PLANNING BOARD MINUTES
May 6, 2009
Call to Order: 6:33 p.m.
ROLL CALL: Present were: Steven Ranlett, Chairman; Timothy E, Moore, Vice-Chairman; Peter Bealo; L. Gil (arrived 6:40 p.m.) Robert Gray, Selectmen Ex-Officio; and Charles Lanza, Alternate.
Also present was P. Michael Dorman, Building Inspector/Code Enforcement Officer
C. Lanza was appointed as a voting member for L. Gil.
Minutes of April 15, 2009, Planning Board Meeting
P. Bealo moved, second by T. Moore, to approve the minutes from the April 15, 2009, meeting. There was no discussion on the motion the vote was 5-0-0.
A Public Hearing on a change of use site plan from an existing dry cleaners business to an insurance agency. The property is located at 128 Plaistow Road, Tax Map 29, Lot 1. The total lot is .63 acres and has 100 +/- feet of frontage. The site and building are located in the Commercial I Zone. The owner of record is Best Dry Cleaners, Inc, (Doug Hwang).
Charlie Zilch, SEC Associates, Inc., and Kevin Herrmann, State Farm Insurance, were present for the application.
C. Zilch explained the Mr. Herrmann was looking to convert the business location from a dry cleaner to an insurance office. He noted the following features of the site:
- .63 acre parcel
- 100 feet of frontage on Route 125
- Commercial I zoning
- Existing 1,470 sq. ft., one-story building
- Existing well and septic
- Existing parking
- Existing driveway, NHDOT (New Hampshire Department of Transportation) informed there would be no need for changes and that the permit is essentially approves and would be issued at the outcome of this hearing
- There will be no changes to site with Route 125 Improvements
- No other State permits are needed
- There will be five (5) waivers needed
T. Moore moved, second by R. Gray, to accept the change of use plan for 128 Plaistow Road as complete. There was no discussion on the motion. The vote was 5-0-0 U/A.
WAIVER REQUESTS
§230-12 - Parking Requirements
C. Zilch explained that there would be four (4) employees at this site, two (2) full-time to meet with clients; one (1) full-time receptionist and a claims adjuster who would only be at the site part time, which would mean that only three (3) parking spaces would be filled on a full time basis. He noted that the regulations called for nine (9) parking spaces and there were eight (8) provided for on the plan. C. Zilch offered that the three (3) full-time spaces would leave five (5) for customer and delivery parking, which should be adequate.
L. Gil arrived at 6:40 p.m. C. Lanza is no longer a voting member.
P. Bealo asked what would prevent the applicant from adding a small amount of parking to the back of the building to meet the regulation requirements.
C. Zilch responded that it would increase the impervious surfaces.
P. Bealo noted that the lot coverage was only at 20%, well below the maximum allowable of 75%.
C. Zilch answered that increasing the impervious surfaces would then trigger an engineering review for drainage calculations.
T. Moore moved, second by R. Gray, to grant the request for a waiver from §230-12 of the site plan regulation. There was no discussion on the motion. The vote was 4-0-1 (Gil abstaining).
§230-14XX - Dumpster Requirements
C. Zilch explained that this is a professional office space that does not generate a lot of trash, which would be contained in the building and disposed of as needed.
P. Bealo moved, second by R. Gray, to grant the request for a waiver from §230-14XX. There was no discussion on the motion. The vote was 4-0-1 (Gil abstaining).
§230-14HH - Separate Landscape Plan
C. Zilch noted that this was an existing site with established landscaping.
R. Gray asked M. Dorman if there were any issues with the landscaping on the site.
M. Dorman replied there were not.
R. Gray moved, second by P. Bealo, to grant the request for a waiver from §230-14HH. There was no discussion on the motion. The vote was 4-0-1 (Gil abstaining).
§230-14FF - Loading/Unloading Bay
C. Zilch offered that this was a professional office and any deliveries would be made by smaller delivery vehicles so a loading area would not be necessary.
T. Moore moved, second by P. Bealo, to grant the request for a waiver from §230-14FF. There was no discussion on the motion. The vote was 4-0-1 (Gil abstaining).
§230-14II - Separate Lighting Plan
C. Zilch again noted that this was an existing site with lighting in place and that there were no plans to change the existing lighting.
P. Bealo moved, second by T. Moore, to grant the request for a waiver from §230-14II. There was no discussion on the motion. The vote was 4-0-1 (Gil abstaining).
L. Gil asked, noting the previous use of a dry cleaner, if the ground water had been checked (for contamination).
M. Dorman offered that the dry cleaning system was self-contained and nothing left the building.
L. Gil questioned if there would be improvements made to the site where the dry cleaner was relocating (79 Plaistow Road, Windows Within site).
M. Dorman replied that he would like to see the parking lot (at 79 Plaistow Road) seal coated and re-striped. He added that he would also be looking for the trailer (at 128 Plaistow Road) to be removed from the site before he would be issuing the certificate of occupancy (CO) to the new business.
C. Lanza noted that the hours of operation (note 19) for Saturdays were from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and asked if that was correct.
There was a brief discussion regarding the business hours for the insurance company. It was suggested that Mr. Herrmann set the hours on the site plan at an outside range of hours he might ever operate, therefore giving him some flexibility and alleviating the need to come back to the Board to change them.
K. Herrmann noted that he would like to change the hours of operation on Saturdays to 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
R. Gray moved, second by P. Bealo to approve the change of use site plan for 128 Plaistow Road, with the following conditions:
- Amend Note 19 for the Saturday business hours
- Receipt of NHDOT driveway permit
There was no discussion on the motion. The vote was 4-0-1 (Gil abstaining).
Letter of Request from Wal-Mart
L. Komornick noted that she had received a letter from Wal-Mart requesting permission to hold a sidewalk sale as well as extend their hours of operation, currently 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. increased to 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., June 6 through July 31, to accommodate summer customer traffic.
R. Gray offered that he had no issues with the sidewalk sale but he thought it was strange that they would make such a formal request to increase their hours of operation when he could not remember them ever making such a request before, including during the Christmas season. He questioned if and what the hours were noted on the site plan.
L. Komornick noted that there had recently been a change in management which may have something to do with the more formal request.
There was a discussion regarding the potential impact, particularly to the Police Department, of the change in business hours. It was noted that there were probably not any hours of operation noted on the site plan as it was not routinely requested that they be specifically noted in the past.
S. Ranlett and T. Moore noted that they had no issue with granting the request if the Police Department had no concerns.
L. Gil question if granting this request meant that the store would have to come each and every time they wanted to increase the hours on a temporary basis.
P. Bealo offered that there was no reason to rush a decision and he would like to hear from the Police Department regarding whether or not they felt there would be any impact.
S. Ranlett suggested that there be approval of the temporary change in hours, conditioned on there being no issues with the Police Department.
R. Gray noted that he still would like to know and suggested that any comment from the Police Department be emailed to all board members.
P. Bealo added that he wanted to know that extending the hours of operation was not going to cost the Town one penny.
The sidewalk sale was approved by consensus.
Requested Dates for Annual Car Show at 160 Plaistow Road (Approved as a minor site plan for annual purposes last year)
S. Ranlett noted a letter from Peg Marcelonis, of Stillwell's Ice Cream, informing of the dates they would be hosting their weekly car show.
T. Moore offered that he was not aware of any problems from last year's shows.
P. Bealo questioned if in the grand scheme of things could the Board even say "no" since it was nothing more than people showing up and getting an ice cream.
L. Komornick reminded that they had been told in the past should there be any issues the Police Department would inform her and they (Marcelonis) would have to come back to the Board to address the concerns.
There was a discussion of what other businesses were open during the hours of the car show. It was reiterated that there were no issues with the event in the previous year.
Lot Line Adjustment Plan for Haseltine Street Scope of Services
M. Dorman explained that he would like to use another $1,000.00 of Route 125 Impact Fee monies for the development of the lot line adjustment/easement plan for the expansion of Haseltine Street. He noted that this plan would be what would be sent out with contractor bid requests. M. Dorman added this work was over and above what was previously approved for the project.
T. Moore moved, second by R. Gray, that expending $1,000.00 of Route 125 Impact Fees monies for the lot line adjustment/easement plan for the expansion of Haseltine Street was in keeping with the intent of the Impact Fee Ordinance. There was no discussion on the motion. The vote was 5-0-0 U/A.
There was brief discussion on the process for approving the use of any of the impact fees. It was noted that the role of the Planning Board was to approve the use of the funds as being in compliance with the intent of the specific ordinance and the Board of Selectmen's role was to approve the actual expenditure of the funds, allowing the check to be generated.
Discussion about Economic Development Committee Meeting
S. Ranlett gave a report on the Southern New Hampshire Division Economic Development Committee (SHDEDC) meeting that he had recently attended. He noted a few of the highlights to be:
- Continued discussion of the expansion of the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority) system into New Hampshire, which was noted to be put to the back burner due to budget concerns
- Comprehensive Information from the SBA (Small Business Administration) regarding what assistance they can provide
- Potential expansion of Wal-Mart in the area
- Main Street traffic calming measures
P. Bealo noted that he had a discussion with Doug DePorter (NHDOT) and asked the question if the State would support installation of traffic lights or stop signs, at the Town's expense, for traffic calming. He said the Mr. DePorter cautioned that nothing would be done without a full study on the issue and even then he was not encouraging.
L. Komornick offered that there would be a NHDOT representative at the May 20th, Highway Safety Committee meeting.
L. Gil offered that he had been reluctant to ask the Town to become involved with traffic calming on Main Street without the Town taking over the road. He suggested that it may be time to "bite the bullet" and look at the costs involved with the Town taking over the road, especially since the State is not encouraging about cooperation with what the Town may feel is needed. L. Gil added that if the Town really wanted to have a "village district" they may have to think about being able to have total control over Main Street, but advised approaching the idea with "eyes wide open" as to exactly what long term costs would be involved.
L. Komornick noted that the study that was already approved in the Board's budget was not directed to review the Town taking over Main Street, but was targeting traffic calming and mitigation, but would probably reveal the costs associated with road maintenance and improvements.
L. Gil asked if it would be possible to get the information from the State as to what it has cost to maintain Main Street over the past ten (10) years.
P. Bealo reminded that the Town does some of the winter plowing of Main Street and those costs would have to be factored in.
M. Dorman noted that the Main Street plowing was a swap situation.
P. Bealo offered that he also asked what was the rule of thumb on how many "cars worth" of damage a single tractor trailer does to local roadways and was shocked to find that the number was fifty (50) cars.
S. Ranlett noted that DRED (Department of Resources and Economic Development) was also represented at the SHDEDC meeting and would be visiting the Board of Selectmen to discuss a new program of Economic Redevelopment Zones (ERZ) which are overlays that target specific areas for economic revitalization.
S. Ranlett added that the next meeting of the SHDEDC would be on June 10, 2009.
There was additional discussion of what the ERZ overlay was intended to accomplish for a town.
P. Bealo asked if there was a study done, or suggested that the Town should do one if not, that showed a cost benefit to any town having a commercial district, noting that there are many towns that function successfully without large commercial areas. He suggested it would be important in looking at the future of the Town.
Other Business
R. Gray asked if there was a business located at 21 Blossom Road.
M. Dorman noted that "Life Is Good" has opened a warehouse there. He added that they had not filed for a CO, but have since corrected that and he would be inspecting the site on Thursday with the Fire Chief.
R. Gray offered that there were two (2) nights where the Recreation Department's Summer Concert Series would be the same as a meeting night and suggested that the Board may want to change meeting nights on those nights.
There was the discussion about potentially going to a once-a-month meeting schedule for the summer months but no decision was made to do so.
The chairman adjourned the meeting at 7:35 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted as recorded by Dee Voss.
Approved by the Planning Board on _________________________
________________________
Steven Ranlett, Chairman
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