Town of
Warner –Planning Board

Work Session Minutes

January 24, 2011   7:00 PM

Warner Town Hall , Lower Level  

 

Members Present:     Barbara Annis, Rick Davies, David Hartman

Members Excused:     Paul Violette, Peter Wyman, and Ed Mical

Members Absent:      None

Members Arriving Late: Dan Watts

Alternates Present:    Aedan Sherman

Alternates Arriving Late: None

Alternates Excused:  J.D. Colcord

Alternates Absent:  None

 

OPEN MEETING AT 7:00 PM

ROLL CALL  

The Roll call was taken at 7:00 PM. Barbara Annis opened the meeting. Barbara Annis elevated Aedan Sherman to a voting member. Dan Watts arrived late.  

1. PROPOSED SUBDIVISION REGULATION CHANGES  

A. OPEN MEETING ON PROPOSED SUBDIVISION REGULATION  

Barbara Annis opened the discussion on the proposed Subdivision Regulations. Rick Davies asked if there was a list of major changes that would be read. Barbara Annis said there was no list. The proposed changes had been posted on the Town’s Website as well as in the Town Offices.  

B. OPEN PUBLIC HEARING  

Barbara Annis opened the Public Hearing. There was no Public present. The Public Hearing was closed.  

C. CLOSE PUBLIC HEARING AND RE-OPEN MEETING  

Barbara Annis asked if there were any further comments or discussions from the Board.  

Rick Davies made a MOTION to APPROVE the Revised Subdivision Regulations of the Town of Warner dated January 6, 2011 with changes in Blue Ink as well as Appendix A (Checklist) and Appendix B (Street and Road Drawings) as presented. David Hartman seconded the MOTION and all were in favor.  

The Revised Subdivision Regulations was signed and adopted on January 24, 2011 . The Land Use Secretary will forward a copy to the Town Clerk.  

2. MASTER PLAN UPDATE  

A. IMPLEMENTATION CHAPTER  

Vanessa Goold finished going through the recommendations in the Implementation Chapter with the Board.  

Barbara Annis said she would like to see the Board of Selectmen meet with the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment and Conservation Commission to discuss their plans.  

David Hartman said that would be a good idea and may be something they can do in the future.  

Vanessa Goold said she would work on completing the Implementation Chapter with the Board’s input from tonight. Vanessa Goold will return March 21, 2011 to finalize the Master Plan Update.   

3. BALLOT VERBIAGE FOR 2011 PROPOSED ZONING AMENDMENTS  

The Board agreed that a question mark should be at the end of each Article.  

Rick Davies suggested adding the following verbiage to clarify it is a condensed version of the Article.  

The following Zoning Ordinance Amendments are condensed versions of the full zoning changes that are being proposed and recommended by the Warner Planning Board. The complete version is available at the Planning Board Office, the Selectmen’s Office and will be available at the polls on Town Election Day, March 8, 2011 .  

David Hartman asked why Amendment #1 is Article #2. He said he thought that was confusing. The Board looked at the RSA and it states that the election of the officials is Article 1.  

Rick Davies made a MOTION to APPROVE the language of the condensed version for the ballot with the insertion of appropriate language prior to the first Zoning Amendment acceptable to the Town Clerk similar to the proposed verbiage (above) with the addition of question marks. David Hartman seconded the MOTION and all were in favor.  

The secretary will check with the Town Clerk regarding the proposed verbiage Rick Davies suggested.  

4. COMMUNICATIONS AND MISCELLANEOUS  

Barbara Annis said she attended a meeting at the State level regarding Condition of Subdivision approvals requiring the installation of automatic fire suppression sprinklers . The sprinkler system would be required in areas where emergency vehicles could not get them easily or if a body of water is not close by.  

Barbara Annis said that the Commerce Committee of the Legislature is opposed to it because they feel the Town should decide not the State where it is only for Subdivisions.

Representative Merrill opposed it because he could see it would be a problem with seasonal camps which could infringe on peoples rights. There was an attorney present that felt it was premature.  

Local Government Center feels that 674:36 already refers to it but may put more parameters on the law to make it more specific.  

Representative Flanagan from Brookline said his Town does it from a different point of view. If the Subdivision is 2500’ from a body of water or cistern then a sprinkler system is required.  

The Home Builders support it. The Fire Marshall agreed.  

Barbara Annis said there was discussion and a disagreement on how much the system would cost. If a tank is required it will raise the cost of the project.  

Barbara Annis said she had heard something that she was not aware of. There is now a moratorium mandating new houses to have sprinkler systems. She said she did not know how long that has been in affect  

Barbara Annis said it would be at the Planning Board’s discretion if this type of fire suppression system would be part of a Condition of Approval for a new Subdivision that is scattered and premature for lack of adequate fire protection.  

Barbara Annis the Local Government Center has posted on the website the changes regarding the building code.  

Rick Davies stated as one of two town representatives to the Central New Hampshire Regional Planning Commission he attended the Full Commission Meeting on January 13, 2011 .  Different types of funding to research grants for cleanup of toxic materials were discussed at the meeting.    

David Hartman said the Board of Selectmen applied to Department of Environmental Services for a grant to examine the Odd Fellows Building for any toxic materials.  

4. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS  

A. BOARD OF SELECTMEN  

David Hartman said the Town Warrant is complete less any petition articles that may come in.  

David Hartman briefly discussed the Articles adding to the Capital Reserve Funds (CRF):

Police Department CRF-$16,000

Highway Road Construction CRF-$225,000

Highway Equipment CRF- $50,000

Property Revaluation CRF- $15,000

Fire Department Equipment CRF- $30,000

Transfer Station Acquisition/Improvement CRF- $10,000

Bridge Replacement/Maintenance CRF- $50,000

Establish a CRF for Transfer Station Equipment Fund- $13,000

Establish Expendable Trust for the purchase of Radios and Pagers for The Public Works Department and  Fire Department.

Non-lapsing fund for Parks and Recreation to purchase a new mower- $6,000 with matching funding

Town Hall Building Improvement CRF-$20,000 (primarily to be used for replacing the furnace.  

The Selectmen are still in the process of writing an easement negotiation with Danny and Noreen Fifield for a substantial amount of their land in exchange for the old abandoned easement. The land was needed to move the road back from the River.    

B. SITE PLAN REVIEW  

A discussion was held regarding the proposed Site Plan Review Regulations. Barbara Annis explained the subcommittee was trying to make it easy to read to prevent any confusion. She also said the idea was to make it easier for new businesses to come to Warner.  

Barbara Annis stated that the subcommittee spelled out the definition of Change of Use as well as giving some examples, Multi Use Building is now included, there is a section on pre-application reviews, a Waiver of Site Plan Review Application was created, time frames have been added, a new Regional Impact Section was added as well as the addition of a Compliance Section.  

Barbara Annis said the subcommittee wanted to get the portion of the Site Plan Review done that deals with Change of Use and then finish the rest later. At this time there is no regulation for a Waiver of Site Plan Review. The idea was to make it so everyone will not have to go before the Board and send out notices if they are not creating any impact on the Town and are still within the Zoning Regulations for that particular District.  

Barbara Annis stated the checklist could not be revised until the Board has agreed to any changes being made. Once the changes are approved the checklist will be updated to reflect any changes.  

David Hartman stated he did not realize the subcommittee was re-writing the current Site Plan Review. He said he would need a little more time to compare the two documents before giving his input.  

Rick Davies gave a handout of some suggestions he had. He stated there were only a couple of major changes he suggested the others were mainly small changes such as capitalizations, punctuation, etc.  

One of the major changes he suggested was to include the waiver section in the current document with the proposed waiver information. He also suggested moving the Change of Use examples to another section of the proposed document.  

Rick Davies stated that the reason for needing a Site Plan Review is not in the proposed document; therefore, they may want to add that information from the current document into the proposed document. Barbara Annis said Rick Davies was correct the information is not in the proposed document and it should be inserted.  

A brief discussion was held on the different types of Change of Use and what would need a Site Plan Review and what could use the Waiver of Site Plan Review Application.  

Barbara Annis asked if the Board would like for the subcommittee to continue working on the proposed Site Plan Regulations or to just tweak the current Site Plan Review Regulations.  

David Hartman said he would like to review the information he received tonight before making that decision.  

Since the full Board was not present the Board agreed to take home the information and compare the documents and have further discussions at the meeting on February 7, 2011 .  

5. PUBLIC COMMENTS  

There was no Public present  

6. ADJOURN  

David Hartman made a MOTION to ADJOURN. Rick Davies seconded the MOTION and all were in favor. The meeting adjourned at 9:30pm .