April 11, 2023 | Town Admin TOWN OF SUTTON Pillsbury Memorial Hall 93 Main Street Sutton Mills, NH 03221 PLANNING BOARD Approved Meeting Minutes for Tuesday April 11, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. Chair Pogust called the meeting to order at 7:05pm. It was noted that Peter Blakeman had stepped down as a full member of the Board to an alternate. Jason Teaster has stepped up from an alternate to a full member. Chair Pogust said there was a quorum and took the roll. ROLL: Glenn Pogust (Chair), Chuck Bolduc, David Hill, Christine Fletcher, Dane Headley, Jason Teaster, Roger Wells ABSENT: Peter Blakeman (alternate), Kristin Angeli (alternate) ALSO PRESENT: Matt Taylor, Central NH Regional Planning Commission ADMINISTRATIVE: Review of Minutes of March 21, 2023 It was moved by Jason Teaster and seconded by Dane Headley to approve the minutes of March 21, 2023, as circulated. The motion was approved unanimously. NH Invests Grant – Update by Matt from CNHRPC Chair Pogust noted that on April 24th there would be a meeting of the Selectmen to accept the NH Invests grant for the Town, as it is over $25,000. Central NH Regional Planning Commission will be working with the Town on this project. Matt from CNHRPC said as of March 16, 2023 the Town has received funds to work on three separate tasks. He presented slides of the upcoming work the Town would do. They will be creating a new Village District. They will review the Cluster Development Ordinance. They will also look at Planned Unit Development at the Country Club of NH property. Invest NH grants emphasize community engagement. They know that volunteers do a lot of the work in small towns. There is something called a Housing Academy to train volunteers to help with community engagement. Up to three volunteers from the Town can get $250 to take this training. Matt said in small-town, rural NH there are declines in school enrollment, and an increase in people 65-years old and older. Household sizes are decreasing as well. The Planning Commission has been working with the State to come up with a Leeds Analysis every five years. It shows what targets for communities should be, although communities are not bound by those numbers. Sutton’s figure was a need of an additional 98 units. This is a prediction. Roger said there are some older homes in Sutton that are $200,000 or less for sale in Town. Chair Pogust said that they could make Sutton an attractive place to develop suitable housing for people to move to Sutton; they could provide for more than just the housing that is projected to be needed based on the current population. Matt said the next steps would be up to the Board. He was there to provide information but it was up to the Town to determine how to proceed. Matt showed a map of Sutton Mills and all the houses that exist there. He talked about village zoning and provided some examples of other towns and how their zoning works. There are some constraints in Town, including the flood plain (and the accuracy of the flood plain maps), and poorly-drained soils. Matt talked about wells and septic systems. Given the right soils, DES will approve community septic systems. This is a concern in Sutton due to the soils. Matt said that with regards to Cluster Developments, what he sees most often is cul de sacs with small parcels, which isn’t going to fit into Sutton’s village character. A Planned Unit Development (PUD) slide was shown, and Roger showed on the map where the Country Club property was. Chair Pogust said they have spoken to the owners and it would be helpful to show them a mixed type of housing and uses. The Town would need to see if the owners would support the idea. Chair Pogust said that this kind of housing may help increase the value of the golf course. Roger said that he was envisioning a golf community with high, medium and low income levels. He said there are also some sites on the property that would be suitable for light industrial. This property is attractive to the Town for development because of the access and size. Roger said if a developer came in, he would want to make sure a certain amount of property was set aside for commercial retail use. He would want some industrial or light industrial included because it is a money-maker. This is all part of a PUD. Roger said they need to be careful in how they word their regulations. Chair Pogust said it is better to say the things that aren’t allowed instead of dictating what has to be included. Jason thought they could come up with some definitions for form-based development. Matt said the Housing Academy begins on May 9th. There are three stipends allowed for $250 each. Chair Pogust said he would like to go but would not use one of the stipends. Roger said he would prepare a possible schedule for the work to be done with the grant and the Regional Planning Commission. Chair Pogust said they could try to design the new village district using the Sutton Mills village as the basis and then make sure it could be used in the other proposed village districts. Chair Pogust said that he and Dane will continue to stay engaged with the Economic Development Committee. This may be helpful in keeping abreast of good developers in the area. It was moved by David Hill and seconded by Roger Wells to adjourn the meeting. The motion was approved unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:10pm. Respectfully submitted, Kristy Heath, Recording Secretary Town of Sutton