TOWN OF SUTTON

Pillsbury Memorial Hall

93 Main Street

Sutton Mills, NH 03221

PLANNING BOARD

 

Draft Meeting Minutes for Tuesday May 9, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.

 

Chair Pogust called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. Chair Pogust said there was a quorum and took the roll.

 

ROLL: Glenn Pogust (Chair), Chuck Bolduc, David Hill, Christine Fletcher, Dane Headley, Roger Wells, Jason Teaster, Kristin Angeli (alternate), Peter Stanley (Planning and Zoning Administrator)

 

ABSENT: Peter Blakeman (alternate)

 

PUBLIC PRESENT: Christine Kuhlman, Tom Schamberg.

 

ADMINISTRATIVE:

Conditional Use Permit – Kuhlman

Peter said he felt the application was complete. Chair Pogust asked the Board members if there were any questions about the completeness of the application. There were none.

 

It was moved by David Hill and seconded by Christine Fletcher to approve the application as complete. The motion was approved unanimously.

 

Wally Baker said the existing stairs are concrete and are at about a 45-degree angle to the water. The treads are between 9-12” and it is steep. He has proposed to go over the existing stairs about half-way and create a landing. He will then extend the stairs out with 12” tread with railings around both sides. The existing dock is 8’x10’ and currently the steps stop about 8’ from it. He will be using this 4’ area to spread out the steps more. This will help make the area more accessible.

 

Peter said this qualifies for a conditional use permit because it has to do with access. Wally said that they are in the process of providing an application with DES; if the Planning Board approves the request it will be part of the process. A stone wall will be built that will hide the original steps. There will be a place to plant flowers. He wants this to be as natural as possible.

 

When asked, Wally said he will need to dig down about 3’ to install sonotubes for the decking. Chuck worried about stability issues due to the slope; it is steep. Peter said it would be good to plant some very low shrubs along the embankment to help with this. Some suggested plantings were offered to Wally and the applicant to consider.

 

Christine Kuhlman, owner, said that last summer the people from the Lake Association came by and were informed of the desired renovations to the stairway to the water. The people from the Board asked what plantings they hoped to put in the area of the stairs, and she offered that she would plant native species of shrubs. Roger Well’s suggested Bear Berry shrubs.

 

Chuck said the area was steeper than the 2:1 ratio and Wally would need to consider this when digging for the tubes.

 

It was moved by Christine Fletcher and seconded by David Hill to open the public portion of the meeting for comment. The motion was approved unanimously. 

 

There were no comments from the public.

 

It was moved by Christine Fletcher and seconded by Roger Wells to close the public portion of the meeting for comment. The motion was approved unanimously. 

 

It was moved by Roger Wells and seconded by David Hill to approve the CUP application for the Kuhlmans, subject to permit approval by NH DES and with the condition that the finished project involves planting native species of shrubs to stabilize the embankment. The motion was approved unanimously.

 

  1. Review of Minutes of April 11, 2023

It was moved by Jason Teaster and seconded by Christine Fletcher to approve the minutes of April 11, 2023, as circulated. The motion was approved unanimously.

 

  1. Update by Central NH Regional Planning Commission

Chair Pogust said that the CNHRPC has promised to get a draft for the village district zoning ordinances before the next meeting. He suggested meeting on May 30th and on June 27th so they can keep moving on this project.

 

There was discussion on the Zoning changes that they would like to make the following year. There is some ambiguity in portions of the ordinance relating to Wetland Buffers and ADU’s that need to be cleaned up. Peter said he already has a draft to share with Chair Pogust to help with this effort.

 

Chair Pogust said the Economic Development Committee, of which he is a part, met last week to discuss what they will be able to do. He suggested that they attend the Vital Communities program or look at the resources online.

 

Chair Pogust noted the proposed timeline for consideration and approval of a new Village District Ordinance in time for next year’s Town Meeting.  Peter said they need to have a second public hearing with enough time for a notice, if necessary. They need to decide on the dates for the future and announce it at a meeting. Peter said this second hearing would need to happen in December. Roger felt getting the charrette done was important in order to get feedback from the public.

 

Roger suggested reviewing the timeline for the rest of the year. He thought they needed to be very clear with their consultant so they know what the Town wants from them. He thought if the consultants could come up with a draft, the Town could work to revise it and come up with questions and work their way through it. Roger said he could generate the questions they need to ask over the next three weeks.

 

Chair Pogust said as part of the charrette he would like the consultants to show what a street-front or areas with homes would look like with the suggested changes. Roger thought the consultants could do this. Chair Pogust said he would start contacting the CNHRPC consultants soon to start providing them with details of what the Planning Board would like to see.

 

Chair Pogust wondered if the architect, Sheldon Pennoyer, could come give a presentation about what things could look like. Sheldon is actually related to Peter, who thought that a presentation could happen. For the next meeting, the Board hoped to have some maps enlarged for easy mark-up. Chuck said he could put something together that looks better than what is on Google Earth. Parcels, wetlands streams, 20% or steeper slopes, vegetation, and buildings would be the preferred layers on the map. This would be reviewed on May 30th.

 

Peter said that the RPC should be guided for support, but there is no room in the budget to hire Chuck to do any mapping. Chuck assured the Board that he would not be allowed to get paid for volunteer work using his mapping skills and software.

 

It was confirmed that the next meeting would be May 30th and the following meeting would be June 27th.

 

  1. Other Business

The next meeting may include a discussion of increasing fees posed on applicants by the Town.

 

Chair Pogust said the Town has authorized and filed an injunction action against Peacock as they have disobeyed and ignored the requirements related to their subdivision.

 

With no other business, Chair Pogust called for a motion to adjourn.

 

It was moved by Jason Teaster and seconded by Christine Fletcher to adjourn the Planning Board meeting of May 9, 2023. The motion was approved unanimously.

 

The meeting adjourned 8:00pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Kristy Heath, Recording Secretary, Town of Sutton