November 15, 2022 | Town Admin TOWN OF SUTTON Pillsbury Memorial Hall 93 Main Street Sutton Mills, NH 03221 PLANNING BOARD Draft Meeting Minutes for Tuesday November 15, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. Chair Pogust called the meeting to order at 7:00pm and took roll. ROLL: Glenn Pogust (Chair), Roger Wells (Vice-Chair), Chuck Bolduc, Christine Fletcher, David Hill, Dane Headley ABSENT: Jason Teaster (alternate), Kristin Angeli (alternate), Peter Blakeman ALSO PRESENT: Kyle Knight, Kelsey Leblanc, Jason Knight, Heather Knight, Walter Baker, Charles Ash, Lindsey White, Sam Milender Chair Pogust called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. He called roll and found there was a quorum. ADMINISTRATIVE: Approval of Draft October 25, 2022 Meeting Minutes It was moved by Dane Headley and seconded by Roger Wells to approve the minutes of October 25, 2022, as circulated. The motion was approved unanimously. NEW BUSINESS: Public Hearing – PB 2022-13 Conditional Use Permit Walter Baker was present to discuss the request. He brought a model of the waterfront he is working with. They had proposed to put in 5’ granite steps instead of the pressure treated wood. There is nothing being built, but just being set into the embankment. It is 90% dry but to give stability, he will need to use cement. Peter Stanley said there are no waivers being requested and the fees have been paid. He suggested making the approval conditional on getting State approval for this project. Walter said that next year they will want to install a hand rail. There were no questions from the board members. It was moved by Roger Wells and seconded by Dane Headley to open the hearing for public comment. The motion was approved unanimously. Charles Ash lives next door to the property in question. He wanted to say that he knew the property very well and understands what is being presented. He was totally in support of the work being proposed. There were no other public comments. It was moved by Roger Wells and seconded by Dane Headley to close the public comment portion of the meeting. The motion was approved unanimously. It was moved by Roger Wells and seconded by Dane Headley to accept the application as complete. The motion was approved unanimously. It was moved by Roger Wells and seconded by David Hill to approve the conditional use permit conditional on acquiring the wetlands permit by NH DES. The motion was approved unanimously. Public Hearing PB-2022-14 & 15, Conditional Use Permits for Steep Slopes and Wetlands Lindsey White was present on behalf of Eversource. She said that there were two applications that were submitted for impacts to the steep slopes overlay district and the wetlands buffer overlay district for an upcoming distribution line retirement. They are looking to retire a line and remove the infrastructure within a right of way. This is being done due to the difficult terrain and topography where the line currently exists. It is a safety concern when dealing with maintenance. The line is about 6 miles in length and has about 2 miles within Sutton. The project will remove 145 existing poles from the right of way and about 59 are in Sutton. Access to the poles will disrupt the wetlands and steep slope overlay areas. They will use best practices when removing the poles. They will re-seed areas as needed. Some minor grading will be done to reach the highland areas and will be restored with seeding afterwards. This would be done between January 2022 and May, 2023. Eversource is keeping the easement deeds to these areas which will be maintained for vegetation mowing. They plan to do the work while the ground is frozen and will be restoring the areas that were disturbed in the spring. Peter Stanley thought progress reports once a month would be nice. Lindsey said this was completely acceptable and has been done for other towns. When asked, Lindsey said the lines would come out first, and then the poles. There were no further questions from the board members. It was moved by Roger Wells and seconded by Dane Headley to open the hearing for public comment. The motion was approved unanimously. Walter Baker, Selectman, asked for notification a week or two prior to the start of this project so that they can answer questions from townspeople. Lindsey agreed. Sam Milender lives in Warner but just purchased land at 13 Eaton Grange East where a lot of this work will be done. He wondered how they would get over the open water and dips in the terrain. Lindsey said in wetland areas they use temporary timber matting. Sam asked if stone walls would be repaired or put back together by Eversource if they are damaged or dismantled. Lindsey said that property owners would be notified of possible work done where stone walls are located. They will work with the land owner to determine how they would go about working over these areas. There were no further comments from the public. It was moved by Roger Wells and seconded by Dane Headley to close the public comment portion of the meeting. The motion was approved unanimously. Peter said there were no waivers requested. The application was complete. It was moved by Roger Wells and seconded by David Hill to accept the application as complete. The motion was approved unanimously. It was moved by David Hill and seconded by Roger Wells to grant the conditional use permits with the condition that regular progress updates are provided to the Town of Sutton by Eversource. The motion was approved unanimously. OLD BUSINESS Central NH Regional Planning Commission – Matt ___ Matt said that a proposed grant application had been distributed to the Planning Board. He said that Mike Tardiff had talked about the application with them previously. He and Mike have been working on this project together, which is based on recommendations on the recent Master Plan and changing the cluster ordinance. He asked if there were any questions or comments. Dane thought it was wonderful. Roger asked if there is flexibility with regards to where the money is allocated. Matt thought there would be some flexibility but the budget is what is proposed. They are looking to promote housing so that is the main reason for the grant. Roger said he understood this, but that there may be a different priority with regards to housing, but it may not be exactly as it is worded currently. Matt said that the different priorities should be relayed to Mike Tardiff or to himself and they would update the application. Chair Pogust said they have a draft to correct the current cluster ordinance. They would like to create a village district, and then offer incentives later to encourage development in the different districts. He hoped the new cluster ordinance would be adopted before the money from the grant is available. Roger thought they should revisit how they spend the dollars for each focus of the grant. He asked if they would get any red flags if they put a “+/-” in front of the figures in each section, except for the final number. Matt said that the grant applications close in November of 2023 so if an amendment to the application has to be made, they could do so within that timeframe. There were no further questions or comments on the draft application. It was moved by Roger Wells and seconded by Dane Headley to approve the grant application presented by CNHRPC subject to the determination of who will sign off officially from the Town of Sutton. The motion was approved unanimously. Continued Discussion of the Proposed Revisions on the Cluster Development Chair Pogust said there were a few changes to note: Counsel didn’t think they should require that developers have consultation with the Conservation Commission and the Planning Board during the special exception process. They could, however, encourage people to do so. It was thought that this would be an advantage to a developer so they have as much information as possible, up front. There were some other changes in the language, such as defining steep slopes. He also added that if the Town or a land trust didn’t want to the open land conveyed to them, it had to be conveyed to the homeowner’s association. There is still a three-year time limit on the construction. He has proposed that completion of the road (a base layer of pavement) will determine completion. Peter said that a developer that has gone through the process and cleared and stumped and worked on the storm water devices and couldn’t complete the road, the Town may lose the case if brought to trial. He felt this was an arbitrary benchmark. A road can be considered substantial without a base layer of payment. Chair Pogust asked for a suggestion. Roger said that it could be that it meets all the standards of a road up to the base coat of pavement. Chair Pogust said they should also provide the inclusion of trails in the open space area. Chair Pogust said the Planning Board will have a public hearing on December 6th where the amendments will be reviewed. He would like to be able to put up the draft in a comparison sheet. He wondered if it was too late to ask people for additional comments that week. Peter said they have to have the ad by the end of the week. Chair Pogust said he would like a notice about this on the Planning Board and the Town’s home page, announcing the hearing and showing the differences/comparisons in the draft. Chuck said he was thinking about drainage and erosion with regards to the completion of the road. If they don’t have a base coat on there, they won’t have a drainage system either. The base coat helps with erosion issues. Chair Pogust said he would go back to Betsy Forsham, Zoning Board member, who had brought up this point, to see if she had more detailed language to use with regards to the road. Chair Pogust said he would get a final draft to Ellie (Town Administrator) by the following Monday. Update on Peacock Hill LLC. The Selectmen have issued a cease and desist to Peacock Hill LLC. Chair Pogust and Peter Stanley went to the site and saw that the loggers have gone beyond the buffer on the western end of the property. He thought the issue was that the developer mismarked the boundary and the logger wasn’t to blame. There are boulders excavated and stumps piled all over. Chair Pogust said that he walked around the site that previous Saturday. The developer has to go to the Selectmen for remediation. He is supposed to be stabilizing everything as he goes, which he is not doing. There is an issue with the Alteration of Terrain (AOT) and whether he is complying with the permit he has. Photos have been taken and will be submitted to AOT for review. He is actively digging within the house lot areas, which he isn’t permitted to do. Chair Pogust noted that it looked like a lot of trash had been discovered once the vegetation had come down. He added that once there is snow on the ground, he would like to survey the perimeter and see how much damage was done within the buffer. If there is a restoration, he would like the remedy of planting trees in the front areas around the cemetery and the house lots. David Hill opined that the driveway was more than 50’. He estimated it was about 150’. Peter Stanley said that it may appear larger than 50’ but this was what had been paced out and marked. David asked who gets the timber tax. Dane Headley said the Town gets it and it is 10% of the yield. Peter Stanley said this amount is based on the reports from the mill where the logs are taken. Peter Stanley said that the logger is being respectful of the wetlands and is giving them a wide berth. Roger Wells suggested that they may need to chain the road to restrict access to it. Peter Stanley said they have to follow the law and the appropriate steps are laid out ahead of them. Chair Pogust added that the notice of violation was sent to the developer by email and certified mail that day. It was moved by Roger Wells and seconded by David Hill to adjourn the meeting. The motion was approved unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 7:58pm. Respectfully submitted, Kristy Heath, Recording Secretary Town of Sutton