Lyme Planning Board Minutes
January 11, 2007
Board Members & Staff: Present: Freda Swan, Chair; Jack Elliott, Vice-Chair; John Billings, Member; Dick Jones, Selectboard Representative; Simon Carr, Alternate; Don Dwight, Alternate; Stephanie Clark, Alternate; and Victoria Davis, Planning & Zoning Administrator Absent: Dan Brand, Member and Ben Kilham, Alternate
Public: David Roby, Lee Larson, Eric Johnson
The meeting started at 7:30 pm at the Lyme Fire Station. Freda Swan asked Jack Elliott to chair the public hearing as she had not attended the last few meetings. Jack Elliott appointed Stephanie Clark to sit in place of Dan Brand.
Item 1: Approval of Minutes: Dick Jones pointed out that at the end of the next to last sentence in #4 of Item 2 in the December 14, 2006 meeting minutes it should have read “a public hearing because substantive changes had been made” rather than “town meeting.” Victoria Davis pointed out that the last paragraph in Item 3 in the fifth sentence should read, “fewer” rather than “more.” Dick Jones made a motion to approve the minutes as amended. John Billings seconded the motion. Freda Swan abstained from voting and the remainder voted in favor of the motion.
Item 2: Public Hearing for Zoning Ordinance Amendments: Jack Elliott called the public hearing to order at 7:35 pm.
Amendment #4: The Board reviewed the changes from the last public hearing proposed in the Telecommunications Ordinance and related sections in the main body of the zoning ordinance. Dick Jones made a motion to take the amendment to town meeting. John Billings seconded the motion, and unanimous agreement followed.
Amendment #2: The Board reviewed the changes to the definition of “lot” to eliminate “automatic mergers” after March 31, 2007. David Roby had e-mailed a letter from his attorney Carolyn Baldwin stating she did not agree with the proposed amendment. A countering e-mail was also e-mailed from Town Counsel Jae Whitelaw stating there needed to be a change in the definition as it is “at least partially unlawful” and the rest of any change would be a policy decision of the Board. David Roby reiterated past arguments that several lots in town are made up of many parcels which could potentially become many lots if the amendment passed. He also stated he did not feel the amendment was properly noticed as it only provided a summary of the intent of the
amendment rather than providing the language which would be struck.
Lee Larson stated although he agrees that a change may be needed for legal and fairness purposes, he is not an advocate of forest fragmentation which he fears might occur with this amendment. He stated there is not a consensus of the attorneys, and he would encourage the Board to pass over this amendment this year. Eric Johnson stated he is happy to see the amendment as long as it is done carefully.
Dick Jones made a motion to enter deliberations. John Billings seconded the motion. There was no vote. Freda Swan stated she had not been at the last several meetings and she felt the proposed amendment was “overkill.” She added that both attorneys agreed that two conforming lots should not be merged, that two vacant nonconforming lots could be merged, and any variation between these extremes is a gray area. Dick Jones stated he felt the lot merger requirement is unfair: a sophisticated buyer would put different ownership on abutting lots and the average person would not have an understanding of how to avoid the merger requirement. He also felt there are several nonconforming vacant lots which should not be developed and this should be prevented by zoning restrictions.
He added that the proposed amendment does not affect the merged status of past lots. Jack Elliott questioned the creation of nonconforming lots through “lot size averaging” and the “freebie” (no reduction for conservation districts) for a minor subdivision of a lot of record. He added that zoning in general takes away property rights as much as the automatic merger. John Billings disagreed stating the merger was owner specific.
There was some discussion about how to determine when a lot has been illegally subdivided and if the tax maps provide a record of each lot. Dick Jones replied that deeds are reviewed in the town offices and if there has been an illegal subdivision by selling off a parcel without subdivision approval, the Town has the property sale revoked. Victoria Davis stated the tax maps may have errors, but generally they are very accurate and correspond to the tax assessment.
David Roby stated he believed if this amendment passes, it will invalidate the mergers from previous years. He suggested leaving the merger language which had been struck in the proposed amendment so the change would not void past mergers. He argued that this would still meet the intent of the public notice. Victoria Davis responded that public notices are only to be summaries of the intent of the amendment, but the full amendment is on public record at the town offices and available to the public. She felt the Board could only accept or deny the entire amendment. Board members felt it would not be a substantive change. Dick Jones made a motion to make the change to the amendment. John Billings seconded the motion and unanimous agreement followed. Stephanie Clark made a
motion to take the revised amendment to town meeting. John Billings seconded the motion, and unanimous agreement followed.
Item 3: Community Attitude Survey Discussion: The Board had discussed the need to amend abusive, personal comments from the public version of the survey narrative responses. Simon Carr stated they could put a notice at the beginning that the Board had edited inappropriate comments out of the public document. Stephanie Clark added that the public should know that though they were edited out, the Board had read statements in their entirety. The Board determined to leave the survey numbers identifying each response to the corresponding original anonymous surveys. Simon Carr will work on the final version of the documents for public access.
Jack Elliott stated he would like to have a public meeting prior to town meeting to discuss the results of the community attitude survey. Victoria Davis suggested discussing how to proceed with the regional planning commission to determine when to schedule the first meeting. She will contact Peter Dzewaltowski at the RPC to discuss it and provide him with a copy of the survey results. Jack Elliott summarized the Budget Committee meeting when he and Victoria Davis requested that the Committee put the budget for the aquifer study back into the town budget instead of having as a warrant article as proposed by the Selectboard. The Committee determined to place it back into the budget. Jack Elliott felt the town might be more likely to approve the proposed budget if they saw the Planning
Board making progress with the Master Plan update by holding a public meeting to discuss the community attitude survey.
Item 4: Appointments: John Billings made a motion to appoint Simon Carr as Alternate for another three year term. Stephanie Clark seconded the motion, and unanimous agreement followed. The Board also thanked Simon Carr for his tremendous efforts in completing the community attitude survey and for his many meaningful contributions to the Board.
Dick Jones made a motion to reappoint Walt Swift as a ZBA member for another three year term. John Billings seconded the motion, and unanimous agreement followed.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.
Submitted by,
Victoria Davis
Planning & Zoning Administrator
Tentative Agendas:
None
| 
