Newton Planning Board
Plan Work Session
September 26, 2006
1. Call to Order
The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:10 PM, with three members present. The meeting was posted in three town locations: Newton Post Office, Newton Junction Post Office and Newton Town Hall.
2. Attendance
The following members were present:
Ann Miles – Vice-Chairman
Gary Nelson – Selectmen’s ex-officio member
James Doggett –Alternate member
Also, present:
Reuben Hull – Circuit Rider/planner
Frank Gibbs – Road Agent
3. Plan Review
The members reviewed the plans that were submitted for the October public hearing. Ms. Miles requested that Mr. Hull write letters of opinion on each submittal for the public hearing. Natural expansion and Hampton v. Brust was discussed along with Mr. Hull explaining expansion concepts.
There was some discussion about design review submittals receiving a compliance notice via the planner so that a denial could be sent to the ZBA for hearing.
Motion by Mr. Nelson with a second by Mr. Doggett to appoint the RPC representative as the Planning Board designee for determining completeness of new submittals and conformance with zoning. The motion passed unanimously.
4. Regulation and Zoning Amendments
Mr. Hull distributed a draft layout for the recodification of the zoning book. He said that the new layout would make the zoning manual more user friendly and it would have to go to ballot although there would not be any changes in text. He explained each section and how it would remove the redundancy found in the current manual.
There was discussion about adopting an Access Management Plan and then a memorandum of understanding could be written and forwarded to the NHDOT.
Impact fees were discussed.
Mr. Hull said that recodification was a re-organization of the current manual and the ordinances would be separate from the Subdivision and Site Review regulations. He suggested revising and clarifying board roles and interactions with each other. He said that currently there were no expirations provided for approvals, variances or special exceptions.
There was a discussion about having a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), which would be authorized by the Planning Board and the board would also initiate the process. Ms. Miles requested examples of CIP’s from other towns.
Zoning Districts
Mr. Hull said that the current regulations were confusing and the zoning districts should be displayed as tables with footnotes for clarification. He suggested two tables; one for uses and for dimensions.
The members also briefly discussed the following:
Ø Soil-based lot sizing
Ø Access management
Ø Creation of an agricultural overlay district
Ø Workforce/affordable housing
Ø Innovative zoning
Ø Transfer of development rights
Ø Scenic roads – better definition needed
Ø Commercial architecture
Ø Creation of a Heritage Commission
Mr. Hull said that the first public hearing for warrant articles should be held in November. Mr. Doggett said that accessory apartments and home occupations needed to be improved.
5. Other Business
Mr. Gibbs said that with regards to the Peaslee Crossing Road and Smith Corner Road improvements, Altus Engineering had done a great job until the town and he got involved. He said that there was discrepancies in the actual sight distance at the intersection and pages of the plan that were included in the Board’s set had been omitted from the set given to Busby. He added that he had never been paid as the Road Agent for this project.
RFP Update – Mr. Hull stated that he would send the RFP for a town engineer to Mr. Nelson the next day. Ms. Miles said that she was very committee to getting a new town engineer.
The Vice-Chairman declared the meeting adjourned at 9:22 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Sally E. Cockerline
Administrative Assistant
Newton Planning Board
| 
