Planning Board Minutes

Planning Board

September 17, 2019

Approved on October 15, 2019

Members Present:  Bruce Healey, Chair; Regina Cockerill, Bill Weiler, Richard Wright, Members; Deane Geddes, Alternate; Russell Smith, ex-officio member.

Mr. Healey called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

Mr. Healey stated Deane Geddes will be a full voting member for tonight’s meeting, in place of Michael Beaton.

Minutes:

The Board reviewed the minutes of July 16, 2019.  Corrections were made.

Mr. Smith made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected.  Mr. Weiler seconded the motion.  All were in favor.

The Board reviewed the minutes of August 20, 2019.  Corrections were made.

Mr. Weiler made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected.  Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  All were in favor.

7:15 p.m. – Case 2019-004 – Continued Final Approval – Minor Subdivision – Bell, Scott & MacNaughton (owners) – for property located on Old Post Road, Newbury, NH Tax Map 032-037-333 – Robert Scott explained why there was a delay in the application process. He asked for a continuation for this hearing. Mr. Healey asked how much time they would need. Mr. Scott said he would like to come back in six months. Mr. Weiler made a motion to continue the minor subdivision for Case 2019-004 to March 17, 2020 at 7:15 p.m. Mr. Wright seconded. All were in favor.

7:30 p.m. – Case 2019-011 – Conditional Use Permit – Craven Real Estate Development, LLC (owner) – 21 Fox Hollow Road, Newbury, NH tax Map 007-445-374 – for land disturbance in the wetland buffer concerning placement of a proposed driveway, underground electric and communication lines and drilled well.  – Mr. Healey read the public notice and confirmed the application was complete. Mr. Smith made a motion to accept the application as complete. Mr. Wright seconded. All were in favor.

Mr. Healey said there are not a lot of applications for conditional use permits. He believes this is an after-the-fact conditional use permit because they have already proceeded without a permit. Mr. Healey reminded the Board that there are three standards that they need to meet. He said the Board will be voting on each standard separately and if one standard fails, the permit fails. He also said that the fact that this has already been done, should not affect the Board’s decision.

Mr. Ray Critch represented the owner. He explained the driveway permit and the septic design were both approved by the town of Newbury. Mr. Critch said a driveway permit was given in 2009. A septic design was submitted and signed off by the town and the state in 2015. Mr. Critch said the Code Enforcement Officer gave them every indication that everything was okay and was given a verbal go-ahead. After all of this, the conditional use permit issue came up, so the owners had a wetlands scientist come out and delineate the line, survey it, and put in the 75 foot buffer. Mr. Healey asked Mr. Critch if he lived in town and Mr. Critch replied yes. Mr. Healey asked Mr. Critch if he was aware that there were zoning ordinances in the town. Mr. Critch replied yes. Mr. Healey then asked Mr. Critch if he was aware that the town had such a thing as a wetland buffer, and Mr. Critch replied yes. Mr. Healey asked if he checked if a conditional use permit existed. Mr. Crtich said he is not sure why a conditional use permit was never issued. Mr. Healey asked Mr. Critch who was responsible for being in compliance and asked if he thinks the owners should carry the responsibility for being in compliance. Mr. Critch feels that there was a mistake made earlier in the process. The new owners and he felt they had passed those steps since the driveway permit had already been approved and created in as much as it had been created. Mr. Healey said the code enforcement office probably made a mistake. Mr. Healey asked what the final material will be used for the driveway and Mr. Critch said gravel. Mr. Wright said the original owner appeared to use the path of the least disturbance and they were following the lines and to not create any further runoff.

Mr. Healey asked the Board if they had any questions. There were no questions from the Board.

Mr. Healey asked if there was any public comment. Katheryn Holmes, chair of the Conservation Commission, asked if the neighbor has a lot of buildings. Mr. Critch said there are some sheds on the neighbor’s property. Ms. Holmes then asked if the driveway was in a wetland. Mr. Critch said no, the wetland is in a different location. Ms. Holmes said that the wetlands specialist did not find a problem with the lot. Ms. Holmes asked when the subdivision was approved and Mr. Healey responded it was approved in 1990. Ms. Holmes said that the wetlands scientist that sits on the Conservation Commission did not see a problem with the placement of the driveway. Mr. Healey closed the public input. There being no more questions, Mr. Healey closed the public hearing.

Mr. Healey asked if the driveway can be placed outside the wetland buffer. Mr. Critch said not without doing some major work. Mr. Wright said he does not see any gain to doing this.  All agreed it should not be placed outside the wetland buffer.

Mr. Healey asked the Board if the driveway cannot be placed outside the wetlands buffer. All agreed it cannot.

Mr. Healey asked the Board if the location in the wetland buffer will create the least impact. All agreed.

Mr. Healey asked the Board if they believed the method of implication will minimize the impact to the wetland buffer. All agreed.

The application was approved.

Other Business:

Driveways on Private and Class VI Roads – Cal Prussman - Mr. Prussman said that he wanted to discuss a driveway permit for Class VI and private roads. He said he has a driveway permit on land with owned by a new owner.  The land sits on the corners of Chalk Pond Road and County Road South. He explained that about 20 years ago when the golf course came in, the town allowed the first few hundred feet of County Road South to be turned into a summer maintained road because Mr. Digilio had a piece of land on this portion of the road that was landlocked. They never put in the culverts and properly maintained the road as requested, so the town never maintained it. After five years, it went back to a Class VI road. He has declined the driveway permit because the entry would be on the Class VI road. He explained that there would be no place for emergency vehicles to turn around. A representative spoke on behalf of the owners and said that the owners are prepared to sign a document that does not hold the municipality liable in case of an emergency. Mr. Healey said he thinks the Board of Selectmen should have authority over this issue. Mr. Smith of the Board of Selectmen will contact the town attorney on this issue. Mr. Prussman will get together the paperwork and leave it with the Administrative Assistant for the Board of Selectmen.

CIP- Discussion of Report –Regina Cockerill – Ms. Cockerill said the library trustees voted to bring a warrant article to town meeting and asked for more funding than originally planned. She would like to make changes to Table 1. Mr. Healey said it would be a bigger issue to change this because there are formulas and calculations behind these cells. Ms. Cockerill said it is fine, and she can manage the calculations,but she feels that the Planning Board is not doing justice to the Selectboard if the information is inaccurate. Mr. Smith said he would rather see the document corrected and he would like the public to see the correct numbers out there.

LSPA Watershed Committee – Regina Cockerill – Ms. Cockerill said the LSPA received grant money to study the watershed of Lake Sunapee. Ms. Cockerill said the LSPA identified several hot spots around the lake that add to the phosphorous load in the lake. In Newbury, there is a hot spot behind the police department, one at the state beach, and another by the New London boundary by Grace Hill.

Mather Revised Site Plan - Mr. Healey said they will submit a new plan with the building and garage relocated to provide less impact of a structure.

Nordic Skaters – Mr. Healey checked the records and there is no site plan for that property. They will need to do a regular site plan.

Mr. Smith made a motion to adjourn.  Mr. Weiler seconded the motion.  All in favor.

The meeting adjourned at 8:39 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Donna S. Long

Recording Secretary