Town of Newton, New Hampshire
Newton Planning Board
Work Session
August 23, 005
1. Call to Order
The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. The meeting was posted in four town locations: Newton Town Hall, Newton Post Office, Newton Junction Post Office, and Rowe’s Corner Store. There was no challenge to the legality of the meeting.
2. Attendance
The following members were present:
Mary M. Allen – Chairman
Elliott Estey – Vice-Chairman
Kim Pettit – Vice-Chairman
James Doggett
Norm Harding – Selectmen’s ex-officio member
Ann Miles
Kim Vaillant
Also Attending:
Jill Robinson – RPC circuit rider/planner
3. Technical Review Committee Procedures
Ms. Robinson stated that she had incorporated items that the board had suggested such as taking of minutes, schedules and involving department heads. Ms. Allen said that a calendar needed to be developed and the meetings needed to be posted. Ms. Robinson said that the TRC should meet about one week prior to the public hearing so that the information would be fresh in their minds. She said that written comments would be accepted. She said that there would not be a quorum of members from the Planning Board and there would be no voting. She said that one of the purposes of having the TRC was to encourage communication between all departments. She said that Mr. Weinreib said that he could work this into his schedule and would be covered by his contract with the Board. She said that she would try to
have her review completed in time for the TRC meetings. Mr. Doggett suggested presetting the submittal deadlines for public hearings and inviting all departments. Ms. Allen said that this would need to be adopted first. Mr. Doggett said that the procedures were very well written. Ms. Miles said that this would be helpful for the applicants.
Motion made by Mr. Doggett and seconded by Ms. Pettit to adopt the Technical Review Committee Procedures, as presented. The motion passed unanimously.
Ms. Pettit said that if written comments could be received in lieu of the department head attending (scheduling conflicts, etc.) it would be very helpful. Ms. Robinson said that there was language regarding the responsibilities of the TRC chairman, and notifying the department heads was included in this.
4. Home Occupations
Ms. Allen said that the way the Home Occupations Ordinance was currently written was incorrect and wording such as “non-residential site plan review” needed to be removed. She said that as currently written, there was no directive and no information for the applicants. She asked if there should be an application, public hearing process, or fees. Mr. Estey said that a few years ago there had been a discussion about this and that there should be an actual permit given to owners of home occupations. Mr. Harding said that there was an issue with enforcement because so many home businesses had not come before or notified the town. Ms. Pettit asked if the site review process was too complicated for home occupations. Ms. Allen explained that the current process did not fit with permitted
residential uses and there needed to be a better process. Ms. Robinson said that abutters needed to be aware of neighboring home businesses. Ms. Miles said that there were other reasons that the town needed to be aware of all home businesses including but not limited to State registering and insurance. She said that a simple process would encourage more people to notify the town. Mr. Estey asked Dennis Quintal about the process for home businesses in East Kingston. Mr. Quintal said that permits were reviewed and issued annually after reviews and recommendations by the Planning Board. He said that it might involve a little more work to set up but once done would be a benefit to the town. Ms. Robinson agreed that a standard form, with a checklist would be helpful. Ms. Allen asked if a public hearing for this was needed. Ms. Robinson said that it should be conducted at a public hearing with abutter notification. Mr. Estey
said that it would be prudent to do home occupations the way that East Kingston did. Ms. Allen said that there would need to be some allowances made for grandfathered businesses. Mr. Harding asked about businesses that had expanded. Mr. Estey said that if the business was not a subordinate part of the home then it wasn’t legal. Mr. Harding explained the procedure for a court-ordered “Cease and Desist.” He said that it was expensive and could take years. Code Enforcement was discussed. There was also discussion about having a list of permitted in-home businesses. Mr. Estey said that at the law lecture series, these types of lists had been discouraged. Ms. Miles suggested that stickers could be provided to larger in-home businesses that might need dumpsters and in that way the town could better track and identify these through upper-level charges. Mr. Doggett said that the process should enable the board to
notify the fire department even if for an Avon lady because he was sure that many bottles of perfume would increase the fire load on the home. Ms. Miles said that this could be done in a positive way because the town wanted to have loyal taxpayers and there could be a way to accomplish this without “policing” and perhaps some services could be offered.
Mr. Estey said that a home occupation should be incidental, insubordinate and invisible and if a dumpster was needed then the home occupation was too large.
5. CBI
There was some general discussion about the request of CBI to construct an additional building. Mr. Peter Brenton, representative for CBI said that the company was running out of room and if they could not add a building, they were being courted to move to Plaistow. He was informed of the formal process and there was no question that a public hearing would need to be held and he was told to contact the Board’s Administrative Assistant for deadline dates for the September hearing.
(There were then several cross-conversations at this time and not one in particular could be discerned by the transcriber.)
6. Town Website – Contents
Mr. Harding said that the town was preparing to launch its website in a few weeks and the Selectmen wanted to know if the Planning Board was in agreement with making available the zoning ordinances, regulations, forms, and Master Plan on the website. Also, the Board’s Administrative Assistant inquired about making the zoning ordinances and regulations available on a write-protected CD for sale to the public for $10.00 each.
Fillable forms were also discussed and encourage which could be completed and emailed to the office as notification but with the signed hard copy still required to be submitted. Mr. Doggett and Ms. Pettit explained Adobe/PDF files and Ms. Pettit also suggested that a disclaimer could be used that stated that the only official form(s) could be purchased at the Town Hall.
Motion made by Mr. Doggett with a second by Ms. Miles to make available the Zoning Ordinances, Regulations, Fillable Forms and the Master Plan to the Town Website and to authorize the creation of same, on saleable CDs at $10.00 each. The motion passed with one vote in the negative but it was unclear the final number.
Mr. Harding encouraged anyone with any ideas about these issues or the website to contact Mary Winglass.
7. TBG Grant
Ms. Robinson informed the Board that Ms. Cockerline and she had submitted the application for the TBG Grant in which they requested assistance with the Visioning Chapter of the Master Plan, Community Profile including Wetlands maps and Stormwater Management Regulations. The value of the grant is $6,000.00, with 50% coming from the town. She will keep the board updated regarding this issue.
8. Communications and Other Business
The Board discussed possible agenda items for the September 13, 2005 meeting.
Ms. Allen asked for the members to review information in their packets for further discussion at that time. Ms. Robinson suggested that Mr. Fitzgerald be informed of the latest Altus report regarding the geo-technical report.
A letter was received from Country Pond Fish and Game Club requesting copies of all complaints received about them. The Police Chief was copied.
The manifest was presented for payment. Legal fees were discussed and it was discovered that there was a charge that was not applicable to the board. This will be removed from the manifest total for NPREA. Ms. Miles requested again that developers be sent copies of the legal bills along with invoices. She said that in effect the town was spending her money without her permission or knowledge. Mr. Harding explained that the audit was proving to be quite a daunting task because there was a lot of information missing.
(There were then several cross-conversations at this time and not one in particular could be discerned by the transcriber.)
Motion made by Mr. Doggett with a second by Ms. Pettit to have the Chairman sign the manifest for all legal charges as well as the charges applied to the Operating Budget and for copies of all bills applicable be sent to applicants. The motion passed unanimously.
There was some discussion about the Nichols compliance hearing. Included in this discussion was the responsibility of the applicant in general to have clear title to all land parcels prior to presenting a plan to the board.
Updates
Puzzle Estates – updated report from Altus needed.
Walking Paths at Storey Estates – the Board had decided that the paths were required and would be located parallel to the proposed road.
Zoey Lane – One CO has been issued but there will be no more until the compliance issues were met.
The board requested wording and procedures for condominium conversions for business and residential. Ms. Robinson will prepare this for the September work session. There was tremendous discussion about this subject.
Conceptual and Design Review – Board needs to adopt. Mr. Doggett said that as presented the procedures were nicely written but needed to be more basic. A checklist was suggested.
Adjournment was at 8:45 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Sally E. Cockerline
Administrative Assistant
Newton Planning Board
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