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Town
of Warner – Planning Board Meeting Minutes February 1, 2010 7:00
PM Warner Town Hall, Lower Level Members Present: Barbara Annis, Paul Violette, David Hartman, and
Dan Watts
Members Arriving Late:
Rick Davies Members Excused:
Ed Mical Members Absent:
Hank Duhamel
Alternates Present:
Peter Wyman, Harold French Alternates Excused:
None Alternates Absent:
None Presiding:
Barbara Annis Recording:
Tracey
Hallenborg
Open Meeting at 7:00 PM Roll Call Ms. Annis opened the
meeting at 7:00 p.m. The
roll call was taken. Ms.
Annis elevated the two alternates to be full Board Members. 1.
WORK SESSION ON MASTER PLAN (Rescheduled from 01/18/10 meeting)
Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission: Mike
Tardiff, Vanessa Bittermann and Ruairi O’Mahony A. TRANSPORTATION
CHAPTER Ms. Annis introduced Mr. O’Mahony. Mr. O’Mahony stated Mr.
Tardiff sent his apologies; he was unable to attend tonight’s meeting due to an illness in the
family. A brief background of the content of 1st Draft of the Transportation Chapter was presented by Mr.
O’Mahony. He stated one of the key elements looked at was the Capital Improvement Program for Warner along
with Subdivision Regulations and Site Plan Regulations to obtain more specific details. Mr.
O’Mahony stated that there have been significant Planning Studies done with regards to transportation
specifically NH 103 Access Management Study and the Design Charrette as well as The Safe Routes to School
Travel Plan where a lot of useful information was obtained to create the Draft Transportation
Chapter regarding traffic patterns and facilities for pedestrians. Mr. O’Mahony pointed out there is
no accident data contained in the Draft Chapter because they are waiting until the accident Data Maps
are done with the most up to date accident data recently received. Mr. O’Mahony asked if the Board had
any comments or questions. Ms. Annis thanked Mr. O’Mahony for the
thorough job he did on the 1st Draft of The Transportation Chapter. Ms. Annis pointed out a couple of
typographical errors which Mr. O’Mahony said will be corrected. Ms. Annis stated the amount of
parking spots at the Park & Ride is 24 not 15. Paul Violette then questioned Table TR 2:
Priority Road Improvements regarding the accuracy of the data.
Mr. O’Mahony
stated he would check with Alan Brown, Road Agent, for the most up to
date information. Ms. Annis stated there is a difference in data
compared to the 2010 CIP (Capital Improvement Program) that was received
today. Ms. Annis asked the secretary to furnish Ruairi O’Mahony with a
copy of the 2010 CIP. Mr. O’Mahony told the Board they can make
any changes they feel necessary and send him an e-mail with the
corrected information. Mr. Violette stated information in Table
TR5: Warner Bridge Network also needed to be updated specifically the
information pertaining to the Connors Mill Road Bridge that was
completely rebuilt and thought it should be removed from the Table.
David Hartman expressed a few general
questions and specific
concerns namely: He found the lengthy detail regarding the State Aid
Highway Classification and Functional Classification system to be
confusing, Vanessa Bittermann suggested putting a brief description of
each in the text and to add an appendix for further information; he felt
more emphasis should be given to the flood driven road improvements that
have already been completed in Warner and suggested removing the data
from Table TR 2 regarding Horne Street to Collins Road since this road
has been rebuilt. A discussion was held regarding the
adoption of a Draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Town
and NHDOT regarding access management issues on state roads in Warner,
which was dropped due Central New Hampshire representative leaving his
position. A brief discussion was held regarding driveway permits; the
verbiage used regarding the Planning Board reviewing their Site Plan
Review and Design Standards should be reviewed “periodically” for
adequacy instead of “annually” for adequacy. Mr. Hartman questioned why Waterloo Bridge
was not included in Table TR 5: Warner Bridge Network. Mr. O’Mahony
stated he would check into DOT’s information. Mr. Hartman and Ms.
Annis both stated that a Bridge Maintenance Fund has already been
established. Ms. Annis opened the session to the Public. Mr. Jim McLaughlin suggested the Village Parking situation would be
addressed. Mr. Clyde Carson asked if parking for the Fall Foliage Festival could also be taken into
consideration. Everyone agreed Warner does have some parking issues that would need to be addressed.
With no further comments from the Public Ms. Annis returned to the Board
for further comments or Mr. Davies had a question regarding the scoring values in Table TR 2:
Priority Road Improvements and felt the value system should be explained more clearly for the casual
reader. Mr. Hartman explained the lower the score the higher the priority. A brief discussion was held regarding scenic roads and a Town being able
to maintain the Right-of –Way. Mr. Hartman requested a reference to the Capital Reserve Fund being used
for road improvements in Warner be placed in the Chapter. Mr. O’Mahony thanked the Board and asked them to e-mail him with any
other comments or changes they would like done. B. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER Ms. Annis introduced Ms. Vanessa Bittermann who gave a brief summary on
the Economic Development Chapter. She asked if the Board would be interested in having a
Visioning Session where local businesses would be invited to give their input. Ms. Bittermann also
asked if the Board would be interested in doing a survey of the business community to ask some
specific questions. Ms. Bittermann informed the Board the survey could be done online. Paul Violette suggested contacting the Kearsarge Area Chamber of
Commerce which consists of all sizes of businesses primarily located in Warner regarding the survey. Dan
Watts, also a member of the Kearsarge Area Chamber of Commerce, offered to talk with their Board in
regards to accessing the data base to obtain information on local business to invite them to
participate in the survey. Ms. Bittermann provided the Board with a sample survey.
Ms Annis suggested having a finalized Economic Development Survey ready to forward to Ms. Bittermann at the
February 15, 2010 Work Session. Ms. Bitterman suggested having a subcommittee for the Economic
Development Chapter. Ms. Annis asked Mr. Watts if the Kearsarge Area Chamber of Commerce might be
interested in being part of a subcommittee. Mr. Watts said he would check into it. A short discussion was held regarding changing the time of the meeting
for the Visioning Session. It was agreed to have the Visioning Session during the April 19, 2010 Work
Session at 6pm. Ms. Bittermann asked Mr. Violette to contact her to set a time for her
to meet with Mr. Violette and Martha Mical regarding Assessing Data. With no further questions or comments Ms. Annis closed this portion of
the meeting. Mr. O’Mahony and Ms. Bittermann thanked the Board and left. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A.
Approve minutes of November 2, 2009 Meeting
B. Approve minutes of
December 7, 2009 Meeting
C. Approve minutes of December 21, 2009 Work Session
D. Approve minutes of January 4, 2010 Meeting
E. Approve minutes of January 18, 2010 Work Session A. NOVEMBER 2, 2009 MINUTES Paul Violette MOVED to ACCEPT the November
2, 2009 minutes, Dan Watts seconded the motion and all were in favor to
APPROVE the minutes. B. DECEMBER 7, 2009 MINUTES Paul Violette MOVED
to accept the December 7, 2009 minutes, Peter Wyman seconded the motion
and all were in favor to APPROVE
the minutes. C. DECEMBER 21, 2009 WORK SESSION MINUTES Paul Violette MOVED
to accept the December 21, 2009 minutes, David Hartman seconded the
motion and all were in favor to APPROVE
the minutes. D. JANUARY 4, 2010 MINUTES Paul Violette MOVED
to accept the January 4, 2010 minutes with corrections, David
Hartman seconded the motion and all were in favor to APPROVE
the minutes with corrections. E. JANUARY 18, 2010 WORK SESSION MINUTES Dan Watts MOVED
to accept the January 18, 2010 minutes, Peter Wyman seconded the motion
and all were in favor to APPROVE
the minutes. 3. SUBCOMMITTEE
REPORTS
Ms. Annis stated she and David Karrick
attended a meeting for the EECBG Grant and are currently waiting to hear
from Central New Hampshire in regards to the next step. 4. COMMUNICATIONS AND
MISCELLANEOUS
Ms. Annis suggested the Board members
review their 2009-2010 Edition of the New Hampshire Planning and Land
Use Regulation book. Mr. Davies stated he read a document
stating the Planning Board should give their opinion on zoning petitions
for the Warrant Article put forth related to Zoning changes whether they
are for it or against it. Ms. Annis stated that the deadline for
petitions is February 4, 2010. Mr. Davies said he did not find anything
in the law book stating regarding this statement. Ms. Annis agreed she
could not find anything stating this is a law at this time without doing
further research. Mr. Davies asked for copies of the proposed
Warrant Articles to give out at the February Men’s Club meeting. Ms.
Annis informed Mr. Davies those copies were available and the secretary
would give them to him immediately following the meeting. Dan Watts also
requested a few copies which would also be given to him at the end of
the meeting. Ms.Annis said she
appeared before two house bills 1174 and 1288 both having to do with
Planning Board terms of office.
Ms. Annis became involved with the bill because on April 1, 2008 her
term expired and she was not able to be reappointed before the first
Monday Planning Board Session since the Selectman did not meet until
later in the week. Laura
Buono checked with the Local Government Center whose opinion was Ms.
Annis was still in office until someone else was appointed in her place
but suggested she check with Town Counsel.
Counsel informed Ms. Annis it was a grey area and advised her to
sit in the audience for the meeting until she was reappointed. As a
result Ms. Annis contacted Christine Hamm to see if there was a law
regarding appointment terms. Although, by the time Ms. Annis was done
talking back and forth with different individuals it was too late too
for the 2009 session. Ms. Annis contacted Ms.
Hamm in 2009 to have the issue addressed and the individual from the
Local Government Center did not write up exactly what Ms. Annis
requested; therefore it was involved in an amendment to another bill.
Ms. Annis opposed what was being proposed in bill 1174. She opposed part
of bill 1288 and supported part of bill 1288; however it was defeated as
“Inexpedient to Legislate.”
Ms.
Annis read the Amendment to HB 1174 as follows: The
term of office for an appointed local land use board member shall begin
on a date established
by the appointing
authority, or as soon thereafter as the member is qualified, and shall end 3 years after the date so established. Ms. Annis stated she
agreed with a specific appointment date but does not agree with
remaining in office until a successor is appointed. Ms. Annis also
brought up the point that does a Board Member succeed themselves?
Ms. Annis stated she does not agree with the statement, “If
no successor has been appointed and qualified at the expiration of an
appointed member’s term, the member shall be entitled to remain in
office until a successor has been appointed and qualified”,
and thought there should be a more specific time limit added to this
sentence. A brief discussion was held regarding terms, vacancies
and appointments. 5. GENERAL
DISCUSSION ON UPCOMING PROJECTS The Board discussed finishing working on
Alan Brown’s Roadwork project in regards to reconstructing roads,
cul-de-sacs, lollipops, etc. It was agreed to meet with Alan Brown in
two weeks at the February 15, 2010 Work Session. The secretary will wait
for Dan Watts to put together correct maps and Mr. Davies to go over the
notes he has before creating a packet for review with Mr. Brown. 6. ADJOURN
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