Town of Sutton

Pillsbury Memorial Town Hall

26 Grist Mill Street Committee

Meeting Minutes of June 17, 2019

 

Members present:  Dane Headley, Chair; Bob DeFelice, Co-Chair; Don Davis, Glenn Pogust, Cindy Johnson, Andy Jeffrey, and Betsy Forsham. Absent: Wally Baker. Members of the public present: Roger Wells.

Call to order:  Chair Dane Headley called the meeting to order at 3:02 p.m.

Previous meeting minutes: It was moved by Bob, seconded by Glenn and unanimously approved to accept the minutes of June 3, 2019 as written.

Presentation:  Roger Wells proceeded to give a short presentation of some ideas he has for not only 26 GMS but, more long range, using the building to set a precedent for use of old buildings in village settings.  Some ideas he presented are as follows:

Keep the historic sense of the village by saving part of the house, but move it to the southwest corner, create a small lot and then sell it for use as a small business, not a residential home. The business would be like one approved for a “home occupation” business, minus the home requirements. By selling the house, the town would get back some of its money and keep the building on the tax rolls.  In addition, Roger suggested dismantling the barn and shed and repurposing old wood and timbers for something such as a carriage house, which would open up the view from town hall to a sweep of green space.  Bob pointed out that the committee is considering using the southwest corner for parking, as it is closest to town hall.  Dane noted that moving and renovating the building would result in significant costs to the town as well as the loss of its “grandfathered” status.  Roger felt that a new mixed use district, (Village District) should be created which would allow old, non-conforming houses to be saved and repurposed for low impact businesses, thus generating some income for the town and saving the historic, aesthetic nature of the village setting.   Roger was thanked for sharing his ideas with the committee.

Old Business:

Members who took measurements of the house, lot and the various setbacks on June 10 reported on their findings.  Andy superimposed the measurement onto a picture of the lot.  More can be done once we come up with some concrete scenarios.

New Business:

Dane distributed copies of a portion of the 1988 Town Report regarding a proposed addition to the Town Hall (at a cost of $295,000!).  At the time, both police and a pre-school were housed in the building, so the plans would look a bit different if done today.  Bob noted that the proposal was not approved, mainly due to lack of parking.

Dane asked if we should have a meeting with abutters and other interested folks, with the emphasis on the fact that we have a parking problem which needs to be solved.  Additionally, we have to decide what to do with the buildings and the property in general.  It was suggested that we have a meeting with just the direct abutters first to get a sense of what they would like to see done with the property, as they will be most affected by the changes.  Betsy volunteered to contact the four abutters and invite them to our next meeting, which will be held on Monday, July 1st at 6:00 p.m. If none of them can attend, we will meet at 3:00, as usual.

Dane asked what members felt about allowing public comments at our regular meetings. It was felt that if there were just a few folks in attendance, then it would be ok to allow comments, but at the discretion of the chair.  Whereas we only have one hour for our meetings, it would be best to have a meeting dedicated to public comment, perhaps once a month (?).  We could call it a public informational meeting and post it on both the website and at the post offices as part of our agenda.  When we have some scenarios and costs firmed up, we would have a public hearing (s) and would advertise more widely.

Don informed us that Andrew Cushing, field officer with the NH Preservation Alliance, will be coming to the property on Wednesday, June 23 to look over the house and give some suggestions.  Don will get back to us with the time.

There being no further business to conduct, it was moved by Bob, seconded by Betsy and unanimously approved to adjourn at 4:00 p.m.

 

The next meeting will be held on Monday, July 1, 2019 at 6:00 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Betsy Forsham

Recording Secretary