Minutes
NEWMARKET PLANNING BOARD MEETING
DECEMBER 13, 2016
MINUTES
Present: Eric Botterman (Chairman), Val Shelton (Vice Chairman), Diane Hardy (Town Planner), Janice Rosa, Rose-Anne Kwaks, Jane Ford, Peter Nelson (Alternate), Glen Wilkinson (Alternate), Amy Burns (Town Council ex officio), Dale Pike (Town Council ex officio Alternate)
Absent: Ezra Temko (excused)
Called to order: ___________________
Adjourned: 7:48 p.m.
Agenda Item #1 – Pledge of Allegiance
Agenda Item #2 – Public Comments
_________________________
Agenda #3 - Review & Approval of Minutes: 11/15/16
Action
Motion: ______________ made a motion to approve the minutes
(meeting recording starts here)
Second: Jane Ford
Vote: Rose-Anne Kwaks abstained as she had not reviewed the minutes
All others in favor
Agenda Item #4 – Regular Business
Sally Anne Rosa & Paul Rosa, Jr. - Public hearing for an application for Subdivision, at 342 Wadleigh Falls Road, Tax Map R5, Lot 81, R1 Zone. The proposal is to subdivide one 3.01 acre lot out of a 43.83 acre lot located in Newmarket and Durham. The proposed lot falls entirely in Newmarket.
Janice Rosa recused herself due to a conflict of interest.
Eric Botterman appointed Glen Wilkinson to fill in for Ezra Temko and Peter Nelson to fill in for Janice Rosa.
Diane Hardy stated the application was complete. There had been a few deficiencies and the applicant had corrected them and updated the plan. She stated there were three waiver requests that needed to be addressed. She recommended the Board accept the application and address the waiver requests.
Action
Motion: Rose-Anne Kwaks made a motion to accept the application
Second: Val Shelton
Vote: All in favor
Scott Boudreau, Boudreau Land Surveying, represented the applicants. He stated there were 43.83 acres on the lot being subdivided. The applicants went before the Zoning Board of Adjustment in September and got a variance from the frontage requirements. They would like to create a 3.01 acre lot from the original lot. He stated he did 2’ contours for the proposed lot, but did not do the required 5’ contours for the remaining lot. He also did not survey the remaining boundary, as there was a boundary plan of record for the entire lot. He surveyed the perimeter far enough to subdivide out the smaller lot. The soils are shown and the wetlands, which were done by Jack Hayes, a Certified Wetlands Scientist. He will stamp the plan, when it is ready for signing and recording.
Mr. Boudreau showed an aerial photo, which showed more detail. They are proposing to use the existing driveway, so there is an access easement.
Eric Botterman opened the public hearing.
There were no comments from the public.
Action
Motion: Rose-Anne Kwaks made a motion to approve the waiver of Section 4.10 Site Information of the Part A Boundary Survey of the existing property boundaries
Second: Glen Wilkinson
Vote: All in favor
Action
Motion: Glen Wilkinson made a motion that Section 4.10 Site Information part (B)(1)(b) existing conditions on the property showing for minor subdivisions and major subdivisions contours of 2’ intervals shall be required except lots that shall remain 10 acres or more shall require 5’ contour intervals
Second: Rose-Anne Kwaks
Vote: All in favor
Action
Motion: Rose-Anne Kwaks made a motion to approve the third waiver from Section 4.08 the Scale, the scale of 1” = 100’ is the recommended scale, although other scales would provide a great level of detail and accuracy, may be used
Second: Glen Wilkinson
Vote: All in favor
Diane Hardy stated she reviewed the application against the Town’s regulations and she did want to point out that two variances were granted by the Zoning Board for the project. The new lot does not contain 200’ of frontage, which is required. It contains 37.8’ of frontage. There is a shared driveway. Also, there is a regulation in the ordinance that states for any lot that is not conforming, there should be no action taken that makes it more nonconforming. In this case, there was a reduction in the overall frontage for the remaining larger lot. The Zoning Board reviewed this and voted that it met the conditions for a variance. Given that, the application does meet the Zoning requirements.
She also reviewed the application with Rick Malasky, the Fire Chief and Public Works Director, to make sure there was adequate water supply and fire protection for that area. He indicated there were fire hydrants on Route 152 and there are adequate fire flows, so he had no concerns.
She is recommending approval of the application, with conditions. Regarding the first, they did coordinate this with the Town Assessor for lot numbering and he determined there was already an R5 81-1 in existence. He recommended it be renumbered as R5 81-2. The second was the final plat be stamped and certified by the Wetland Scientist who did the wetlands evaluation prior to signing and recording. The third is impact fees, in the amount of $3, 694.00 be provided for schools and recreation prior to the issuance of any new certificate of occupancy related to the construction of the single family home on the new lot. The fourth is that all permits from NH DOT and DES be secured prior to plan signing. The last is that Note #16, which talks about the variance application be modified to reflect there were actually two variances. With that, she recommends the Board approve the application and she thanked the applicant and surveyor. They were very helpful in working collaboratively to get the application to this point, where they could take action on it.
Val Shelton asked if the property would have private well and septic. Mr. Boudreau stated it would.
Rose-Anne Kwaks stated she was in favor of this. There is a 50 foot right of way, if anyone ever wanted to access the back portion.
Val Shelton stated this is a perfect example of why “pork chop” subdivisions work. The Town does not have zoning that permits those and people have to go through a variance process. Rose-Anne Kwaks stated, if they had an ordinance that permits this, everyone would be doing it. This was a landowner that had a large parcel and many years ago did not know there would be a restriction of 200’ frontage and they divided a piece for a family member and this created a problem. She does not want to see four or five acre lots all around town be “pork chopped” without having to get a variance.
Val Shelton asked if the well radius should be on the final plan. Mr. Boudreau stated it would be there.
Action
Motion: Rose-Anne Kwaks made a motion to approve the applicants, Sally Ann Rosa and Paul Rosa, Jr., for an application of subdivision at 342 Wadleigh Falls Road, Tax Map R5, Lot 81, R1 Zone. The proposal is to subdivide one 3.01 acre lot out of a 43.83 acre lot located in Newmarket and Durham. The proposed lot falls entirely in Newmarket. This is subject to conditions and approvals as stated in the recommendations of the Town Planner, as amended by Val Shelton.
Second: Jane Ford
Vote: All in favor
Agenda Item #5 – New/Old Business
Discussion – Design Review
Diane Hardy stated the Grape Street project was ruled on, by the Court, in favor of the Town.
She stated they are still working on Design Regulations. Peter Nelson stated he had been sidetracked with some personal things for the last several weeks. He will make sure this week that everyone has access to the site and have all of the documents together.
Discussion – Report from subcommittee regarding zoning amendments
There are two handouts regarding this. One is about accessory apartment regulations. This is to bring the Town regulations in conformance with the new State law regarding accessory apartments. He asked everyone to review it and prepare any comments and get them to Diane Hardy.
The second handout is from the Building Official relative to changes to the sign ordinance. He asked everyone to review and get any comments to Diane Hardy and Mike Hoffman. The sign changes include a response to a Supreme Court ruling about electronic signs.
Rose-Anne Kwaks stated the Board members have the language. She asked if they could post it as a public hearing for the next meeting. Diane Hardy stated the Board would have to decide. Some of the items are not complete and need discussion and the language has to be specifically nailed down in order to have a public hearing. She stated they should refine the language and then post it.
Rose-Anne Kwaks stated, regarding design review and the decision that the Planning Board does have the right to do aesthetic review and until they can delve deeper into it to keep the Town protected under 3.21, there is one paragraph that makes it applicable only to Route 108. She stated they should eliminate that paragraph and that would give them more standing to apply some standards and give more protection as to what goes on in town. Diane Hardy stated the architectural review standards are in the Site Review Regulations. The Planning Board can modify those after a public hearing. Following the court decision, John Ratigan, the Planning Board’s counsel, suggested they strengthen a few sections. He is willing to work with them on this. He was hoping they could bring something forward as soon as January 24th’s meeting. The Board might want to have a work session prior to that. The Board decided it would be held on January 10, 2017 at 4:30 p.m.
Chairman’s Report
Eric Botterman sent a letter to the Town Council about the Property Maintenance Code and Town Council asking them to see if they want to meet and adopt regulations for the Town.
Diane Hardy spoke about the Economic Development Revitalization District concept, a program administered through the Department of Resources and Economic Development, where zones are designated as economic recovery zones and provides the opportunity for investors and developers to get incentives for projects. This has been on the Council agenda. Dale Pike stated the Town Council discussion was they were not going to move forward on that until the Planning Board had the opportunity to comment. Diane Hardy stated it is a tool to encourage and stimulate development. It is really not a Planning Board function. The Council has not sent anything to the Planning Board about it. The Board can provide a letter of support.
Committee Reports
Rose-Anne Kwaks stated CIP is meeting with the school and touring school facilities.
Planner's Report
Diane Hardy stated Lisa Henderson was appointed to SRPC as a representative and Elizabeth Dudley is on the Lamprey River Advisory Committee.
Town Council Report
Dale Pike stated they were discussing the shared responsibilities between the Town and School.
Amy Burns spoke about the goal setting workshop with Primex. Dale Pike stated this focused on shared services with the school and they will meet on the MRI report. There are goals the Council is working on around the shared services and consideration of the MRI report. Rose-Anne Kwaks stated the CIP was mentioned needing more detail and this CIP is as detailed as it can get. If the Town wants more detail, then the Town Planner will need an assistant. There are not enough hours and the Building Official is also very busy. She said it was also stated the Planning Board should get together with Town Council to discuss growth. One of the first agendas from Primex was parking downtown. Business owners park in front of their properties, which deters customers parking there.
Jane Ford stated the downtown looks fabulous and the Town Clerk’s office did a fantastic job for the election. It was very well run and they did a fabulous job. Dale Pike stated the student volunteers were wonderful. It was a great civic exercise.
Val Shelton stated there was an outstanding item from the last meeting on whether they could approve the October 11 meeting minutes. Rose-Anne Kwaks had thought they needed a quorum of members who were present at that meeting in order to vote on the minutes. They will find out and put it on the next agenda, if necessary.
Agenda Item #6 – Adjourn
Action
Motion: Janice Rosa made a motion to adjourn at 7:48 p.m.
Second: Jane Ford
Vote: All in favor