Condensed from approved minutes:
Members Present: Nancy Teach, Chair; Randall Costa, Vice-Chair; Paul Currier; Doug Phelps; Art Urie; and Dave Blinn, Ex-Officio
Also present for duration of appropriate items: Pat Moyer, Zoning & Planning Coordinator; Peter Sanborn; Vicky Mishcon and Chuck Keyser, Selectboard members; Dan Coolidge, Jeff Newcomb, Julia Rector and Todd Goings, Zoning Board of Adjustment members
Organization of the Board
Currier being the senior most member of the board called the meeting to order at 7:02 PM. Urie made a motion to nominate Teach as Chair of the Board; Phelps seconded the motion and the board voted unanimously in favor of Teach as Chair. Currier made a motion to nominate Costa as Vice-Chair of the board; Blinn seconded the motion and the board voted unanimously in favor of Costa as Vice-Chair. Urie made a motion to nominate Phelps as secretary of the board; Costa seconded the motion and the board voted unanimously in favor of Phelps as secretary.
Announcements / Correspondence
1. Lakes Region Planning Commission is doing revisions and edits to the Zoning Ordinance.
2. Costa and Currier worked on the subdivision regulations for reformatting the regulations including and consolidating the major and minor subdivision applications to a single application.
Discussion of Class VI Roads
Discussion took place between the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment and the Selectboard regarding communicating decisions between the town boards along with file discussions and make certain decisions are on file. RSA 674, the Board of Selectmen minutes from their February 20, 2018 meeting and a copy of the Policy of the Selectboard regarding dwellings on Class VI roads were reviewed. We discussed procedures an applicant needs to take for a request to construct a dwelling on a Class VI road.
An applicant must apply for a building permit. When the permit is denied, the applicant may go before the Selectboard to request a building permit. If the Selectboard disaffirms, the Planning Board would provide their opinion to the Selectboard under RSA 674, then the Selectboard would make a decision. If the Selectboard would allow for the construction of a dwelling on a specific portion of the Class VI road, the applicant would then apply for a variance from the Zoning Board of Adjustment. If the property is in the Forest / Agricultural Zone, a Special Exception from the Zoning Board of Adjustment would be needed. If the Selectboard affirms their policy, there would be no building permit issued.
Newcomb asked if this includes private roads and Currier responded no. Coolidge asked if these decisions would be recorded for future sale of the property. Costa responded that the record would be in the town property file. Coolidge stated that it was his opinion that RSA 674 has a bypass procedure that if a building permit is not issued, the application could go directly to the ZBA. He recommended review and clarification by town counsel. Urie stated that the Selectboard should amend their policy to include private roads for consistency. Keyser stated his concerns with past allowances of building on Class VI roads could set the town up for a lawsuit if it was denied. Costa replied that town counsel indicated it would not. Newcomb stated it was not wrong to want to build on a Class VI road outside of the Village District. Urie agreed but felt this is a subdivision process. Newcomb stated that a Special Exception for the Forest / Agricultural District does not just apply to a Class VI road.
Coolidge asked if the updated Zoning Ordinance is on the town website yet and that the revision history should be included also. The response was the Zoning Ordinance is in the process of being reformatted into a word document including the revisions and edits.
Condensed from approved minutes
Minutes of March 27, 2018
Costa – Motion to approve as amended
Phelps – Second
Vote – Unanimous
Zoning & Planning Coordinator Update – Pat Moyer
Moyer presented two lot merger applications. One application was to merge Tax Map 11 Lots 034,426 ( F/A District) and Tax Map 11 Lot 140,435 (A/R District). The second application was to merge Tax Map 11 Lot 120,229 and Lot 204,290 ( both in the F/A District ). Urie made a motion to approve both lot mergers. Costa seconded the motion and the board voted unanimously in favor of approving both lot mergers.
Selectboard Update – Dave Blinn
The town is in discussion with Comcast regarding residents that do not receive their service
The town is working with the Governor’s office regarding the White Oak property.
Adjournment
There being no further discussion, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa Meier, Recording Secretary