Members present: Nancy Teach, Chair; Jon Warzocha, Vice-Chair; Paul Currier; Randall Costa; Art Urie; Doug Phelps; and David Blinn, ex officio

Also present for duration of appropriate items: John Hodgson; Bill Hoffman; Julie Cooper; and Dave Williams

Ragged Mountain Fish and Game Club

Board members met with members of Ragged Mountain Fish and Game Club to discuss the Club’s vision for the future. Club members provided a tour of the upper section of the property and gave a brief history of the Club.

The Club was created in 1901 and consists of approximately 1,470 acres with approximately 1,300 acres under a conservation easement through Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. There is currently a cap on the membership at 50 families; however, it is possible to change the bylaws to increase or decrease the membership number.

The Club has nine board members and one caretaker. There are 10 year-round residences. A map of the property from the early 1900s was presented.

The group discussed establishing a zoning framework that is both consistent with the Town’s planning and zoning standards and accommodates the Club’s unique ownership and governance structures. When the Club examined potential solutions for this in the past, it rejected the creation of a Ragged Mountain Fish and Game Club Zone as spot-zoning.

One idea that Club members had considered was allowance for a special-use district that would be consistent with the way the Club operated versus a zoning change.

Warzocha stated that there are several existing items on the property that conflict with the current Andover Zoning Ordinance. Future changes in the Zoning Ordinance under consideration by the Planning Board may impact the Additional Special Exception (D1) provisions that allow any land use by Special Exception.

Warzocha stated that the Planning Board is willing to make material changes to establish a stable framework to accommodate uses like the Club’s, but that in order to have a good basis for any changes to the Zoning Ordinance that would affect the Club, it is necessary for the Planning Board to understand what the Club is contemplating for their future.

Teach asked the Club what their vision is, and Hodgson responded: more investments by members into all-season homes, and more full-time residences.

Warzocha asked how many homes per family are allowed, and the response was one, and that each member owns their home and all members own all the property collectively.

Costa reiterated that this meeting is for the Board to gather information for consideration of changes to the Zoning Ordinance so that innovative land use practices that would accommodate the way the Club operates (and the way similar organizations might operate in other areas of Andover), and that this could be done in a way consistent with the Master Plan. Currier stated that many innovative land use tools have come into being in the past few years which would be consistent the Master Plan recommendations.

Warzocha asked if the club was contemplating a change in the membership structure, and Hodgson said no, and that the Club is closer legally to a Cooperative than a condo association, and the Club membership structure is not expected to change significantly in the next 50 years.

Costa asked how the Club is taxed, and the response was the members each pay the tax bill for their home, and the Club pays a lump-sum tax bill for all land, and this amount is split equally among the members.

Costa asked if the Club has mapped out plans for expansion. There was some discussion on this. Most of the land owned by the Club is in conservation easement. There is room for additional residential development in the land that is not in conservation easement.

Hodgson said that, for example, certain existing trails and lumber roads around the pond could potentially make access for additional development, although none is envisioned in the near future. Hodgson stated further that the Club was committed to stay as it is, a residential recreational community with no commercial exploitation.

The time frame for work by the Board for proposals for Zoning Ordinance amendments that would affect the Club was discussed. The Board expects to be working on drafting amendments over the next year or so. The earliest anything would be ready for public comment will likely be the summer of 2017, with a possible ballot article for town vote in March 2018.

Hodgson asked that the Board keep the Club informed of progress and stated that annual Club meetings occur in early summer, and it would be good if a report of the progress on Zoning Ordinance changes could be made to Club membership at the next annual meeting in 2017.