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Zoning
Board of Adjustment Warner,
NH Meeting
Minutes of
Members Present: Martha Thoits, Chair, Dennis
Barnard, Vice Chair, Mike Holt, Eric Rodgers, Janice Loz and Alternate
Gordon Nolen. (Jean Lightfoot recording) Excused: Alternate Rick Davies Not present: Alternate Ted Young Ms. Thoits opened the meeting at 1. MINUTES Mr. Rodgers MOVED to approve the 2. DISCUSSION OF SUGGESTIONS FOR ZONING
CHANGES Ms. Thoits explained that the following listing is comprised of the
things that the Planning Board members are thinking of working on for
the next year. Each member received a copy and the
listing is provided below. Rankings: 1=anticipated that these will not take too long to resolve
3=anticipated that it may be more involved to resolve Zoning and other ordinance change suggestions – Ranking
Ms. Thoits explained that the Planning Board has requested input from
the Zoning Board of Adjustment regarding these items or the addition of
others of concern. She said that if there are any of
these that seem very important that they deal with, those should be
mentioned. Mr. Holt asked what the height regulations refer to. Ms.
Thoits said it meant the height of a building. Mr. Rodgers asked what workforce housing means. Ms.
Loz said it refers to affordable housing for the people who work in
Warner. She said, for example, if a median income
person cannot afford a house in your town, you have to make affordable
housing available. Mr. Rodgers asked how the State
can tell the Town that we have to provide for anything. Ms.
Thoits said she believed that it may be the Federal Government that is
dictating it to the State. Ms. Loz asked if anyone
has determined if we have workforce housing available. There
was a discussion about the various rental properties in town that may be
considered affordable workforce housing. Mr. Rodgers
said he doubts that it will significantly affect the Town, but he said
he does not like the wording and what appears to be the intent.
Mr. Holt said that there were a number of cases where someone
wanted to put a mother-in-law apartment and he wondered if this may have
arisen from cases like that. Ms. Lightfoot explained
that the Planning Board is waiting for direction from the Central New
Hampshire Regional Planning Commission before they take any steps on the
issue of workforce housing. There was a general
discussion about the median income in Warner and the tax rates and
property values in town. Ms. Thoits referred the
Board to the new RSA on page 570 of the New Hampshire Planning and Land
Use Regulation 2008-2009 edition. Mr. Rodgers said
that he thought if multiple family housing is allowed in some of the
zoning districts in town, then that should cover the requirements. Ms. Loz asked if there is anything in the regulations now about wind
turbines. Ms. Thoits said that is something the
Planning Board needs to work on because that is another thing that the
State has said that the towns need to be more lenient on. It
was agreed that this item would be highlighted to the Planning Board as
one that they would like to see completed in the following year.
There was a discussion of the height restrictions and the
engineering requirements for wind turbines. Mr. Rodgers asked what driveway regulations they are referring to,
since those are set by the State. Ms. Lightfoot said
they were talking about who inspects the driveways, the slope and
curvature for the purpose of getting emergency equipment into an area,
etc. Mr. Rodgers asked what the Zoning Board should
be saying about this. Ms. Lightfoot said that if the
driveway regulations have presented a problem for the Zoning Board
members, then the Planning Board would like to know about it.
Ms. Thoits said that the question to the Zoning Board from the
Planning Board is: is the wording okay? Is
it a variable thing that they need to be thinking about? She
added that if the driveway regulations, for example, were put in the
Zoning Ordinance, then it would be up to the Zoning Board to interpret
it. However, she added that if it is put in their
site plan regulations, then the Zoning Board will have nothing to do
with it. She said if slope restrictions are put in
the Zoning Ordinance and one person comes to the Zoning Board for a
variance, then that is not a problem, but if it results in 50 people
requesting variances, then, clearly it is a problem and perhaps would
have to be changed. Mr. Holt said that he recalls
that Dick Brown, the Fire Chief, said that getting fire trucks up and
down the very steep driveways is a problem. It was
agreed that the Zoning Board has no input to the driveway regulations. Mr. Rodgers asked about height regulations. It was
agreed that this may come back to the Zoning Board because of requests
for variances to make taller buildings, but nothing will be suggested
this year to the Planning Board related to this. There was a discussion about what was meant by the 2,000 square feet
for shops, restaurants and other retail and how the 10,000 square foot
lot applies. The Board also discussed the square
footage limitations for commercial buildings in the C-1 and B-1
districts. It was agreed that the size needs to be
increased. And, it was agreed to send a thought to
the Planning Board that perhaps there be no size restriction on
commercial buildings, but that there be very long setback requirements
from abutters and the road. Ms. Thoits said that by
having such a low size restriction, businesses that would be beneficial
to the town are being discouraged from coming in and this should not be
the intent of the Zoning Ordinance. She said that by
not allowing these businesses into town, the taxes are not being helped.
Mr. Barnard asked if someone wants to come into town and build a
big building on a commercially zoned lot, why should we tell them how
big it should be. Ms. Loz said she thinks they are
trying to set limits to keep a look in the town. Ms.
Thoits said that 40,000 square feet is not very large for a business.
She referred to Madgetech which currently is renting property in
Contoocook, but intends to build on property they own in Warner by Exit
7. She said that these restrictions are quite small
for him and wondered if they would be restricted from building something
that is too small for his company, especially given that this is the
type of business that she thinks would be good for Warner.
She said she does not think it makes sense to force any business
to build 3 buildings so they can house their whole business, rather than
only one building, even though that is how the Ordinance currently
reads. Mr. Rodgers agreed that this does not make
sense. Ms. Loz asked how often people have come
before the Board and said that up to 40,000 square feet is not enough.
Ms. Thoits said it has happened and there are probably others who
know they cannot do it, so they don’t ask for a variance. Mr.
Rodgers suggested that if the driving factor is that the town does not
want a Walmart on Ms. Loz asked if there is something that allows for higher buildings,
so long as the setbacks are long enough. Mr. Rodgers
agreed that there is something that can be allowed. He
referred to the hotel where they wanted to go higher than the 35 feet
and could have without a variance, except they did not have the setback
required. There was a short discussion about the
results of the court case on the Hampton Inn. Ms.
Thoits said that she thinks they are not going to come back to the town
and it is regretful because of the financial loss to the town. Mr. Rodgers referred to the question as to whether there should be a
formula so large lots could have multiple businesses on the same lot.
He said he does not think there should be a formula in the
Ordinance because every time something is that specific, it opens the
interpretations to too many lawsuits. He suggested
making it very clean wording, for example, if you have a 200 foot
setback from the edge of your buildings to any other lots, then you can
do whatever you want. Ms. Thoits agreed. Mr.
Rodgers suggested making the wording not so convoluted and confusing,
but very simple which the ZBA can use as a guide, rather than formulas
for square footage and driveway sizes, etc. Mr. Holt
said that this may also result in more applicants coming in asking for
variances of the 200 feet. Mr. Rodgers said there
will always be people asking for variances. The Board went through the rest of the items and had no other items
on which they wanted to comment that related to the Ordinance and not
the Planning Board regulations. There was a
discussion about the suggestion that the Zoning Use Tables be more
specific and the Zoning Board be given more options and directions in
the Ordinance. Mr. Holt said that this is more
restrictive to the Zoning Board and it was agreed that the Board would
prefer to have more rather than less leniency in interpreting the
wording of the Ordinance. There was a discussion about the sign ordinance, and it was agreed
that it was generally good, but would prefer that someone be allowed to
have a two-sided sign. There was no further discussion. Mr. Rodgers MOVED to adjourn. Mr. Nolen seconded.
The motion was PASSED unanimously.
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