Draft Meeting Minutes
Planning Board
March 26, 2019 7:00 PM
Meeting called to order by Pam Bruss at 7:00PM
- Roll Call
Pam Bruss Claire James
Carol Troy Laurie Colburn
Carol Meise Michael James, Selectmen’s Rep
Doug Troy
Steve Chase, Garrett Bauer; Absent
- To Do:
- Appoint new Chair/Vice Chair roles:
Motion: Carol Meise motioned to appoint Pam Bruss as Chair
Second: Carol Troy
Decision: 6-0 in favor
Motion: Pam Bruss motioned to appoint Claire James as Vice Chair
Second: Carol Troy
Decision: 6-0 in favor
The Board welcomed new member Laurie Colburn and Michael James was announced as Selectmen’s Representative. The Board also discussed Alternate nominations.
Motion: Claire James motioned to appoint Doug Troy as an Alternate
Second: Carol Meise
Decision: 6-0 in favor
Pam believes Marlene Freyler is interested in being an Alternate. Garrett Bauer will not be renewing his role as Alternate at this time.
- Review & Consideration of March 12th, 2019 minutes.
Motion: Claire James motioned to approve the minutes.
Second: Carol Meise
Decision: 5-0 in favor, Carol Troy abstained
- Appearances:
Brooks McCandlish appeared to provide the Board with insight as to how the Zoning Regulation, regarding the Conservation District, was established. Brooks outlined a three year period utilized to establish the 1st Master Plan and Zoning was implemented off that Master Plan. The original thought for the Conservation District was to identify larger wildlife and forestry lots and evolved to lots over 1,200 feet in elevation where the terrain was typically steep and rocky with shallow soil. Acreage constraints began at 50 acre lots and decreased to 5 acres based upon public input. This Regulation was fairly easy to measure and other types of Conservation Ordinance overlays exist, such as the need for “buildable” acres and the Wetland Ordinance, which further conserve the land.
At times there has been conversation about more narrowly defining the Conservation District but this requires detailed research and definitions and the 1,200’ elevation definition works well for the topography in Bradford. The Board discussed reviewing Ordinance’s from other Towns and Brooks cautioned that the Ordinances need to be specific to the topography when comparing any details.
The Board went on to discuss the Residential Business District and Brooks’ thoughts on proposing changes to the Zoning criteria. Brooks stated that originally zoning for lot sizes in the downtown area were smaller but many of the lots were already grandfathered as they predate Zoning. The increase in the minimum lot size was driven primarily from a desire to have zoning reflect the performance capability of the land. Problems with poor water quality and the lack of public water and sewer were contributions.
The Board discussed the investment that would be needed to establish Town water and sewer and expressed concern that this would be prohibitive. Potential for “community” wells and septic might present an opportunity as a condition of smaller lot sizes in the future.
The Board discussed a variety of characteristics of surrounding communities and what they would desire Bradford look like in the future. A concentration on leveraging Bradford’s natural strengths and focusing on the desires from the Master Plan survey were outlined as goals. Brooks suggested reviewing a Cornerstone initiative that had been conducted previously.
- Pending Business:
- At 8:24pm Laurie Colburn recused herself to discuss a Driveway Permit application she is submitting to gain feedback from the Board regarding the Planning Boards role in the process. Pam Bruss will follow up. Laurie was reseated at 8:29pm.
- Pam provided a follow up on the Planning Board’s role in assessing a Class VI road for conversion to a Class V road. The current Planning Board process would receive a request for review and recommendation from the Select Board. The Planning Board provides a non-binding recommendation to the Select Board who would then hold a Public Hearing and either the Select Board as Town Representatives, or a vote at Town Meeting, would provide approval or denial of such a proposition. If, during the course of a new site plan review, the Planning Board approves a road plat, the road would, which also involves the applicant gaining approval from the Select Board. Pam will review the files for the Chestnut Hill Road properties to determine whether the Planning Board approved a street plat previously.
- Pam and Laurie confirmed that Jim Bibbo would like to continue his role on the Central New Hampshire Regional Planning. His current tenure extends through June and will be revisited at that time. The Board will request Harry Wright attend a future meeting to update the Planning Board on activity underway at CNHRP.
- Mike Tardiff will attend the April 23rd meeting to review the draft Master Plan update.
- Mike and Claire James recused themselves at 8:43pm after an inquiry about the status of the Modified Site Plan application that was expected for Unless, LLC.
Claire asked why a new Site Plan was required. Pam stated that when you expand a site or add new businesses a Modified Site Plan is the process to gain approval. Mike provided a preliminary Site Plan Application and Claire will follow up with a Parking Plan document and a check for application fees. A tentative date for the application review by the Board and Public Hearing was set for April 12th.
Mike and Claire were reseated at 8:52pm.
- New Business:
- The annual Planning and Zoning conference will be held on June 1st. Members were encouraged to submit registrations.
Planning Board Communications:
- The next Planning Board meeting will be April 12th, 2019.
Motion: Claire James motioned to adjourn the meeting at 8:53 PM
Second: Carol Meise
Decision: 6-0 in favor
Meeting adjourned
Minutes submitted by Laurie Colburn