Town of Warner –Planning Board

Meeting Minutes

April 5, 2010        7:00 PM

Warner Town Hall , Lower Level  

Members Present:     Barbara Annis, Paul Violette, Rick Davies, David Hartman,                                             Hank Duhamel, Ed Mical, and Dan Watts.

Members Excused:    None

Members Absent:      None

Members Arriving Late: None

Alternates Present:    Aedan Sherman

Alternates Excused:  Peter Wyman

Alternates Absent:    

OPEN MEETING AT 7:00 PM

ROLL CALL  

Barbara Annis opened the meeting at 7:00 PM . The roll call was taken.  

1. CONCEPTUAL CONSULTATION  

            Applicants and Property Owners:   Allan Jones/Dimond Flag LLC-Knoxland                                                                                     Equipment Inc.

            Property Location:  Map 3, Lot 34, C-1 Zoning District

            Description: Proposed Expansion of business to include NH State Inspections of                                           autos and trucks.    

Barbara Annis introduced Mr. Allan Jones of Dimond Flag LLC/Knoxland Equipment Inc. Barbara Annis read an excerpt from the Town of Warner Site Plan Review Regulations :  

Site plan review by the Planning Board is required for all proposed industrial, commercial or multifamily developments; for the change or expansion of use of all industrial, commercial or multi-family uses, ……….  

Barbara Annis explained Mr. Jones is proposing expanding his business and has come before the Board to see if he needs to have a Full Site Plan Review.  

Mr. Jones explained he wants to add heavy truck inspections to his already existing business. He stated the State of NH has already come and inspected the business and agreed to allow him to start performing State Inspections of automobiles and trucks. Mr. Jones stated he will still be continuing his usual business with only the addition of State Inspections.  

Rick Davies asked if there would be any change in hours. Mr. Jones stated he would still continue his current hours 7am-5 pm weekdays and 8am-1pm on Saturday.  

Hank Duhamel asked if there would be any change in traffic volume. Mr. Jones said no there would not be a significant change. The property is already suited to handle large trucks.   

Ed Mical asked if there would be any change in lighting. Mr. Jones stated there would be no changes unless the state required specific lighting for the State Inspection sign that will need to be posted. Mr. Jones stated he would get a sign permit through the Board of Selectman.  

Rick Davies asked if any changes to landscape would be done to accommodate additional truck parking. Mr. Jones said he would not need to change anything; his parking lot at this time has ample room.  

Paul Violette made a MOTION to Waiver the Full Site Plan Review based on the information in the application. Hank Duhamel seconded the MOTION. All were in favor.  

Mr. Jones thanked the Board and left the meeting.  

A brief discussion was held whether abutters should be able to comment before the Board makes a decision on a preliminary conceptual consultation. The Board agreed they would check into whether abutters are allowed to speak at a conceptual consultation at the May 8, 2010 Seminar for Planning Board Members.  

2. ELECTIONS  

Ed Mical made a MOTION to move the elections up instead of following the agenda and having them later in the meeting. All were in favor.  

A. PLANNING BOARD CHAIRMAN AND VICE CHAIRMAN  

Ed Mical made a MOTION to nominate Barbara Annis as Chairperson. Paul Violette seconded the motion. All were favor.  

Hank Duhamel made a MOTION to nominate Paul Violette as Vice Chairman. Rick Davies seconded the motion. All were favor.  

B. REPRESENTATIVES TO CNHRPC FROM THE TOWN OF WARNER .  

David Hartman stated the Board of Selectman had already appointed Rick Davies and Jim McLaughlin.    

C. ELECTION OF CIP CHAIRMAN  

A MOTION was made to nominate Ed Mical. The motion was seconded. All were in favor.  

Ed Mical Asked if anyone from the Board would like to be part of the committee. Barbara Annis stated Peter Wyman said he would continue. Aedan Sherman agreed to join the committee.  

3. CONTINUED DISCUSSION ON SUBDIVISION REGULATIONS  

A. SUBDIVISION REGULATIONS (Draft Copy of March 15, 2010 )  

The Board reviewed the Draft Copy with proposed changes made at the March 15, 2010 Work Session so the secretary could compose a clean Draft Copy for the future Public Hearing.  

 

·        Section III C 1b: to add eleven (11) paper copies 11X 17.  All were in favor to accept the change.

·        Section III C 2b: to add At the discretion of the Planning Board the abutters may speak.  All were in favor to accept the change.

·        Section III C 5e: Any major subdivision may be required to be reviewed by the Planning Board’s designated reviewing agent. All were in favor to accept the change.

·        Section V C-2: Where the subdivision is to be served by the Warner Village Water District (WVWD), public water supply or sewers, the plat shall show the location of such existing service. A statement from the Warner Village Water District attesting to the availability of such service shall be submitted. All were in favor to accept the change.

·        Section VI A-12: per the information gathered from Allen Brown, Public Works Director, the following statement was added: Concrete can be substituted for asphalt when creating a curb patch. All were in favor to accept the change.

 

B. SECTION III PROCEDURES  

A brief discussion was held regarding Section III C-4. The Board agreed the information that was originally there should be moved to Section V A-2 to keep all required documents in one location. It was agreed to change C-4 to read Plan Format, See Section V A.  

Section III C-3 verbiage was changed to Completed Application. Barbara Annis suggested changing verbiage to read …. Described in Section V (The Final Subdivision Plan, see page 10). All were in favor.  

C. SECTION V  

A lengthy discussion was held regarding Section VA- 2 in particular when a Mylar vs. paper copies is necessary and what documentation is needed in the different phases. The Board agreed to restructure paragraphs to make the information as to what is needed during each phase clearer. It was also agreed to add information from V A-7 regarding the tax map. The proposed paragraphs will read:

1.       Document Requirements.

a. During the application phase the applicant shall provide three (3) paper copies (22x34 inches) of each page of the final plat and eleven (11) copies 11x17 showing lot size, natural features (lakes, streams, fields etc.), streets, buildings, property lines, etc.

          b.  Upon receiving approval the final plat shall be in permanent black ink, on a                         permanent reproducible Mylar in conformance with the requirements of the                             Registry of Deeds of Merrimack County . Sheet size no larger than 22 x 34                         inches. If one sheet is not of sufficient size to contain the entire area of the                            site, the plat shall be divided into sections to be shown on separate sheets of                           equal size with reference on each sheet to the adjoining sheets. Margins shall                  be at least 1/2" outside ruled border lines on three sides and at least 2" along                   the left side for bindings.

          c. The Final Plat shall contain the following statement:

"The Subdivision Regulations of the Town of Warner are a part of this Plat, and approval of the plat requires the completion of all the requirements of said Subdivision Regulations excepting only any relaxation of requirements granted in writing by the Planning Board." 

 d.  In the case of a Voluntary Merger, no new survey plat need be recorded, but  a notice of the merger, sufficient to identify the relevant parcels and                         endorsed in writing by the planning board or its designee, shall be filed for       recording in the registry of deeds, and a copy mailed to Town of Warner's               assessing officials.

e.   One paper copy of the survey map at either of 1" = 100', or 1" = 400'              shall also be provided for Town use depending on the scale of the Warner tax map for that location.

A brief discussion was held regarding an optional JPEG file be included when an application is submitted along with paper copies. The Board agreed the JPEG file would not be a requirement. Dan Watts will write up a statement to be added to the Subdivision Regulations and send it to the secretary so the Board can approve it at the next meeting.  

Dan Watts said he was still trying to acquire the new average weekday trip generations to update the charts in Section V E-1c. The Board will check with Central New Hampshire Planning Commission to see if they have the updated information.    

D. SECTION VI (MONUMENTS)  

The Board discussed the proposed changes from the March 15, 2010 Work Session Meeting regarding Monuments and thought the statement added that was added stating: A plus, brass plate or pin shall serve as a point of reference and a magnetic rod……….. should be removed and replaced by: A magnetic rod or other suitable metal device shall be placed adjacent to any stone monument to allow for recovery. All were in favor of the change.  

E. SUBDIVISION CHECKLIST  

Rick Davies stated he researched information on how much land is required for a PERK test to be required and it is under 5 acres of buildable land.  

Section Env-Wq 1003.06 Information Required for Individual Sewage Disposal Systems, pp (d)(3) indicates residential lots over 5 acres do not require the design, but there are a few restrictions depending on the lot type (ie, ledge) and location relative to a Shoreline, etc. Below is a link to the State DES regs  

The Board agreed to work on the checklist at a later meeting date.    

4. REVIEW PLANNING BOARD BYLAWS AND PROCEDURES  

Rick Davies asked if it is necessary to change the verbiage to state Work Session meetings are held on the third Monday or leave it the way it is: Other meetings may be held on call of the Chair or Vice-Chairman, provided public notice is given at least five (5) days [excluding Sundays and legal holidays] in advance of such meetings.  

Rick Davies questioned if the Board should start to put approval of minutes earlier in the agenda in case the same topic from a previous meeting were to be discussed again. Paul Violette agreed. Barbara Annis agreed and stated it was changed to later in the meeting so the Board could start with applicants first so they did not have to wait for the Board to approve minutes. Paul Violette and Rick Davies agreed at times it could be a lengthy process and other times a short process. Rick Davies suggested moving the approval of minutes toward the beginning of the meeting and if the discussion would be lengthy and did not pertain to anything else on the agenda for the night a motion could be made to move the approval of the minutes toward the end of the meeting. The Board agreed to change the format to be consistent with the Bylaws and Procedures.  

Barbara Annis suggested changing the verbiage to include alternates in Section A under officers to read: The following officers shall be elected annually in the month of April by majority vote of the Board members present including alternates: The Board agreed to the new proposed verbiage.    

Barbara Annis stated the time limit for Notice of Decision has been changed from 144 hours to 5 business days. The Board agreed to change the verbiage to read: Notice of decision will be made available for public inspection at the Board’s office in the Warner Town Hall within 5 business days after the decision is made, as required in RSA 676:3.  

5. MINUTES  

Approve minutes of March 1, 2010

Approve minutes of March 15, 2010 Work Session  

Paul Violette made a MOTION to ACCEPT March 1, 2010 meeting minutes as amended. David Hartman seconded the motion all were in favor. March 1, 2010 meeting minutes were APPROVED.  

Paul Violette made a MOTION to ACCEPT the March 15, 2010 work session minutes as amended. Ed Mical seconded the motion. All were in favor. The March15, 2010 work session minutes were APPROVED as amended.                  

6. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS  

Paul Violette gave a Master Plan update. He stated Vanessa Bittermann would be present at the Visioning Session for the Economic Development Chapter of the Master Plan on April 19, 2010 to discuss the outcome of the survey sent out to local business owners. Paul Violette stated as of Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 6pm , 30 surveys were received. The Public will have an opportunity to voice their opinions at the session.  

As Chairman of the CIP Ed Mical stated he would like to meet with the Selectman and Budget Committee to discuss this year’s CIP plan.     

Barbara Annis stated she and Laura Buono, Town Administrator, received an email from Nick Coates of CNHRPC in regards to having someone join the PATH program which encourages businesses in the community to promote ride shares, Park and Rides, and other alternate means of getting to work. Barbara Annis read the following e-mail from Nock Coates:  

The committee will be similar to the TAC in that it will meet about
six times a year for 2-hour meetings.  The committee's
responsibilities will be two-fold.

First, the committee will work with staff to help shape policy and
provide guidance for the program that staff would implement and
provide feedback on.  These would be things like assessment of
strategic vision and goals and establishing and attaining benchmarks
for PATH 's projects.  Second, the committee would work with staff on
more concrete things like providing guidance on regional priorities
and being a sounding board for new ideas (particularly when it comes
to grant opportunities).  

Barbara Annis stated if anyone is interested she would furnish them with Nick Coates’s e-mail address.  

Barbara Annis stated she has been involved in trying to find out more information on traffic counts in Warner. The current information supplied to the Board from Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission (CNHRPC) for tonight’s meeting was found to have errors. Barbara Annis stated that at Steven’s Brook on 6/16/09 the ADT was 8,158 vehicles counted with peak times at 7 AM and 4 PM . On the same day at the same peak times 4,656 vehicles were counted passing the Park and Ride. The population of the Town of Warner is 2910.  

Barbara Annis stated on March 26, 2010 there was a TAC meeting in Concord with 16 representatives from the various Towns in the area. The EECBG grant was discussed at the meeting. There were 271 applications for the grant. There were 3 Park and Rides requested from the State of New Hampshire and none of the Park and Rides were funded. Concord was given funding to change their traffic lights to LED lights.  

On the Safe Routes to School funding Allenstown received full funding for the 4^th round Hopkinton received funding, Hillsborough was funded. However, Warner did not receive funding. Barbara Annis read an excerpt from a handout she received stating:  

WARNER: The committee does not recommend funding this application. Committee members viewed the engineering cost estimates as too vague. Further information was requested to clarity the engineering costs. Committee members did not feel that the new application sufficiently addressed this issue. In addition, the proposal to pave the bus parking area was viewed as not sufficiently connected to the goal of encouraging walking and bicycling to school.  

7. COMMUNICATIONS AND MISCELLANEOUS  

Barbara Annis stated she will be attending the meeting on Thursday April 8, 2010 for the new House Bill 1174 that is going to be before the senate committee regarding terms for appointed officials including Planning Boards.

3 New Paragraph; Terms of Local Land Use Board Members. Amend RSA 673:5 by inserting after paragraph II the following new paragraph:

III . 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. 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.

Barbara Annis stated she testified at the hearing previously on the bill. The Bill was amended and there is now a specific date for termination which is determined by the Board of Selectman. Barbara Annis stated she still did not approve of the second part of the Bill stating if an individual’s term expires on a Board they will automatically continue to be on the Board until someone else is chosen in their place.  

David Hartman stated that he disagreed with Barbara Annis in that Board members on occasion could be held over until another Board member can be found to take their place. He feels the Bill gives some flexibility that a person can serve for another six months or however long it takes to find someone to fill the slot.  

Barbara Annis asked how the Board feels about asking the Selectman if they would like the Planning Board to continue as the Transportation Advisory Committee ( TAC ) to pursue research in the Exit 9 area such as adding traffic lights, roundabouts, repositioning of driveways and trying to acquire any type of funding available. Hank Duhamel thought it would be a good idea to continue if the Board of Selectman approved. Rich Davies agreed it would be a good idea for the Planning Board to stay involved.  

Barbara Annis stated that first an application needs to be filled out requesting State Highway Aid, which would be available in 2012, because the state will not want to waste their time talking to a Town if they are not ready to move forward. The question was raised if a Town can refuse the money and have another Town come in front of them and they would be put off until another year. Another option is to decide what a Town wants to do and have a construction plan drawn up and the State would reimburse the Town 2/3 the cost of the plan once the entire project is done. Paul Violette suggested asking Jim Marshall how binding the application is, would the Town need to have monies ready in 2012.  

After a brief discussion the Board decided to hold off on talking to the Board of Selectman until after the Visioning Session. Dan Watts made a MOTION to Table the discussion until after receiving feedback from the Public at the Visioning Session on April 19, 2010 .  

8. ADJOURN  

A MOTION was made to ADJOURN, the motion was seconded and all were in favor. The meeting adjourned at 9:35 PM .