PLANNING BOARD MINUTES
March 16, 2011
Call to Order: 6:34 P.M.
Item One:
ROLL CALL: Present – Chairman; Tim Moore, Selectman Ex- Officio; Robert Gray, Charles Lanza and Steve Ranlett.
Also present was Chief Building Official; Mike Dorman
T. Moore explained that the two hearings scheduled for the property at 22 Witch Lane have been continued to April 6, 2011 as requested by the applicant. He also noted that the discussion with Jay Davey will not take place as J. Davey was not present.
Item two:
Minutes for February 16, 2011
R. Gray motioned to approve, second by S. Ranlett.
T. Moore noted that Item Five in the minutes was a roll call vote and should be reflected in the minutes. He added that in the non-public session minutes, when the Board came out of non-public session it was also a roll call vote and should be recorded in the minutes as well.
Roll call vote to go into Non-Public Session:
T. Moore - yes
P. Bealo – yes
R. Gray – yes
S. Ranlett – yes
Roll call to come out of Non-Public Session:
P. Bealo – yes
R. Gray – yes
S. Ranlett – yes
T. Moore - yes
R. Gray motioned to approve the minutes as amended, second by S. Ranlett.
There was no further discussion on the motion and the vote was 4-0-0 U/A.
Minutes for Non-Public Session Per RSA 91-A: 3 II (e), February 16, 2011
The board decided to approve the Non-Public minutes as amended if there was no further discussion on the minutes.
R. Gray motioned to approve the Non-Public minutes of February 16th, second by S. Ranlett.
There was no discussion on the motion and the vote was 3-0-1 (C. Lanza abstained). The Board handed the minutes to M. Dorman to be turned into L. Komornick.
Minutes for March 2, 2011
R. Gray motioned to approve as written, second by S. Ranlett.
There was no discussion on the motion and the vote was 4-0-0 U/A.
Planning Board Organization
S. Ranlett motioned to nominate Tim Moore as the chair for the up-coming season, second by C. Lanza.
There was no discussion on the motion and the vote was 4-0-0 U/A.
C. Lanza motioned to appoint Steve Ranlett as vice chairman for this season, second by T. Moore.
There was no discussion on the motion and the vote was 4-0-0 U/A.
The Board discussed an open position on the CIP Committee. T. Moore stated that they do not need to discuss this issue tonight.
R. Gray stated that he could not as there were two BOS already.
S. Ranlett asked if they would be creating the Water Resourse Committee, and added that he’d like to be on that.
T. Moore replied yes, sometime soon, adding that it would be a subcommittee of Plaistow First. There was more discussion on the issue.
R. Gray stated that there is also another position on the Planning Board to be filled. He added that they should take applications and put it on the scroll for 30 days.
S. Ranlett stated that they can talk with Audrey about putting it on the web-site and Channel 17 as well. There was some discussion about the time limit as well as some possible interested people.
T. Moore added that there was room for three alternates, and that it should get on the scroll as well.
It was decided that the Board would hold off on discussing the CIP position, and that T. Moore and S. Ranlett would both be in the next day to get the other position matters taken care of.
Item Three:
Other Business/Updates
C. Lanza asked what the Jay Davey discussion was going to be about.
M. Dorman replied that he wants an occupancy permit to occupy the building on 125.
The Board discussed the issue and decided that the consensus of the Board is that he needs to finish the site work before the Board will issue him an occupancy permit.
M. Dorman stated that he submitted a letter to the Board expressing an interest in becoming an alternate member for the Planning Board.
S. Ranlett asked if he could be a voting member of the Board as well as the Town’s Building Inspector and was answered yes.
There was more discussion, and the Board decided to wait for the letter as well as other applications and deal with them all at the same time.
R. Gray asked if the Board wanted to meet twice in June and then once in July and August. The Board discussed the summer schedule.
T. Moore stated that he would like to wait before deciding on the summer schedule. He explained that things have been slow for a few years, but that if things pick up then they need to be there adding that they have promised to get a few sections of the Master Plan done. He said they should not cancel the meetings now so people do not fill in the time with other things, but can cancel them as they come up if they do not have business to take care of.
R. Gray brought up the summer concert schedule and asked about working with the recreation people about not having concerts on meeting days, or changing the meetings to a Thursday for the summer.
T. Moore responded that the problem would conflict with groups that meet on different nights. He added that if they had a large controversial development they could possibly meet at the library or somewhere away from (Town Hall) because there is no parking and the loud band could possibly interfere.
T. Moore mentioned that the Town had requested that RPC look at the Beede access plan and determine if it had regional impact. He stated that the recommendation was to refer it to the Regional Impact Committee, that they meet as needed, they would recommend to the commission, and the Board normally follows their recommendation. He explained that they are trying to get the committee scheduled in the next week or ten days.
C. Lanza asked if it would not be a Regional Impact meeting, but instead a step before that to establish if they would have that meeting.
T. Moore replied yes and explained that there is a Regional Impact Subcommittee that the Town, S. Fitzgerald, would make a presentation to, and then they would review it and make their recommendation.
T. Moore mentioned the planned NH Charrette, stating that the application is due tomorrow (March 17, 2011). He explained that he thought it was all together but has noticed that they want letters of support from the Planning Board / BOS. He told the Board he had a hand written letter and if they felt comfortable sending it they could, but if not that was ok as well.
S. Ranlett asked in support of what, explaining that he was not at the meeting when the Charrette was discussed.
T. Moore explained the Charrette stating the following:
- Plan NH is an independent group of engineers, developers, and planners
- They are out of Portsmouth, NH
- They host the Planning Charrettes that are visioning processes
- The Town asked for them to provide visioning for the Village Center District
- They hold a public forum, with the public and Boards invited
- They facilitate, collect information, and make a recommendation based on the information they received from the Boards and the public on what the Village Center should be
- The Town asked for them to look at Transit Development as well
T. Moore explained that the end result is that they make some recommendations the Town is free to adopt them or not. He summarized the letter of support to the Board noting the following:
- The Charrette will help the Town define a Village Center and a plan for transit oriented development
- They are currently updating the Master Plan and the information from the Charrette will be helpful for that
- The letter mentions the train station proposal
T. Moore asked if the letter was ok with the Board so they can go ahead and get it ready. He added that he had another letter for the BOS that he and Sean (Fitzgerald) will work on tomorrow, adding that he may present to the BOS.
R. Gray stated that maybe they can submit it later and get the application in.
T. Moore explained that they will choose the applications that look interesting to them. He added that they do ask for a $5,000 contribution and said that may determine what S. Fitzgerald and the BOS do. He noted that they do have planning money set aside, so it is in their budget.
M. Dorman told the Board Dave walker from Highway safety came down Friday and gave a presentation. He said he would give L. Komornick copies of the Highway Safety Publication that came out so they could all have a copy.
C. Lanza asked if they discussed at the presentation the process of making and implementing one or more of the different proposals in terms of it being a state road.
M. Dorman replied that they need to work with the state; that the state needs to agree with it.
T. Moore explained the process to the Board:
- Towns are submitting highway transportation project to their respective Planning Commissions
- They will all end up on their long range transportation plan (step 1, no criteria)
- The next critical step is to get it into the Regional Transportation Improvement TIP, which has some criteria
- The most stringent criteria is that the whole TIP has to work out financially
- Something cannot be added to the TIP without having a source of funds for it
- The TIP is a four year plan
- They all feed into the state and the state puts together a State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP)
- After a process, the Regional Plans that still remain in the State Plan get updated from the State Plan.
- State and Regional plans are always in sync after everything is shuffled around
- Once it is in the STIP it is in the ten year plan, which get updated every two years
- They have public hearings and needs to be approved by Governors Counsel to become official
- It is an 18 to 24 month process
T. Moore noted that there is not any money. He added that if you do not do the process there is no way the project would ever get funded. There is more discussion on this issue.
The Board discussed a Bill the house wants to pass to restrict the acceptance of Federal funds. T. Moore noted that the RPC has been more aggressively following the legislation. There was more discussion on this issue and the impact it could have on the Town and Route 125 projects.
M. Dorman mentioned zoning changes, stating that they have a zoning regulation that requires continuous substandard lots to be combined. He added that the RSA’s prohibit that now, so it will need to be pulled out of their book.
T. Moore added that the owner can voluntarily do it, but they cannot force them to.
M. Dorman stated that the law became effective in September 2010. There is more discussion on the issue. M. Dorman added that he will bring it back up in the fall.
The Board Discussed current legislative policies and the importance of the Board keeping informed for planning.
M. Dorman stated he gets an LGC Legislative Bulletin annually, but added that the Town and City has a chapter every month that talks about upcoming legislation.
C. Lanza noted that the RSA has changed for the granting of a waiver by the PB. He added that they need to specifically state one of two reasons that the RSA’s permit the granting of a waiver for.
The Board members asked C. Lanza to bring that information back to them at the next meeting. The Board discussed this issue further.
There is no other business before the Planning Board; the meeting was adjourned at 7:22 P.M.
Respectfully submitted as recorded by Laurie Pagnottaro.
Approved by the Planning Board on ______________________________________
_______________________________________
Timothy E. Moore, Chairman
| 
