Town of Sunapee
Planning Committee Meeting
April 16, 2009
Present: Peggy Chalmers, Chairperson
Bruce Jennings
Peter White
Emma M. Smith, Ex-officio
Nick Kontos, Alternate
Daniel Schneider,Alternate
Also present: Mr. & Mrs. Joseph McDonald, Anne Nilsen
Corrections to April 6th meeting:
Line 104 change John to read Joseph
Line 105 change cul de sac to read hammerheads
Line 108 change earlier today to read March 16th
The meeting was opened with introductions of Jeff Taylor, Land Use Planner, and Karen Fitzgerald, Landscape Architect, who went on a walking tour (with the Planning Board members) around the Town of Sunapee from the harbor area to Lower Main Street in order to see the site(s) that the Town and the Planning Board were proposing for community development.
Jeff Taylor stated that he thought he understood some of the pieces that were at play and the kinds of things that needed to be addressed. From his perspective, he asked how much of his and Ms. Fitzgerald’s talents the Board wanted. The Master Plan chapters that he had looked at were in the five to twelve page range and for a relatively modest amount of money, they could come in and look at the existing documents that had been prepared (the Charrett document and others) and make some relatively straightforward suggestions about scale, types of buildings, and activities. He went on to say that if the resources could be garnered, there seemed to him to be a bigger project here, that is thinking through doing drawings and having public meetings about the whole extended river park. He suggested
that maybe he and Ms. Fitzgerald could give the Board a variety of options; they could give a number for the assembly and adding a little bit to it, probably with a couple of meetings with the Planning Board, but not with public meetings and/or forums. He suggested that he could probably give the Board two other levels, one being a public meeting with an array of drawings or a series of public meetings that would capture the whole array of things that they had discussed on the walkabout. He asked if this was a project that the Town was hoping to do in the near future and Michael Marquise responded that they did in fact want to get it done and published by the end of this year, especially in view of the fact that the funds will terminate at the end of the year. For the Master Plan itself, they would like a meeting sometime in the late summer, early fall and then publishing by January 1st.
Michael also stated that he was wondering if they should start with the Master Plan with recommendations and ideas (with the funds that the Town has and could use for the smaller part(s)) , and then go forward with getting funds that would be used for the bigger part(s) of the community development in a more detailed manner. Peggy Chalmers asked if he was thinking in a more detailed manner meaning going for additional funding next year? Michael responded that he thought it would take additional funding in order to do what they had discussed, i.e. if there was going to be more public discussions, more drawings, etc. so that people could see something in a visual context.
Jeff advised doing a winter phase and a summer phase so that all the townspeople could contribute input; by doing this, they found in other community developments that the summer residents are more willing to contribute financially. Bruce Jennings asked if Jeff thought the Town was on the right track and Jeff responded that he felt the Town was very much on the right track. He stated that having the library on the site that they looked at would generate multiple benefits and would be a place where the lights were on and the public was welcome twelve months of the year. He said that having the Lake Sunapee Protective Association added in there was a great thing and there were some things that they could recommend for the intersection of Main Street and Route 11 that would start to tie the two ends of Main Street back
together.
Peter White commented that it would be nice to look beyond that and have the traffic calm down, citing the speed limit having dropped down to 35 and 30 mph, and that it would be nice to have something that would start the approach into the Town roadway. Jeff responded that there are lots of ways to do that and that don’t cost much money and don’t need DOT approval, i.e. gateway signs on either end, so that it doesn’t just say 30 mph ahead, it says ‘Please Protect Our Kids in the Middle of Sunapee Village’ or some type of sign that says ‘Entering Sunapee Village’. Peggy Chalmers interjected that the Beautification Committee was working on providing that signage.
Jeff stated that the Town had some things going on in the Harbor that would generate activity but that Route 11 divided the village and until the Town wove the two pieces of Main Street back together by creating sidewalks, signage, flowers, that would create a tighter travel way.
Karen Fitzgerald commented that similar elements, such as paving materials for sidewalks, creates an identity or perception that drivers need to slow down because they are entering into a narrower roadway, even though the road is not actually narrower. She went on to say that it wouldn’t have to be a huge road project in order to accomplish that. Jeff interjected that when it’s wide open asphalt and wide open land beyond that, intellectually people use that beyond the pavement as part of their safety zone so they don’t have to slow down. If you narrow that safety zone, they will start to slow down. Jeff said that signs to direct people to different aspects of the village like the harbor ahead, marsh this way, crosswalk ahead, etc. would be exciting.
Jeff asked when the Board would meet next so that he could have a proposal ready a week ahead. Michael responded that the Board meets the first and third Thursdays of the month, which would make May 7 & 21 the next meeting days, with May 21 being committed to talking about the community development project. Jeff said that he would have a proposal ready to give to Michael by May 14th. He asked if there was a document that the River Walk group had produced and Peggy Chalmers responded that they did have one with some conceptual ideas in it. Jeff asked Michael if he would send him a Xerox copy of it.
Bruce Jennings asked if any grants were available (to re-establish community identity) and Jeff responded that when talking about simple public works projects, most charitable foundations will say why isn’t the Town using its taxing authority and just appropriate the money? He suggested going online to the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation website (www.nhcf.org) to find out which of their sub-regional components covers this area. He said that this foundation is the grant keeper for non-governmental grant funds in New Hampshire, either as the distributor of the funds or they talk to the people who write the checks. He said another source of funds was the Land and Water Conservation fund that is run by the Department of Resources and Economic
Development, which would probably look favorably on a project like this.
Peter White asked about access to the stimulus money from the Federal government and Jeff stated that the Town should keep their eyes open as money from that source could go to unusual places.
Peggy Chalmers asked if Jeff wanted the Board members to do anything with the questions he had put forth and he responded that he just wanted them to think about them. He said that what he would like to have happen for the first phase was to come back and have a conversation with the Board members about those questions.
Michael Marquise reported that this was the last chance for signing up for the Spring Planning and Zoning Conference which would be held on May 2nd. He stated that May 7th there would be a case presentation and on May 21st, the Conservation Commission would discuss their part of the Master Plan.
Peggy Chalmers asked if there was any other business to discuss and there being none, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
It is to be noted that this transcript is an approximation of statements made at the meeting and not a verbatim report.
Respectfully submitted,
Camille Holmes
Recording Secretary, Town of Sunapee Approved______________________________
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Peggy Chalmers, Chairman Allan Davis, Vice Chairman
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Bruce Jennings Derek Tatlock
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Philip Porter Peter White
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Emma M. Smith, Ex-Officio Frederick Gallup, Alt. Ex-Officio
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