Town of Warner –Planning Board

Meeting Minutes

October 4, 2010 7:00 PM

Warner Town Hall , Main Hall

 

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

Members Excused:   Hank Duhamel

Members Absent:  None       

Members Arriving Late:  None

Alternates Present:  J.D. Colcord

Alternates Excused:  Peter Wyman, and Aedan Sherman.

Alternates Arriving Late:  None  

OPEN MEETING AT 7:00 PM

ROLL CALL

Barbara Annis opened the meeting at 7:00 PM . The roll call was taken. Barbara Annis elevated J.D. Colcord to a voting Board member.  

1. MINUTES 

Approve minutes of September 13, 2010

Approve minutes of September 20, 2010 Work Session  

Paul Violette made a MOTION to APPROVE September 13, 2010 meeting minutes. J.D. Colcord seconded the motion all were in favor. September 13, 2010 meeting minutes were APPROVED.  

Ed Mical made a MOTION to APPROVE as AMENDED September 20, 2010 Work Session minutes. J.D. Colcord seconded the motion and all were in favor. August 16, 2010 Work Session minutes were APPROVED as AMENDED.  

Rick Davies questioned the verbiage used of an alternate being elevated to a “full member”. It was agreed to use the verbiage a “voting member”.  

2. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS  

A. TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE  

Paul Violette said the subcommittee talked about the recent request for proposals. Only one firm responded, Holden Engineering Company, and gave a submittal. There were no prices included in the submittal for the different types of possible projects. Paul Violette was asked to contact the firm to request price information for budget purposes as well as any other details relative to their submittal that would be needed. It was talked about that if a responsible agreement could be reached the subcommittee would make a recommendation to the Planning Board and Board of Selectman to move forward with Holden Engineering. If a reasonable agreement is not met the process would start again to see if any other firms would come forward with information. Paul Violette said a few years back they had the same problem with trying to obtain engineering firms.  

David Hartman said Holden Engineering is the firm the Board of Selectman contracted to do the safe routes to school project.

Paul Violette said they seem to be well qualified.  

Paul Violette said they also discussed a recent letter that was sent from the Planning Board chairman to Attorney Don Gartrell relative to any expansion plans that Market Basket Company may have. A meeting will be set up with the Transportation Subcommittee and Market Basket representatives to discuss public safety issues in the Exit 9 area.  

David Hartman asked if the Town was expending any money at this point. Paul Violette said the letter made it clear that the attorney is representing Market Basket. David Hartman said he wanted to be sure that the Attorney’s office knew not to bill the Town for the meeting. Paul Violette said he will be sure to make it clear the intention is not to bill the Town of Warner .  

Barbara Annis said all the Transportation Committee members are aware of the meeting. Barbara Annis said Laura Buono would inform the Board of Selectmen about the details of the public meeting.  

Paul Violette said general points were discussed regarding the different types of projects and how they would affect traffic patterns within that district.  

B. CDPC (Commercial District Planning Committee)  

Rick Davies said at their September 29, 2010 meeting the committee met in the Board of Selectmen’s office where all committee members were present as well as Laura Buono for the public.  

Rick Davies said it was decided as a committee not to pursue the LED gas price sign ordinance at this time. They had a brief conversation referencing temporary signs and Laura Buono said she would put together some draft wording to allow the Selectmen to handle temporary signs.  

The subcommittee reviewed the draft proposal of the proposed amendment for height and it was determined that the verbiage was a little difficult for the general public to understand so it was edited and a new version was created. Rick Davies said an item on barn height was left in since it was of similar nature to be discussed with the Planning Board. Rick Davies said the Fire Chief does not have any problem with raising the height of buildings because of the mutual aide access that have ladders to go high enough.  

It was agreed to have the “Reasoning” section as part of the Article at the public hearing.  

A brief discussion was held regarding building codes and sprinkler systems. Rick Davies said that is a call by the authority having jurisdiction which in this case is the Fire Chief. David Hartman said he wants to be sure that is in writing as one of the conditions. Paul Violette said there is a section under “reasoning” that references fire suppression systems.  

Rick Davies said the subcommittee further discussed the proposed amendment to expand the Davisville area by changing some of the OC-1 land to C-1 Zoning District. There was discussion on whether or not the abutters and landholders affected should be officially notified and if they should be told there could be a Protest Petition due to the type of

Zoning Change. It was suggest that this should be further researched. Paul Violette asked if the Local Government Center could be asked if there any requirements for abutters to be notified. David Hartman said Office of Energy and Planning could also be consulted.  

During the subcommittee meeting there was extensive discussion on Commercial District maximum building area. It was suggested using percent of non-permeable site area.  They talked about what perception would upset certain members of the community more than others. They talked about lots with existing buildings which are restricted from further expansion by the current Zoning Ordinance. It was decided to write a suggested Draft Amendment using 50,000 gross square feet (where 20,000 is in the existing paragraph “F” on page 16) and Multiple buildings grouped on the same lot to a maximum of 72,000 gross square feet. The 72,000 gross square feet number was obtained from the Charette.  

Rick Davies said he attached a sketch showing the interpretation of what midpoint means for Proposed Amendment #2 height. Rick Davies said a sentence was added to the reasoning stating that the building height may be higher than 45 foot. The proposed amendment is an incentive to encourage or provide flexibility for construction of buildings with pitched roofs which may be less costly to build and may be visually more acceptable.  

A lengthy discussion was held on proposed Amendment #3 maximum gross floor area.  

Rick Davies read:  

The CDPC is still considering additional wording including but not limited to:

1. areas to be proposed are still in flux

2. provisions for additions to existing building areas which exceed proposed areas

3. building design requirements to reduce perception of large building mass/size

4. additional setback where adjacent to Residential Districts

5. propose more additional area if certain criteria is met

6. propose more additional area if lot is over a certain acreage

7. provide minimum spacing between buildings if multiple buildings are on a lot

8. etc  

Barbara Annis suggested changing the verbiage in the draft Amendment #3: Where more gross floor area is required, multiple buildings….. She said when a business wants more floor area they do not want multiple buildings they want to add onto their current building. She suggested finding different verbiage to make it less confusing.  

Dan Watts suggested taking out the wording Where more gross floor area is required and just starting the sentence with Multiple buildings may be grouped on the same lot……….  

Rick Davies said on the Charette there was a lot of land showing multiple buildings adding up to 72,000 gross square feet. This is the number Rick Davies chose to put into the draft amendment.  

Rick Davies said he left a section in the “reasoning” blank for the board to discuss criteria to be put in.  

A discussion was held regarding the total square footage allowed especially in the Market Basket area. The way it is written they would only be allowed 72,000 square foot and they already have about 60,000-65,000 square foot which does not leave much room for them to expand. An idea was if certain criteria are met then you could go beyond the amount stated. Green space vs. permeable space was discussed. Parking was discussed.

A few different ideas were thrown back and forth to allow for the maximum amount of expansion in an esthetically pleasing way.  

The Board agreed that the individual buildings would be no more than 50,000 gross square feet with multiple buildings having a minimum separation of 50 feet between buildings for emergency vehicle use as long as all setbacks, parking requirements, etc, are met.  

The CDPC subcommittee will meet in the near future to discuss the scenarios from the Planning Board’s suggestions.  

Dan Watts will e-mail the verbiage for the proposed amendment #5 regarding the major subdivision definition to Rick Davies.

Rick Davies said Bob Bowers had brought up the fact that three months is not a long enough time for a temporary farm stand at a previous meeting, therefore, Rick Davies said he changed the time frame from three months to six months for the Zoning Ordinance Table 1 Use Regulations –Agricultural #3  

            3. Temporary (not to exceed erection or use for a period exceeding three six months in any one year) greenhouse or stand for sale of agricultural or farm products raised primarily on the same premises.  

Rick Davies asked if the Board agreed that six months is a good time frame for temporary stands.  

Dan Watts suggested changing verbiage to read products produced primarily….. rather than  products raised primarily  

David Hartman said he does not see anyone not allowing a farm stand on someone’s own property.  

Rick Davies will check with Bob Bowers and Larry Pletcher to get their opinion if six months is sufficient time frame.  

Rick Davies said the last proposed amendment is for temporary signs.  Laura Buono will forward the information.  

Rick Davies asked if anyone had any additional comments if they would please e-mail any of the subcommittee members.  

Barbara Annis said any proposed Zoning changes need to be brought to a public hearing in December in case there are any additional changes that need to be made the opportunity to have a hearing in January will be available.  

Barbara Annis said budget meetings will be starting Thursday November 4, 2010 . The Planning Board/Zoning Board of Adjustment budget will be discussed on December 9, 2010 . David Hartman said the introductory for the entire Town budget will be on November 4, 2010 .  

Rick Davies said Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Fall Commissioner Meeting is October 14, 2010 . He said Ben Frost will be a guest speaker talking about Workforce Housing. Rick Davies said if there are any questions the Board would like him to ask let him know. Rick Davies said a few questions he has are: what does not work; what is being sued; how much is a house valued at before it is considered workforce housing with the changes in the economy.  

C. BOARD OF SELECTMEN’S REPORT  

David Hartman gave a brief update on the fire station site acquisition. He said the offer was made to purchase the land that was discussed at a public hearing. At this time a title search is being done.

David Hartman said the Fire Station Committee wanted to get a jump on doing some public relations work for a proposed station on a site. A firm has been contracted to do some preliminary design work for a potential fire station on that particular site. Also, the Selectmen will separately but in conjunction with that will be doing a contract to pursue the wetlands permitting process that need to be done on that site. The Selectman will also be negotiating with the State for a small sliver of land in excess to their right of way needs hoping to acquire that piece of land from the State. They will also need to obtain an easement from Mr. Kirchner for sewer and water access.  

3. PUBLIC COMMENTS  

No public was present.  

4. ADJOURN  

J.D. Colcord made a MOTION to ADJOURN. Paul Violette seconded the motion and all were in favor.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 .