chief.
3. The maximum number of trips in or out of the property shall be limited to 150 round trips (300 one-way) per day.
4. Best available technology shall be utilized to control the dust generated on Britton Lane by vehicles accessing the property.
Dick Jones made a motion to approve the site plan with the above four conditions. Dan Brand seconded the motion, and unanimous agreement followed.
Dick Jones made a motion to grant a conditional use approval for changing 6,000 grandfathered square feet of industrial to 6,000 square feet of retail/office/industrial use. Dan Brand seconded the motion, and unanimous agreement followed.
Earl Strout inquired what he would need to do if he decided to put retail use in the “back buildings.” Freda Swan responded that he would need to come back for another site plan review.
Item 3: Review of Request to Develop Residence on Alden Lane (Class VI road): Marilyn Lyons and Sylvia Markcrow propose to build a house on their property at 65 Alden Lane (Map 409, Lot 73) in the Rural District. Per NH RSA 674:41, the Planning Board was asked to review the proposal to develop on a Class VI road prior to the Selectboard holding a public hearing and determining if such development would be allowed or not.
There was discussion about Jim Argentati’s home which has frontage on Alden Lane. It was determined that although he has the right to enter his property via Alden Lane, he uses a right of way from Isaac Perkins Road which is a Class V road. In addition, his property is near the beginning of Alden Lane. The Board was curious about the status of the right of way, but the deed was not in the map and lot file. Victoria Davis will order it from the Registry of Deeds.
Freda Swan stated it has been the policy of the Planning Board not to allow development of a small parcel surrounded by large undeveloped lands to protect wildlife habitat. Jeanie McIntyre added that the Class VI road is a recreational corridor, and the Town would not want a house in the interior of the property. She stated it was bad planning to allow a small, landlocked lot to be developed with a long driveway within a big undeveloped area. She added that on each end of Alden Lane there is a town road, but they are both difficult to maintain, narrow, with limited sight distance, and not meeting arterial road standards. Freda Swan pointed out that the property in question is six acres in the midst of 500 acres of undeveloped land. Dan Brand made a motion to recommend that the proposed
development not be allowed to occur. Jeanie McIntyre seconded the motion, and Freda Swan agreed. Dick Jones abstained since he will be hearing the case on the Selectboard.
Jeanie McIntyre requested that if the Selectboard should discover a currently unknown planning issue during the hearing that they wait to make a decision until after discussing the issue with the Planning Board.
Item 4: Other Business: Freda Swan described information she learned at the Municipal Law Lecture on ethics for land use board members. She pointed out that the application review to determine its completeness does not have to be in a hearing, but just a meeting. The public hearing which follows this review is simply for gathering information, and opinions should not be stated by Board members until the hearing is closed and deliberations are begun. She felt this was a good procedure to avoid the accusation of being biased. Jeanie McIntyre stated it would be difficult to avoid discussing the merits of an application during review since this often influences when a waiver is granted.
The Board discussed streamlining the application review process by having Victoria Davis do a preliminary review. Victoria Davis responded that she already does this review and asked what she should be doing differently. Jeanie McIntyre stated that there were times when information was provided to the Board and other times when it was not. Victoria Davis responded that in the case of the larger applications, such as the Skiway, the applications are submitted as late as possible within the legal time period, and she does not have time to thoroughly review these applications before noticing the hearing. Dick Jones suggested providing a checklist for her to use so the Board would not have to take the time to review the basic map requirements.
The Board determined to change the meeting time back to 7:30 pm from 7:00 pm. Victoria Davis summarized a NH DES Permit by Notification by Tim and Prudence Fisher (Map 407, Lot 86.2) to have the Lyme Fire Department install a dry hydrant at their pond
Item 5: Site Plan Review Regulations Amendment Review: The Board finished the review of the site plan review regulations. No votes were made to send the changes to hearing
The meeting adjourned at 10:10 pm.
Submitted by,
Victoria Davis
Planning & Zoning Administrator
Tentative Meeting Agenda for October 13, 2005:
7:30 Benedictine Congregation Minor Subdivision Hearing; 60 Pout Pond Lane (M414, L9)
Potential Applications Anticipated to be Received Soon:
Barnum/Alverson/Sweet Lot Line Adjustment; River Road Map (Map 402, Lots 97 – 100)
Newton/Dickey Lot Line Adjustment, Pinnacle Road (Map 407, Lots136 & 139) – going to ZBA first
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