Harrisville Planning Board
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Meeting Minutes
The Harrisville Planning Board held a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at Town Offices, 705 Chesham Road, and via zoom.
Members present: Lisa Anderson Co-Chair, Andrea Hodson, Don Scott, Courtney Cox, Peter Thayer, Katherine Neary
Members absent: Ryan Stone Co-Chair, Ned Hulbert, Jonathan Miner, Noel Greiner
Members of the public: Dennis McKenney, Darlene McKenney, Carol Ogilvie
Lisa Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm.
Voting members and Agenda
Lisa Anderson noted that the voting members for the evening were herself, Courtney Cox, Kate Neary, Peter Thayer, and Andrea Hodson. With the arrival of Don Scott, Mr. Scott would vote in place of Ms. Neary. The Co-Chair then proposed to move the Snyder Application further up on the agenda, given the attendance of the property owners’ consultant. Peter Thayer subsequently moved to approve the agenda as amended. All voted in favor.
Minutes of the previous meeting 1/13/2021
In the section of the minutes discussing an imminent proposal for a subdivision on Blood Hill Road, a Class VI road, Lisa Anderson proposed to delete the following phrase, as she believes the language doesn’t accurately reflect the board’s discussion: “…and provisions are in place for homeowners along the road to release the town of liability.” Members agreed with the proposed edit, also agreeing that the statement that Blood Hill Road is not maintained by the town is accurate. Andrea Hodson subsequently moved to approve the minutes with this clarification. Pete Thayer seconded. All voted in favor.
Application for Lot Line Adjustment, Gordon and Virginia Snyder, 18 Blackberry Lane (Map 70 – Lot 15 and Map 70 – Lot 16)
Dennis McKenney, Land Surveyor for the property owners, described the proposed lot line adjustment referring to digital plats displayed on the screen. He explained the reason behind the proposal, and outlined how the boundary lines exist today and would exist following the proposed adjustment of four-tenths of an acre. He further noted that the proposed lot sizes would continue to meet all zoning regulations including for lot size, setbacks and frontage. The existing conservation easement would not be affected.
Following confirmation by the board that all fees had been submitted with the application, the Co-Chair explained that two board members would review the submission for completeness. Upon a positive determination for completeness, abutters would be noticed for a public hearing at the March 10 Planning Board meeting. Ms. Anderson subsequently moved that the Planning Board received the application from Gordon and Virginia Snyder for a Lot Line Adjustment. Andrea Hodson seconded. All voted in favor.
Proposed Zoning Ordinances
Carol Ogilvie updated the board that the town attorney, upon review of the proposed ordinances for Town Meeting, suggested language be added to Article 12.6 of the proposed Wetlands Conservation Ordinance. Mr. Little stated the provision may need clarifying to address buffer delineations in situations where wetlands exist on an abutting property.
Members discussed possible options for clarifying, noting that the proposed ordinance cannot be changed at this time, given the public hearing process had ended. Members agreed that clarification could occur on either the application form checklist or during the application review process, and that the ordinance committee could consider amending the language at a future town meeting. In the meantime the language is intended to reflect that measurement of distance from wetlands should be calculated as best as can be determined from abutting properties and on the subject property. Members were reminded that ballot voting will occur at Wells Memorial School on these proposed ordinances on Tuesday, March 9. The deliberative session of Town Meeting is postponed to Saturday, May 22, with the location to be determined.
EAC/Community Power Update
Andrea Hodson noted that the Community Power Warrant Article would be submitted to the Select Board for review on Friday, Feb 12, the 2nd Community Power hearing having occurred last week. Following some pushback on the default rate, the committee has since revised the rate table. Town Counsel may be asked to review. The committee may hold another Community Conversation in April. Legislation requested by Eversource is to be heard this Friday in the Science, Technology and Energy Committee of the State legislature. If Eversource prevails, this would take the proposed Warrant Article off the table. Even if the bill is tabled, it will delay the launch of Community Power because of how it affects PUC rulemaking. The copy of the proposed bill is up on the Community Power page of the town website.
Update on Phil and Kathryn Miner Plat from Approved 2011 Subdivision
Following her review of the approved subdivision plans, Courtney Cox explained that the plans in question are identical, with the exception that the plats do not share the same scale and one is topographic. She confirmed that the Mylar sheet for sheet 1 of 2 was not recorded at the Registry of Deeds, but can still be recorded. She believes it was a clerical error in that the application file from this time period, is complete and denotes approval by the then PB. Don Scott suggested submitting Sheet 1 to the Registry of Deeds. Ms. Cox reiterated that the minutes of the time reflect the approval. Members agreed to have the co-chairs review one final time before making a formal motion.
PB Annual Report
Lisa Anderson shared the draft report to be submitted for the Town Report.
Education
Webinar Feb 18 at noon on RSA 155-E, Earth Excavation regulations; Webinar “Working of a Planning Board”, NHMA, noon to 2pm; Webinar on “ZBA Basics”, NHMA, 4/13/2021, noon to 2 pm.
The meeting adjourned at 8:50 pm.