TOWN OF SUTTON

Pillsbury Memorial Hall

93 Main Street

Sutton Mills, NH 03221

PLANNING BOARD

 

Approved Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, August 22, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.

 

Chair Pogust called the meeting to order at 7:03pm. He said there was a quorum and took the roll.

`

ROLL: Glenn Pogust (Chair), David Hill, Roger Wells, Christine Fletcher, Dane Headley, Jason Teaster

 

ABSENT: Chuck Bolduc, Kristin Angeli (alternate), Peter Blakeman (alternate)

 

ALSO PRESENT: Matt Taylor, Central Regional Planning Commission

 

Chair Pogust said they are planning to discuss the village districts that evening. He had put Peacock Hill on the agenda but unfortunately, the Town’s engineer still has issues with what has been submitted. On Friday, a letter was sent to Peacock Hill with a request for more information and a plat with all the boundaries and lots, but the Town has not heard back from them yet. No building permits will be issued until everything required of the developer has been delivered.

 

 

OLD BUSINESS

1. Village District Ordinance Discussion for Sutton Mills

Chair Pogust said they decided to remove a number of items from the ordinance that are specific and more detailed and shift them to a more robust set of site plan review requirements. Based on their current site plan review regulations, and some other examples, he and Roger were able to put together a draft of a site plan review that includes design requirements and other issues related to a village overlay district. There would be a conceptual, preliminary and a final phase of the site plan review available to applicants.

There was discussion of mixed uses, defining the district, and how to create a sense of place. Jason wanted to make sure they keep moving forward with their approach. In a village, typically there is a gathering space for those who live there to have picnics or other events. There was a discussion of how that may be implemented, especially with the lack of Town owned land in the Sutton Mills village. Chair Pogust said that people generally have an aversion to anything new.

When something does pass, they can see that it wasn’t that big of a change and wasn’t negative. This helps the Town to continue to take baby steps towards getting things aligned with their plans to do things like create a walkable community.

There was talk about incentives to entice developers to come to Sutton, in appropriate places, to build senior and workforce housing. Chair Pogust said there is nothing in the ordinance that says you can’t have multiple buildings on a single lot. There may be things they can’t do the way the ordinance is now drafted, but changes can be made in the future as needed to be able to offer incentives. Roger said this topic should be brought up at a future meeting and he could illustrate what seems likely and what does not.

On September 12th the Board would do a dry-run of the meeting where the charrette would be presented to the interested townspeople. That public meeting would be held on the 26th.

Chair Pogust said he would forward all the materials for review via email following the meeting.

With no further discussion, Chair Pogust closed the meeting.

The meeting adjourned 8:10pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Kristy Heath, Recording Secretary

Town of Sutton