Harrisville Planning Board
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Meeting Minutes
The Harrisville Planning Board held a regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, June 8, 2022 at town offices and via zoom.
Members present: Ryan Stone, Lisa Anderson, Jon Miner, Courtney Cox, Kate Neary, Ned Hulbert, Andrea Hodson
Members Absent: Pete Thayer, Don Scott
Members of the public: None
Agenda and voting members – Ryan Stone noted that the voting members for the evening were himself, Lisa Anderson, Courtney Cox, Andrea Hodson and Ned Hulbert. He added that, upon Andrea Hodson’s departure from the meeting, any votes would be held until the July meeting. Following review of the agenda, Jon Miner moved to accept it as distributed. Ned Hulbert seconded. All voted in favor.
Minutes of previous meeting 5/11/2022 – Members held a lengthy discussion about the May 11 meeting minutes. Andrea Hodson requested to clarify for the record that her motion in support of Alternate Jon Miner as a voting member on the Scott Stone application was due solely to Mr. Miner’s position as application reviewer.
Ms. Hodson also wished to add to the record that her interpretation of the town’s policy, Issuance of Building Permits on Class VI Roads, is that the policy applies to building permits and not to authorization of subdivisions.
Finally, Ms. Hodson believed the minutes did not adequately reflect emphasis made during the May 11 meeting that two different attorneys as well as a PB consultant advised that a variance from the ZBA for frontage is required before Mr. Stone’s application could be accepted as complete.
Lisa Anderson then requested to add to the minutes her rationale for sharing with PB members the document containing her notes of her consultation with legal counsel. She noted that since the subdivision application checklist refers to the Harrisville Zoning ordinances and state statutes, that the document she presented was relevant to the business at hand.
Ms. Anderson, echoing Ms Hodson, also requested emphasis that the PB had received consistent legal advice over many years regarding frontage on Class VI roads.
Given lack of agreement among PB members on specific comments at the May 11 meeting and how accurately or extensively the minutes captured the comments, approval of the minutes was moved to the July meeting. Jon Miner made the motion. Courtney Cox seconded. All voted in favor to table approval.
Master Plan ReView Committee – Lisa Anderson reported that the committee has sent out emails in order to regroup and schedule meetings. She and Carol Ogilvie believe another steering committee meeting is needed. They hope to use the 150th to recruit volunteers and schedule them for subcommittee orientation training on topic areas.
Training/Education – Co-Chairs are looking for members to share one or two take-aways from webinars and online conferences and will ask them to do so next month. Members have attended Right to Know, Hard Road to Travel, Land Use Planning, and several will attend the June 29 NHMA Workings of a Planning Board. Ryan Stone and Courtney Cox will share their takeaways from RTK; Ned Hulbert offered to comment on two of the seminars.
Other business
Rocky Ridge Trail Classification – As an FYI to the Planning Board, Eric Aldrich of Hancock is spearheading an initiative to propose that the Town of Harrisville and the Town of Nelson reclassify the Class VI sections of Nubanusit Road and Rocky Ridge as Class A Trails. He met with the Conservation Commission and hopes the Select Board will consider proposing this on next year’s warrant at Town Meeting.
For next month’s meeting agenda, the Minutes of May 11 will be re-addressed.
Stone Subdivision Application – Scott Stone has filed an Appeal of the PB decision with the ZBA. The appeal of administrative decision will be heard June 15 at the ZBA meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 8:05 pm.