Minutes
NEWMARKET PLANNING BOARD MEETING
JULY 11, 2017
MINUTES
Present: Eric Botterman (Chairman), Val Shelton (Vice Chairman), Janice Rosa, Jane Ford, Rose-Anne Kwaks, Peter Nelson, Glen Wilkinson (Alternate), Diane Hardy (Town Planner), Amy Burns (Town Council ex officio), Gretchen Kast (Town Council Alternate ex officio)
Called to order: 7:00 p.m.
Adjourned: 7:57 p.m.
Agenda Item #1 – Pledge of Allegiance
Agenda Item #2 – Public Comment
Claudia Vatcher, 184 New Road, stated she hoped the language of the general purpose of the nursing homes would be tightened up to include only skilled nursing facilities and memory impaired units and not nursing homes. She thanked the Board for all of their work and for keeping them up to date.
Rose-Anne Kwaks, 332 Wadleigh Falls Road, stated she had concerns with all of the fire pits used in town.
Agenda Item #3 - Review & approval of minutes: 06/13/17
Action
Motion: Val Shelton made a motion to approve the minutes of June 13, 2017
Second: Janice Rosa
Vote: Eric Botterman, Amy Burns abstained due to absence
All in favor
Agenda Item #4 – Regular Business
Kyle Pimental, Strafford Regional Planning Commission - Setting Sail: Stormwater Regulation Update
Kyle Pimental stated there is an upcoming project to update the existing stormwater regulations.
He went over the background. This area of NH saw a lot of growth in the 2000s. There was a lot of impervious coverage and sprawl. There were two flooding events back to back. The result was increased stress on the natural systems and on the town’s aging infrastructure. There was more runoff gathering oil and grease, sand, sediment and road salt, and it ran into the nearest waterway and then to Great Bay. This is leading to declines in water quality. Newmarket, in 2010, took steps to address that and developed stormwater regulations. Since then, there have been a lot of advancements. Most importantly was the creation of the Southeast Watershed Alliance (SWA). They got together in 2009. They did not release the model regulations until 2012. The Town did not have that resource when their regulations were done. The SWA is now updating that model. They are looking at new precipitation data and changing impervious coverage standards. The Town is also subject to new MS4 requirements.
He stated SRPC, Rockingham Planning Commission, NH DES, UNH and Great Bay Natural Estuarine Research Reserve all submitted an application to NOAA in 2016, as part of the coastal management grant. This project is NH Setting Sail. The primary focus is to implement recommendations of the Coastal Risk and Hazards Commission.
A request for proposals was sent out in the spring. They promised eligible communities would have at least $6000 of technical assistance from the Planning Commission. They were able to give Newmarket a little more, with $8000.
He stated Diane Hardy submitted the application to update stormwater regulations in April and this project has been fully funded.
Some of the project partners are SRPC, the Newmarket Planning Department, Diane Hardy, UNH Cooperative Extension and the UNH Stormwater Center.
He stated the Board should work with a subcommittee to go through this process. UNH Cooperative Extension will develop some outreach materials for the public. A public hearing will be held for changes and feedback. The timeline would be a regulatory audit will take place between now and September. They will hold the first of one to three meetings with the subcommittee and hope to have draft regulations by October, have a draft for comment in November and December. In January there will be some outreach materials and have public hearings for final adoption in January and February. The grant closes in March. They should have a final document for consideration for the Planning Board by then in order to meet the grant requirements.
The updated document should reflect state of the art thinking, new technologies and be consistent with other communities in the region. The town will be better equipped to meet future challenges.
He explained what MS4 was for the public’s information.
Diane Hardy stated, at some point, the Board will have to deal with stormwater management, whether it is through a mandate from the EPA or from our own sense of good planning and development. This process will be useful. Eric Botterman stated he was under the impression the Town Council wanted to fight the MS4 requirements. Diane Hardy stated she did have a discussion with the Town Administrator to keep going on this separate track and see what happens. Eric Botterman stated Massachusetts just fought and won against MS4. There are good things that will come of the management plan they are talking about tonight.
Kim Parrett, 7 Eagle Drive, asked what the other communities were, with whom the town should be consistent. Mr. Pimental stated there are no communities in this region doing this, but in Rockingham there are three or four. They are working off the same model. The way to use it is to tailor it to what the towns already have in place. Newmarket has these regulations in site plan and subdivision. Some communities have it in zoning. Diane Hardy stated Julie Labranche was working with Sandown and Exeter has been aggressive about having their regulations in place and Greenland, as well. Durham has been a forerunner.
Diane Hardy asked when the new model would be out. Mr. Pimental stated the draft is on the SWA website now.
Diane Hardy stated Peter Nelson and Gretchen Kast have volunteered for the subcommittee. They will reach out to the Conservation Commission in case they would like to have a committee member and they will also ask the Public Works Director.
Cheney Property Management Corp. – Continuation of a request for extension of approval for an application for Site Plan & Special Use Permit, at 52, 54, & 56 Exeter Road, Tax Map U4, Lots 12, 13 & 14, M2A Zone. The approval was to remove three existing buildings and construct a two-story 27000 sq. ft. mixed-use building, with commercial on the first floor and residential on the second floor.
Walter Cheney stated, after getting the approval, he went through having the sites evaluated for asbestos, etc. He then got set up for demolition. At that time, the buildings were still viable units, with water and sewer. During that process, he talked to a lot of banks. Newmarket has come a long way and the banks like what they see here. At the end of the day, though, as much as the banks like the projects themselves, the banks will only loan money on cash you already have, money that is not already being used for other projects or payments. He stated he did not have a lot of that. He has had a hard time finding someone to step up and spend money to get the project going. Now they are five months away from the two year window and he does not see anything changing. The few people who have come into play have all got their money tied up elsewhere. Until that is done, they cannot jump into another project, especially one this size. This is not a small project. Three or four million dollars will not have a lot of people lining up. He is trying to be proactive. He knows he will not be able to get funding in place in five months. He wanted to bring everyone up to speed and see if they can get an extension for a couple of years to buy some time. He did pull demolition permits, but does not want to tear down the buildings until they can go somewhere with the project.
Diane Hardy went over the developer’s agreement from 2016. There is a section about vesting. That is important, because, if there are changes in the regulations, it is in the developer’s best interest to have it vested, so they will be immune from those changes. It is based on the State RSA 674:39. After five years, if the project is complete, there is permanent vesting. The Town is required to clarify at what point vesting occurs. Basically, it is a 24 month process initially. In the developer’s agreement, he has 24 months to get started with the project.
Rose-Anne Kwaks asked if they have the right to extend it, even though it is not vested. Diane Hardy stated the Planning Board has that authority. Another way of looking at it is they could change the threshold for when temporary vesting occurs and maybe tie it to something like demolition of the buildings and prepping the site. It is up to the Board to define those. The Board can extend it beyond 24 months, if there is due cause. It would be a modification to the site plan approval. She did not believe there was a downside to this. The Town worked very hard on changing the zoning to encourage mixed use development in the M2-A zone on Exeter Road. The Planning Board and Town Council put a lot of time into it. Then Mr. Cheney came in with his proposals. There is a significant investment on the Town’s part in terms of the approval. The Board was unanimous in support of this project.
Eric Botterman stated he did not see any downside to granting the extension.
Action
Motion: Rose-Anne Kwaks made a motion to approve the extension for 24 months to Cheney Property Management Corp. for extension of approval for an application for Site Plan & Special Use Permit, at 52, 54, & 56 Exeter Road, Tax Map U4, Lots 12, 13 & 14, M2A Zone. The approval was to remove three existing buildings and construct a two-story 27000 sq. ft. mixed-use building, with commercial on the first floor and residential on the second floor, that would be an extension of 2 years.
Second: Janice Rosa
Vote: All in favor
Marker 44 Holdings, LLC - Public hearing for an application for subdivision, at 20 Eagle Drive, Tax Map R2, Lot 36-10-5, R1 Zone. The proposal is for a minor subdivision, which involves subdividing out the building footprint, driveway, & sidewalk to be retained by the current homeowners, the remaining land to be conveyed to The Hill at Moody Point Homeowners Association, in accordance with the Revised Final Site Plan for Lots 10-2 through Lot 10-16 and Lots 9-1 through 9-4, D-21471 RCRD, dated September 1991.
Val Shelton recused herself from the Board. Glen Wilkinson was appointed to take her place.
Val Shelton represented the applicants. She stated this is the same concept as what came before the Board a few months ago for the Hughes on their reconfiguration plan.
She stated The Hill at Moody Point received final approval in 1992. It was set up as having 20 lots. Under the original approval, the owner of the homesite had an obligation by the deed and under the requirements of the Planning Board acceptance of this concept to reconfigure the lot after they built the house. The lot would be resurveyed, the land encompassing the foundation of the house and garage, as well as the driveway to connect it to Eagle Drive, which is a private road, became the “land” the owner ended up owning. The obligation was to deed back the remainder of the land to the homeowners association. This is step 2 of that process. This is the thirteenth house to go through this process. There will be seven more, as homes get built.
Rose-Anne Kwaks stated it looks like the corner of the house is right on the boundary line. Diane Hardy stated setbacks do not apply to this subdivision. This is part of original Moody Point approval that came in as the old Alternative Subdivision Design. Through the approval in 1991, they created a zero lot line subdivision. The buildings can be configured as close to the property line as feasible. There is nothing in the regulations where the Town can come back and say those requirements do not apply.
Val Shelton stated this step is the reconfiguration plan. If all 20 lots go through this reconfiguration, all of the lot lines in between completely disappear. Step 3 is a requirement for the original developer to file an as-built plan for the entire project.
Eric Botterman stated they have done these before. It is odd, but this is the way to deal with it.
Diane Hardy reviewed the application and it is complete and ready for acceptance. She recommended approval.
Action
Motion: Rose-Anne Kwaks made a motion to accept the application as complete
Second: Janice Rosa
Vote: All in favor
Action
Motion: Rose-Anne Kwaks made a motion to approve the subdivision for Marker 44 Holdings, LLC, at 20 Eagle Drive, Tax Map R2, Lot 36-10-5, R1 Zone. The proposal is for a minor subdivision, which involves subdividing out the building footprint, driveway, & sidewalk to be retained by the current homeowners, the remaining land to be conveyed to The Hill at Moody Point Homeowners Association, in accordance with the Revised Final Site Plan for Lots 10-2 through Lot 10-16 and Lots 9-1 through 9-4, D-21471 RCRD, dated September 1991.
Second: Janice Rosa
Vote: All in favor
Agenda Item #5 – Other Business
Update from Zoning Amendment Committee
Diane Hardy stated there was a report from the subcommittee. They met on July 6 to look at the proposed assisted living overlay district. There were lengthy discussions. The committee came forward with the general recommendation that they change the focus of the overlay district from just a general assisted living district, which is broader, to a more defined use that focused only on skilled nursing facilities and memory impaired units. They have some draft language put together, as a starting point. The subcommittee recommends that they set up a work session for the Planning Board and review the language and fine tune it, as necessary. Then put forward a proposal that can be heard at a public hearing in September.
Val Shelton stated they had a productive meeting. Gary Levy also participated. They hashed out the concept where they want this to be extremely low impact relative to traffic.
Eric Botterman stated they were not prepared to talk about the details on this tonight, as they just got it. He asked the Board to hold comments to the workshop.
Peter Nelson asked about the resolution to the lot line boundary questions. Diane Hardy stated, at the last meeting, there was a letter from legal counsel and it was his observation that the tax maps were not correct. He advised we go back to the original configuration that shows 39.5 acres for the Ham parcel. That is what the deed the Town has on the books right now indicates. She updated the map to show the new configuration that restores the boundaries to what they were in 1978, when the original survey was done by Bruce Pohopek. They will be putting together a request for a lot line merger for the next meeting. They will provide the abutter, Shearwater, an opportunity to participate.
Rose-Anne Kwaks asked about the Wilson property owned by the Town. Some people thought it was larger than depicted on the tax maps. Proulx Oil had once looked at locating there. She asked if they ever provided a survey to use as a comparison. Diane Hardy stated there are plans in the files, but she would have to look to see what they are. It is clear what the boundaries are. It is not up to the Planning Board to do survey work or to hire a surveyor to clarify boundaries. The Board has to use the best available information, which is the tax map information. The only way to ascertain this is to have a legal review and a title search. Legal counsel agreed that was really not an appropriate role of the Planning Board to request that. Rose-Anne Kwaks it could be beneficial to look at that application for Proulx. Diane Hardy stated she would look for that. It is very common that the information on the tax maps and Vision Appraisal is not based on surveys, so there are discrepancies. This should not have any bearing on this. Eric Botterman agreed. The acres on the deed are not that important. If you have bearings and distances, those take weight over the acreage.
Eric Botterman stated they will schedule the workshop for August.
Diane Hardy stated there is a subdivision on the books that the tax map is based on. The Town, as owner of the lots, has the right to merge them.
Town Council
Amy Burns stated, at the last meeting, they had two public hearings for ordinances and they were approved. They also approved three resolutions.
Agenda Item #6 - Adjourn
Action
Motion: Janice Rosa made a motion to adjourn at 7:57 p.m.
Second: Jane Ford
Vote: All in favor