PLANNING BOARD MINUTES
June 17, 2015
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:31 p.m.
ROLL CALL: Tim Moore, Chair
Charles Lanza, Vice Chair
Gennifer Silva
Shem Kellogg, Excused
Steve Ranlett, Selectman Ex-Officio, Excused
Geoffrey Adams, Alternate, Excused
Also present: Mark Fougere, Planning Consultant
Agenda Item 2: Minutes of June 3, 2015 Planning Board Meeting
G. Silva moved, second by C. Lanza, to approve the minutes of the June 03, 2015 meeting. There was no discussion on the motion. The vote was 3-0-0 U/A
Agenda Item 4: Update on RPC and MPO
T. Moore noted that the RPC had recently held its annual meeting.
Agenda Item 5: Correspondence
There were no correspondences before the Board at this meeting.
Agenda Item 6: Other Business
It was noted that Rockingham Church had put out advertizing regarding an event they will be holding over the weekend. The Code Enforcement Office will be notifying the church that they need to bring special events to the Planning Board or amend their site plan to include them.
Agenda Item 3: General Workshop Items
a. Master Plan
- Transportation Chapter
The Board was given a copy of the draft Transportation Chapter (Chapter) update.
M. Fougere noted that the Chapter is about 85% complete. He added that it was missing some updated maps and on roads and sidewalks and some traffic counts.
M. Fougere highlighted where updates had been made from the previous version of the Chapter. He added that he was also looking at adding some photos to give it more life.
There was discussion on some noted discrepancies in traffic counts over time, particularly during the economic recession, which had not rebounded with the economy. It was noted that traffic counts where not updated on every road, every year. It was also noted that RPC (Rockingham Planning Commission) and NHDOT (New Hampshire Department of Transportation) had different schedules for when they did traffic counts.
M. Fougere noted that he had spoken with the Police Chief about accident data. He noted that they got new software in 2007, which would explain why some of the 2005, 2006 data seemed suspect.
Specific areas of high accident counts, such as Danville Rd, Market Basket and WalMart were noted and discussed. It was noted that there was no information regarding the severity of each accident or timing to see if there were specific trends with the accidents that could be analyzed.
There was discussion about culverts and bridges that were noted as needing to be replaced in the Chapter. Traffic Calming on Main Street was also discussed.
The railroad feasibility study was cited as a future option. It was noted that Manchester and Nashua were pushing hard to get commuter rail services in their cities.
M. Fougere asked that the Board members review the report in depth and provide him with any feedback they may have.
There was general discussion about some roads and how they could be updated for safety.
M. Fougere noted that the next chapter scheduled to be reviewed would be the Housing Chapter. He added that as part of that review he would be looking at updating the Workforce Housing Data as well to make sure the Town is still in compliance.
There was a brief discussion about how Plaistow is currently categorized when it comes to Workforce Housing. It was noted that the Town is grouped in with Lawrence, rather than with Rockingham County. There was also discussion about some current statistics.
T. Moore suggested that the Population Chapter should be easy to review and update at the same time as the Housing Chapter.
M. Fougere noted that he was collecting data from the Assessing Office related to housing and population.
The Board was reminded that there will not be a meeting on July 1, 2015.
There was no additional business before the Board. The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted as recorded by Dee Voss.
Approved by the Planning Board on _________________________
________________________
Tim Moore, Chair
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