Newton Planning Board
Minutes of Public Meeting
JULY 10, 2007
1. Call to Order
Chairman Kim Pettit called the meeting to order at 7:09 pm. In attendance were Kim Pettit, Chairman; Vice Chairman, Ann Miles; Planning Board Members: Jim Doggett and Rich LeClaire; Mary Allen, Alternate and Administrative Assistant Lisa Babcock. Minutes were transcribed and typed by Lisa Babcock.
Also in attendance: Circuit Rider Planner, Reuben Hull and Fire Chief, William Ingalls.
125 Development NH Corp, Coleman McDonough: Public hearing to consider the request for review of a proposed major non-residential site plan at Puzzle Lane, Phase II. The property is owned by 125 Development NH Corp. and is referenced as Tax Map 14/Block 1/Lot 27-3. LeClaire recused himself. Allen stepped in for LeClaire. Dennis Quintal of Civil Construction Management, Inc. spoke on behalf of Mr. McDonough. Mr. Quintal distributed test pit data and gave an overview of the project.
The building being proposed is L-shaped and 26,750 square feet with parking spaces on the northerly and southerly sides. Using Planning Board criteria, 42.4 parking spaces are required and the project provides 45 spaces to accommodate personnel who may come to the site periodically but would be working off-site. There is additional area to add more parking spaces if needed in the future.
A comprehensive drainage plan has been done for the site. Storm water run-off goes through a treatment source and into storm water detention areas and then into the wetland areas.
Vaillant arrived at 7:15 pm.
The building and proposed use will be similar to the existing building. The building will look similar and the plantings/vegetation will also be similar.
Erosion control/silt fence is up around the perimeter. The site is cleared and fill is being added. Some material has been moved from lot 4. Silt fence/erosion control has also been added around lot 4. The applicant has spoken to the state about the site specific permit and explained that material was being moved from one lot to the other. The state said to send an amended application and will review both lots when issuing the alteration of terrain permit.
Mr. Quintal said that they did get comments from the town review engineer, but declined to go over them in detail since he had received them only that morning. Under the general comments, there were some drafting issues and the plans had to be stamped by a wetlands scientist.
The engineering comments also mentioned access to the rear of the building and Mr. Quintal spoke to Chief Ingalls and asked if access via both sides of the building was acceptable to him. Mr. Quintal said that Chief Ingalls said the plan was acceptable. Quintal asked if the fire chief would draft a memo stating that to the board.
Mr. Quintal also said that the town engineer required some additional drafting and calculations for drainage and the detention areas. Mr. Quintal did not think that would change the layout. Quintal also pointed out that the town engineer suggested careful maintenance of the drainage system to ensure that it works properly.
Mr. Quintal said the alteration of terrain permit and EPA Federal Storm Water permit were needed and that would be done prior to the start of construction. Mr. Quintal then asked if there were any questions from the board.
Pettit asked if the proposed building is bigger than the original building and would there be around 5-8 tenants. Mr. Quintal confirmed that. Pettit said that proposed tenants would have come before the board for permission to operate. Pettit asked about floor drains, Quintal said there were none. Allen asked if it was one-story. Quintal confirmed that it is. Allen asked if the plans indicate what types of vegetation would be added. Quintal said the plans did mention the types of plantings.
Allen asked if the property boarders Sargent Woods. Quintal said the closest corner of the Sargent Woods property is 250 feet from the building and the closest building is 590 feet away with a large undisturbed area between the buildings.
Pettit mentioned that the first pass of the hydro study is in and the first pass of the review of the hydro study has been completed. The hydro study covers the whole property. It can be included in this property and will be fine-tuned as the development goes along.
Hull said he still had to do his review but had a few comments. Hull said ADA parking is shown as regular parking on the plans and will have to be adjusted to 20 ft depth. He also said that the board should determine if the new architectural standards will apply as it is part of a development that was already started with a certain look and feel, but on the other hand the regulations were put in place for a reason. The board should get an elevation of the building. Hull also encouraged the applicant to look at using porous pavement and to ask the hydro geologist if that was worth considering.
Pettit emphasized that the town engineer did a preliminary review and he may or may not have more comments as he continues to review the plans.
Allen asked about heavy equipment on the pavement pointing out that the septic system is under the pavement. Quintal explained that the design took that into account and that it has to be approved by the state.
Chief Ingalls handed out information regarding the access road around the building (an excerpt from the 2003 NFPA Fire Code Handbook). He then mentioned that he had given Mr. McDonough a list of items that needed to be addressed regarding Phase I and Mr. McDonough agreed to do those things.
Motion by Allen to continue the public hearing to August 14th. Seconded by Jim. Passed unanimously. With LeClaire recused and Allen standing in for LeClaire.
Miles asked that a plan be developed for how the new town engineer would work with Mr. Quintal to expedite the review process and how he would work with the hydrologist. Pettit mentioned that Hull’s request to have the hydrologist be consulted regarding porous pavement was not part of the original scope so she would have to discuss it with her. Pettit was confident that the town engineer would work expeditiously with the Mr. Quintal. Quintal also mentioned that the applicant wanted to get his building permits in place as soon as possible to begin work on the project.
Pettit asked that if Mr. Quintal would like to send information directly to the town engineer he should be sure to copy the planning board on all correspondence.
David Brogna: Continuation of a public hearing to consider the request for a 2-lot subdivision of the Pinkerton Land, Whittier Street. The property is referenced as Tax Map 5/Block 3/Lot 14. Kevin Hatch spoke on behalf of Mr. Brogna. Pettit appointed Allen to stand in for Gibbs. Nancy Slombo was present to represent the Conservation Commission.
Mr. Hatch handed out updated plans. He explained that the State driveway permit and State subdivision approval had been obtained and both were noted on the plans. The monumentation has been set and plans were revised to reflect that.
Pettit asked about the well radius and Hatch explained that it had been taken care of and reflected on the plan. Vaillant asked about the conservation portion of the land. Hatch explained that it is the rear portion of the property consisting of 10.32 acres. Hatch reminded the board that Old Lower Road would be deeded to the town.
Hull said that the recording note on the plan stating that the plans are on record at the Selectmen’s Office should be amended to read that the plans are on record at the Planning Board Office.
Pettit asked if there were any other comments and asked Ms. Slombo if Conservation was satisfied. Ms. Slombo confirmed that Conservation was in agreement with the plans.
Motion by Pettit to grant conditional approval contingent upon the note on the plan being changed to read “…plans on file at the Planning Board Office…” Second by LeClaire. Passed unanimously with Allen standing in for Gibbs.
Town of Newton, NH: Public hearing for proposed amendments to the Subdivision Regulations and the Site Plan Review Regulations regarding application fees and procedures. Hull provided copies of his recommended changes to the regulations (Policy & Procedures Newton Planning Board, 8 pages). Hull proposed consolidating the sections of the regulations covering application procedures and creating a Policy and Procedures manual that details the application process and fee schedule.
Pettit mentioned that this would make it easier to adjust fees in the future if necessary.
Hull highlighted the proposed changes to the fee schedule: the legal ad fee will now come out of the Initial Escrow Deposit (the amount of which depends on the type of project).
Hull also reminded the board that there had been discussion about having the applicant be responsible for handling abutter notices and provided a sample form used in another town. He explained that the town would get an abutters list from the applicant and the return receipts would be sent directly to the town but the applicant would handle the actual mailing of the notices. Hull said that he would amend his proposal to reflect that by removing section D from under the Schedule of Fees section of the manual. He also said he would provide clear language so that the process would be understandable to first-time applicants.
Pettit suggested including recording fees and 3 copies of plans under the engineering fees. Pettit said she prefers to get copies of the recorded plans rather than have the applicant provide copies of the plans with the mylars.
Hull will e-mail the document to the planning board after he has a chance to go through and make the changes proposed.
Motion by Allen to continue discussion to August 14th. Second by Doggett. Passed unanimously with Allen standing in for Gibbs.
Town of Newton, NH: Public hearing for review and adoption of the Land Use Chapter of the Master Plan. Eric Steltzer of RPC was present to discuss the Land Use Chapter. Mr. Steltzer handed out updated drafts of the Land Use Chapter, as well as an outline of the chapter and a list of things still left to do.
Steltzer said that a land use chapter is a required chapter for the Master Plan. He explained how aerial photos taken over 3 different time periods show how land use has developed in the Town (Section 3). Steltzer said that the next section (4) deals with land use changes since 1998. He said that this section will require input from the board. Section 5 deals with soil classes by type and land use. There are several sections that still need to be fleshed out.
Miles asked about management plans regarding various parcels owned by the Town. Vaillant suggested that was under Conservation.
Some suggestions from the board were: Miles – identify water sources and the protection there of. Doggett – the board should seek input from Conservation. Miles – identify and preserve historical buildings. Hull – suggested looking at a new concept in residential subdivisions where the important resources are identified first and the development goes in around them.
Allen suggested meeting with Conservation during a work session to discuss the Land Use Chapter.
Pettit noted that the Warrant article stipulated that the 3 chapters of the Master Plan would be (1) Visioning (2) Land Use and (3) Capital Improvement.
Mr. Steltzer said that he would use his remaining contract time to work on (1) water resources, (2) archeological/historical/cultural aspects and protecting the same (3) recommendation regarding historical buildings.
The board also discussed meeting with the Historical Society and Conservation Commission.
Motion by Allen to continue to September 11. Second by Doggett. Passed unanimously with Allen standing in for Gibbs.
Nordic Woods road bond reduction. Mr. Gundersen is interested in completing construction of Nordic Woods Lane and is requesting a bond reduction of $19,747.60.
Vaillant noted that there is a punch list of unaddressed items from Altus dated May 31, 2007. Pettit said the bond reduction will be used to address those items.
Motion by Doggett to reduce the bond by $19,747.60. Second by Allen. Passed unanimously with Allen standing in for Gibbs.
Manifests for Operating Budget and NPREA. Pettit suggested removing the DTC bill from the Operating Budge Manifest so that she could review it prior to paying it.
Motion by Pettit to pay the operating budget manifest, dated 7/10/07 after removing the DTC bill leaving a total of $5,882.23. Second by Vaillant. Passed unanimously with Allen standing in for Gibbs.
Motion by Allen to pay the NPREA manifest date 7/10/07 and totaling $3,957.96. Second by Doggett. Passed unanimously with Allen standing in for Gibbs.
Approval of Minutes. Motion by Doggett to accept minutes from 5/22/07, 6/12/07, and 6/26/07 with an amendment to the minutes from 5/22/07, page 4, paragraph 2, to read “…Map 14, Block 1, Lot 27-1…”. Second by LeClaire. Passed unanimously with Allen abstaining.
Correspondence - McDonough/Puzzle Lane. Coleman McDonough asked to briefly discuss the status of the project at Puzzle Lane, Tax Map 14, Block 1, Lot 27-1. Mr. McDonough said the project had been approved about 18 months ago, but had been shelved pending litigation. Since then, Mr. McDonough has the opportunity to sell the property to a buyer. Mr. McDonough would like to have the mylars signed and wanted to know what the outstanding issues are.
Mr. McDonough said that the plan was approved with the parking on the easement, and that the easement had been added to the plans to allow access to construct a swale. Pettit said that the parking issue had always been an open comment on the Altus letter and that Altus determined that the issue should be handled by the town. Pettit said that she had researched the easement and that it had been recorded. Mr. McDonough said if it is not paved, the grass will be overgrown.
Pettit stated that soil testing still needed to be done (materials test, compaction test). Also the easement issue needs to be resolved.
Regarding the hydro study, Pettit said it had been done and had been reviewed by the consultant, Danna Truslow. Dan Fenno of NHSC had also commented on the review of the hydro study. Pettit said that since the condition was that the hydro study had been done and the review had been done, that the condition had been met for the purposes of signing the mylars but that there was still additional work that had to be done over the scope of the project in order to be in compliance with the consultant’s recommendations. Pettit wanted to confirm this with the consultant.
Doggett suggested removing the parking from the easement and add a strip of parallel parking along the easement. Proposed, future parking spaces would be lost.
Pettit said that in order for the mylars to be signed, the parking had to be pulled out of the easement, the soil testing and compaction test needed to be done, and confirmation from the hydro consultant that the board has enough information to proceed with Lot 27-1 had to be obtained.
Mr. McDonough asked if the board wanted the testing to be witnessed by someone from the town. The board suggested that testing be witnessed by the Road Agent and the Code Enforcement Officer.
Adjournment – Miles motion to adjourn at 9:35 pm. Second by Vaillant. Passed Unanimously with Allen standing in for Gibbs.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa Babcock
Administrative Assistant
Newton Planning board.
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