Lyme Planning Board Minutes
July 27, 2006
Board Members & Staff: Present: Freda Swan, Chair; Jack Elliott, Vice-Chair; John Billings, Member; Dan Brand, Interim Member, Dick Jones, Selectboard Representative; Stephanie Clark, Alternate; and Victoria Davis, Planning & Zoning Administrator Absent: Don Dwight and Ben Kilham
Public: Simon Carr (pending alternate), Ross McIntyre, Jessica Lahey, Matt Stevens, and Don Metz
Freda Swan called the public meeting to order at 7:30 pm in the Lyme Fire Station Meeting Room
Item 1: Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting will be reviewed next time.
Item 2: Master Plan Update Preliminary Meeting: Freda Swan opened the meeting by summarizing the intent of the meeting to determine what chapters the updated master plan should contain. A list of the current master plan chapters was taped to the wall to facilitate conversation. Jack Elliott wrote down ideas on the dry erase board. The final list is provided at the end of these minutes with some detail and suggestions for individual or committee assistance.
A letter from Tara Bamford, Upper Valley Lake Sunapee RPC Executive Director dated April 9, 2002 was distributed. In this letter, she provides her assessment of the current master plan and how it could be improved. Two chapters are required by law: Vision and Land Use. The Board determined that the Vision chapter is the current Goals, Policies, and Recommendations chapter and should updated to be primarily derived from the community attitude survey once it is tabulated. Freda Swan stated she would like to see more text and fewer bulleted lists for this section. Tara Bamford had commented that it is very helpful to have a summary of the plan at the beginning of the document. The current preface is more of an executive summary which the Board would like to retain. Dick Jones
suggested that each chapter should have recommendations. Stephanie Clark agreed stating this would be important to any reader who was only interested in one topic in particular. John Billings suggested a relative ranking of priorities could be provided in the Executive Summary. The Board determined that Housing should be a separate chapter from Population and Demographics since housing is a much discussed topic in Lyme lately. The Board decided to wait until the Natural Resources Inventory (NRI) is complete to determine how to reference or summarize it in the Master Plan.
Ross McIntyre stated it is critical to think about businesses as the Commercial District has failed. He added that “quasi-businesses” are allowed and are lining Route 10 south of the village. The Board determined schools should be part of the plan if only for inventory purposes rather than goals. This would include private schools such as Crossroads Academy and the Lyme Nursery School. Ross McIntyre stated schools are driven by population which is part of the Master Plan. Freda Swan stated the Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) will be done as a separate plan which would be tied to the Master Plan by reference or summary. Ross McIntyre felt it was important to show how town expenses have changed over the years from a much simpler time. Don Metz added these costs should be
compared to other towns since costs have changed area wide. Dan Brand countered this could be a substantial stand-alone study.
The Aquifer Study is another study which will be done separately but will be referenced, summarized, or included within the Master Plan. The Emergency Management Plan could also be referenced or summarized. Neighborhood Plans were discussed for planning possible future community centers. Jack Elliott pointed out that Hanover had included neighborhood plans in their Master Plan and have implemented them including the new Richmond School and traffic calming systems. Jessica Lahey pointed out that we need to be conscious that though we may want high-tech communication systems, it is a function of population density which drives the return on investment for these systems. Dick Jones reminded everyone we need to review the survey results which can guide the direction of the Master Plan goals.
Freda Swan stated the Board had considered a new neighborhood using “transfer of development rights,” but had never determined a location. Simon Carr added, so far the survey results indicate the town residents and taxpayers do not want more development. Dan Brand pointed out there should not be development along high speed roads. Ross McIntyre suggested significant setbacks could be required for any future frontage road which would be required. He added that the cost would be greatly increased for the developer. Don Metz suggested higher density housing with smaller lot sizes and property setbacks pointing out Woodstock, Vermont where housing is “cheek to jowl” and still very charming. He also suggested an Architectural Review Board to have “loose” control over the character of the housing. He described a steel building which had been proposed to replace the Lyme Country Store when it had burned
years ago. There had been no restrictions to require a building to blend in with the neighborhood so he convinced the owner to build a more compatible wooden structure which exists today. Ross McIntyre pointed out greater density housing would require community sewer and water as there would no longer be room for individual septic systems and wells.
Freda Swan brought up the topic of a telephone survey to determine if residents and taxpayers are satisfied with the zoning and planning application process. Victoria Davis reported she had searched the internet and found two organizations who do telephone surveys including Bridgewater State College in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. They could not provide a cost estimate as the questions should be determined by the Town first. Dick Jones stated this survey is separate from the Master Plan.
Dan Brand pointed out that Don Metz and a few other folks had collected data on housing in Lyme and sent out the information on the Lyme ListServ. Don Metz said it is available to the Board to use in the Master Plan. Freda Swan asked that Victoria Davis review the Master Plan list to determine what she could complete and who could complete the remainder. Victoria Davis stated she would do this, and she saw her role in the Master Plan development process as coordinator collecting information from various sources including Town departments, committees, and volunteers. She added she enjoys the writing portion and making a document user friendly and attractive. She said she would interview department heads to obtain their concerns and thoughts for the master plan. The Board agreed this
would be a good idea. Victoria Davis presented the Candia Master Plan as an example of how a master plan could be developed. It is actually two documents. Volume I is the Policy Document which provides the purpose, vision, process, and summarizes the town characteristics and services. Volume II is the Infrastructure Inventories or Data Book with lots of detailed information. This was presented to the Board as an example of how the Master Plan could be made more user friendly. The Board requested that Victoria Davis locate more examples of master plans for the Board to review. Freda Swan stated the Board should include the Master Plan on every meeting agenda to keep the process moving.
Proposed Master Plan Outline:
ü Executive Summary
ü Vision (primarily result of survey)
ü Land Use: historic, present, future
ü Demographics & Population: include household income and education
ü Housing
ü Economic Development Base/Business: Architectural Review Board
ü Natural Resources: water, geology
ü History: possible assistance from Adair Mulligan and/or the Lyme History Committee
ü Historic Resources
ü Transportation: roads, public transportation, and commuting patterns; Dick Jones & Dan Brand to work together to complete this chapter
ü Utilities: cellular, internet, water, sewage, electric, cable
ü Community Facilities & Services: town offices, transfer station, fire, police, school/education, support services by non-governmental organizations, cemeteries
ü Recreation
ü Finances/Capital Improvement Plan
ü Regional Concerns
ü Neighborhood Plans
ü Conclusions/Recommendations
Item 3: Community Attitude Survey: Simon Carr reported he has the data entry program ready for use, and he is willing to train people to use it. He has input about 70 surveys already and stated it takes he can input about seven to 10 surveys an hour. He would like to install the program on several Town and individual computers to facilitate the inputting of data by the Board members. He will be leaving Tuesday for two weeks and offered to meet people in the Town offices on Friday afternoon. Victoria Davis reported the second mailing of the survey has gone out and returns are already being received.
The meeting adjourned at 9:15 pm.
Submitted by,
Victoria Davis
Planning & Zoning Administrator
Tentative Meeting Agenda for August 10th at the Lyme Town Offices:
7:30 Meet with Frank Bowles to discuss ZBA Alternate position
7:40 Public Hearing for Mudge Minor Subdivision
8:20 Master Plan & Community Attitude Survey Update
Conservation Commission Public Meeting August 16th at Lyme Center Academy Building:
7:00 Presentation by Watershed to Wetlands, Inc. on natural resources inventory study
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