MINUTES
ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
SUNAPEE, NH
SEPTEMBER 8, 2005
MEMBERS PRESENT: PETER WHITE, CHAIRMAN , JAMES LYONS, VICE CHAIRMAN, PETER URBACH, DON WEATHERSON, RICHARD GUYER , ALTERNATE, ROBERT HENRY AND ROGER LANDRY, ZONING ADMINISTRATOR.
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by Chairman, Peter White.
There were no disqualifications.
MINUTES: The minutes of August 23rd were reviewed. James Lyons made a motion to approve the minutes as printed. Peter Urbach seconded the motion. All members were in favor.
COMMUNICATIONS: The Fall Municipal Law Lecture series will be held in Lebanon on October 28. There is also a Fall Planning and Zoning Conference at Loon Mt. on Nov. 5th. Members should let Roger know if they plan to attend.
PLANNING BOARD REPORT: On September 22nd, there will be a joint meeting of the Planning Board and the Zoning Board and the Town attorneys at 6:30 at the Town Office. All members are urged to attend.
There will be a walk through on the Woodbine Cottage property at 5 P.M. on September 22nd. There was a review of the proposed condo units at the last meeting. This case will be on the October 6th Planning Board agenda.
There was a preliminary hearing on a proposed sub-division on Brook Rd. There will be a six unit sub-division and a twelve unit PUD on the Flanders property. The final hearing will be on October 6th.
Mr and Mrs Raps were in for a consultation on sub-dividing their property
There was also a consultation with the owners of Dexter’s Inn for a site plan for the Cross Country Norsk Ski Group using Dexter Inn property. It would be a change of use. There would not be a site plan this year. The plan would be on a temporary basis . More parking is needed. Dexter Inn will need a Special Exception.
PUBLIC HEARINGS : 7:15 P. M. Continued Case #05-46. Cooper St. Partners, LLC. Map #121. Lots # 11, 12, & 13 & 14. Appeal of the decision of the Zoning Administrator.
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The above owners are appealing the decision of Roger Landry, Zoning Administrator , in his issuance of a cease and desist order , with attached fines regarding the use of the property. The Board of Selectman approved the issuance of the order. At the opening of the appeal hearing, Roger informed the Board of a complication in Town records on the tax maps and lot numbers. Atty.Robert Shaines was representing Mr. Caia and Ms. Sargent. A letter had been sent concerning the problem on the old Chase Marina property..on Rt. 11 Then on Januray 24, 2005, Mr. Landry spoke with Mr. Caia concerning the activity on the former Chase Marine property on. Rt. 11. He was informed that he would have to come in and apply for site plan review. No action was taken to apply for the application. Mr Caia was also
told that the property had to be cleaned up of old cars and they could not be stored there. Another letter was sent on March 14, 2005 , 2005 giving the owners 60 days to comply . A cease and desist order was issued on April 21 , 05. The Attorney wanted to present his side of the case first. He also did not want Roger to be seated at his left side . Atty. Shaines says that his case is not against Cooper Street Partners, LLC. It is against the Cease and Desist order and the $275. per day fine. He questioned whether or not Roger Landry had the authority to issue a cease and desist order and levy a fine. Mr. Courtney Heath, ( Northeast Towing & Recovery ) had a lease or permission to store cars on the former Chase property since June of 2001 by Mr. Caia. Atty. Shaines thinks that the property should be grandfathered. He also says that Mr. Heaths use of the property is non-conforming and against the zoning ordinance and that he should have
been sent a notice of violation. There was a mixup of the wrong map and lot number because of inaccurate Town Records. Sargents Marina is Map #106 and Lot #18. Mr. Caia and Doireann Sargent had not stored cars on that property. .
Atty. Shaines is asking that the cease and desist order be terminated the wrong map and lot number was used and he says the wrong owner. Atty. Shaines included copies of Deeds and copies of letters that were exchanged between all parties involved in this appeal and were presented to the Chairman of the Zoning Board. Cooper St.Partners, LLC acquired the former Chase property through a bankrupt fudiciary deed August 15, 2003.
Roger said the records have been corrected. He spoke to the Town attorney to get his advice or whether or not he should start the entire procedure over again. The Town attorney said that if the owner had got the message, even if there were some errors,
Roger, should not start over, because it would just confuse all of the issues.
The Town does not keep a record on business’s or what people are involved in a particular business. There is no record of what people are involved in partnerships, etc. This added to the mix-up on who the partners are in Cooper Street Partners, LLC.
The property owner did get the message of violation. The whole process started on January 10, 2005 , when roger sent Mr. Caia a letter concerning the problem. Mr. Caia did meet with Roger on January 24, 2005. At that time Roger suggested to Mr. Caia that he should go to the Planning Board and Site Plan Review.and correct the problems. Mr.
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Caia said that he was going to hire somebody and try to correct the problems. On January 26, 2005, Mr. Caia sent a letter to Roger saying that he would present a case for the
Town of Sunapee , but he did not know just when that would happen. On March 14, 2005, there were more concerns about the activity on Map #211, the former Chase property. The police and the Selectmen were involved at this time and Mr. Caia was given 60 days again to correct the violations. Junk yards are prohibited in Sunapee by our zoning ordinance. The cease and desist notice was sent to Mr. Caia and Dorieann Sargent. The Zoning Board of Adjustment has a thirty day time limit to appeal a case of a administrative decision. Roger Landry, Zoning Administrator does not feel that the client has met the time element and Mr. Caia had plenty of time to comply.
In 2003, in the Gibbens case, the 30 day appeal period was exceeded and the appeal was denied. Don Weatherson asked to clarify the Town appeal time. The Chairman then did interrupted to clarify this section of the ordinance. Peter Urbach had questions about the legislative body as referred to in RSA 677.17A. Atty. Shaines questioned Roger’s right or authority to issue a cease and desist and fines. Aty. Shaines again referred to the RSA and went all through it again. The Attorney made several accusations concerning the whole situation. The enforcement needs to be authorized . Atty. Shaines does not think that Roger Landry has that authority from the Selectmen. Atty. Shaines is alleging that the cease and desist order is not legal. Sunapee’s Town, Attorney, Mr. Bates feels otherwise.
Atty. Shaines insisted that that Sunapee’s Town attorney should be at the hearing. The Selectmen appointed Roger Landry as the Zoning Administrator two and a half years ago and after 2 months , he was given the power by the Selectmen to investigate violations, notify the property owners to correct them, issue, cease and desist orders and level fines. The Selectmen are notified in advance by Roger of what is going on with each case .
After all the discussion , there was a suggestion that the Board should continue the case because of the many situations. Peter Urbach was concerned that all the issues could not be settled at this hearing. He suggested issuing a new cease and desist order. Don Weatherson was against this because of the chance of complicating the case. Bob Henry was concerned that the Town Attorney was not at the hearing to give his opinion. Peter White feels there are three main issues. 1. Did Roger have the right to issue the cease and desist order ?. 2. Was the cease and desist order issue correctly ?. 3. Did the applicant respond in the correct amount of time? Don Weatherson thought this was reasonable. Peter Urbach thought that on the second question was because of the wrong map and lot number. Roger
asked the board to continue the hearing to October 13 and it will be the only case on the agenda. The town attorney will be present. Richard Guyer said that this problem could happen again and he agrees with Bob Henry and he feels the Town Attorney should be present. Don Weatherson would like to see the documented evidence that Roger was authorized to issue a cease and desist. This may be in the Selectmen’s minutes. Roger uses a procedure to issue the cease and desist that he obtained from Sulloway and Hollis. Peter Urbach made the motion to continue the case to October 13. Richard Guyer seconded the motion. There were five yes votes.
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.Case #05-47. Diane J. Perkins and Christopher T. Domian. Map #116. Lot #6. Special
Exception. Art. III. 3:50 C. Reduce rear setback to 20’ and side setback to 14’ for a 24’ x 24’ , 2 stall garage at 114 Northwest Lane. Sunapee. Chris Domian presented the case.
The map presented showed the building area and included the rectangular area which was recently annexed to his property to have enough room for the garage. Two retaining walls will be expanded. The lot is sloped. The neighbors do not have any problem with the plan. The Public part of the hearing closed at 8:30 P. M. James Lyons made a motion to approve the request of Diane J. Perkins and Christopher T. Domian . Map #116. Lot #6 for a Special Exception from Art. III. 3:50 C. to reduce the rear setback to 20’ and side setback to 14’ for a 24’ x 24’, 2 stall garage at 14 Northwest Lane. Sunapee. Don Weatherson seconded the motion. There were five yes votes.
Case #05-48. Pensco Trust Co. Robert W. Bell., IRA. Map #203. Lot # 6. Variance. Art. III. 3:40 L. Construction of an access Road for a new sub-division. Prospect Hill Rd. George’s Mills. Mr. Bell presented the case. There is a 500’ slope. All of the construction will be in the flat area on top of the hill There will be one road off Prospect Hill Rd.
He does not want to have many driveways coming down to Prospect Hill Rd. The one road will go across the Sullivans property. Mr. Bell has an agreement with them. He is planning to have 20 houses on the property. There are105 acres. There will be retention ponds. There will be a cistern for water storage. There will be individual septic systems. There will be catch basins at the bottom of the hill to catch run-off. Abutters were concerned about digging of wells and disturbing any aquifer that would affect their wells. Mr. Bell has not done any drilling at present. He will need to go to Site Plan Review and to the Planning Board. Mr. Bell read the five points of the variance. . Tony Bergeron, road agent was in favor of the one road going into the property. The Public part of the hearing closed at 9:10 P.M. The
lot size in the area is three acres. Peter Urbach made a motion to approve the request of Pensco Trust Co. Robert W. Bell. IRA. Map #203. Lot #6. Variance. Art. III. 3:40 L. For construction of a access road for a new sub-division . Prospect Hill Rd. George’s Mills with the proviso that no other access roads or driveways will be built off Prospect Hill Rd. to this property. The motion was seconded by Don Weatherson. There were five yes votes.
Case #05-49. Gary and Michele Andy. Map #146. Lot #36. Variance. Art. III. 3:40 J. Seeking reduction of side and lakefront setbacks for a retaining wall exceeding 42” in height at 414 Bay Point Rd. Sunapee. The walls border Oakledge. The walls were built with existing material that was on the property. There are some large rocks under the stonewalls.
The lot is non-conforming. It is four tenths of an acre. There was no number on the property. They have tried to be consistent with the surrounding property. They worked hard to clean up all the brush, etc that was left on their lot . A road nearby needs to have a provision for run-off. Oakledge has not done anything about that for some forty years.
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The Public part of the hearing closed at 9:30 P.M. Don Weatherson made a motion to approve the request of Gary and Michelle Andy. Case #05-49. Map #146. Lot #36.
Variance. Art. III. 3:40 J. Seeking reduction of side and lakefront setbacks for a retaining wall exceeding 42” in height at 414 Bay Point Rd. Sunapee. James Lyons seconded the motion. There were five yes votes.
The case work for the September 27th meeting was given to the members. The October 13 meeting will be for the continued Case #05-46 Cooper Street Partners , LLC. only. There will be a meeting on October 25th.
James Lyons made a motion to adjourn at 9:40 P.M. All members were in favor.
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Respectfully submitted, Date approved:
Edythe C, Dexter ZONING BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
ZBA Secretary
PETER WHITE, CHAIRMAN
ALTERNATE :
JAMES LYONS, VICE CHAIRMAN
ROBERT HENRY PETER URBACH
. DON WEATHERSON
. RICHARD GUYER
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