TOWN OF SUTTON

Pillsbury Memorial Hall

93 Main Street

Sutton Mills, NH 03221

PLANNING BOARD

Approved Meeting Minutes for Tuesday January 12, 2021 at 7:00 p.m.

 

CALL TO ORDER: Glenn Pogust, Vice Chair, called the meeting to order at 7:01pm.

 

ROLL: Glenn Pogust, Dane Headley, David Hill (alternate), David Angeli, Peter Blakeman (arrived at 7:18pm)

 

ALSO PRESENT: Katie Nelson and Mike Tardiff (Regional Planning Commission), Walter Partridge (applicant), Peter Stanley, Planning and Zoning Administrator

 

ABSENT: Roger Wells (Chair), Jim Lowe

 

SITE PLAN REVIEW

  1. Request by Walter and Doris Partridge, 466 North Road, Map/Lot 05-497-323, for approval to add additional self-storage units, per plan, to the existing self-storage facilities already on the property.

 

Peter Stanley explained that Mr. Partridge is proposing to add storage units to his property. He has one eight-unit building already and a two car garage that is divided into four storage spaces. In the past Mr. Partridge has received special exceptions from the ZBA, but there was no site plan review done. Mr. Partridge was there that evening to present his site plan review.

 

Mr. Stanley showed a map of the area. Mr. Partridge submitted a plan that shows his house, the existing storage and the additional building he wants to add. No survey has determined whether Shadow Hill Road goes through the middle of his parcel or not. Mr. Stanley shared a map that shows the property boundary going through one of Mr. Partridge’s buildings. He worries that the proposed building won’t meet the setbacks required and said that in the future, it would be impossible to sell one of these parcels without adjusting the lot line or merging the lots. He sees no issue with what Mr. Partridge wants to do with respect to the addition of a building.

 

David Hill asked about the previous owner of the land in question. He thought it belonged to Richard Daniels. Mr. Partridge said Richard Daniels leased the property from him and built the bus barn. Mr. Daniels is no longer leasing the property and so he now owns the building and the land. Mr. Hill wondered if Mr. Partridge would be willing to adjust the lot lines to allow for the current lot lines to not go through the existing building. Mr. Partridge said that could be done with an attorney who knows what they are doing. Mr. Pogust suggested this adjustment should be done before moving forward with any further plans.

 

Mr. Stanley said if Mr. Partridge merged the two lots, the setbacks would be met and the lot line wouldn’t run through his building. He said it is a simple process using a form and then the two lots would be assessed and taxed as one parcel of land. The only fee would be a recording fee with the county. Mr. Partridge agreed that this made sense and he would like to do this. The hearing would be continued until February 9, 2021. Mr. Stanley said he would email the form to Mr. Partridge to fill out.

 

Mr. Stanley asked that Mr. Partridge come up with a designated (and illustrated on a map) indication of where parking will be allowed for those coming and going to the storage facilities.

 

Peter Blakeman felt that a drawing to scale should be required to do this. Mr. Stanley said he agrees but they haven’t always required this in Sutton. Mr. Blakeman disagreed and didn’t think it was a good road to go down not making a scaled map a requirement. Mr. Pogust asked if they could do a partial survey. It was thought this was a possibility. Mr. Blakeman said he didn’t want to set precedence. Mr. Pogust said he understands that if the Planning Board becomes lax they could be faced with others who follow suit with not providing the things they are requiring for site plan review.

 

Mr. Stanley said a site plan with correct size and buildings is needed, which doesn’t require an entire survey. He said the requirement for a setback is a zoning ordinance requirement; it has nothing to do with site plan review regulations. Those are largely waive-able conditions, but one of the basic requirements is some kind of scaled drawing of the site, showing the location of all the buildings.

 

There was discussion about merging all of Mr. Partridge’s parcels and then leaving the opportunity for him to subdivide later on if he wished. Mr. Pogust said that this would require getting a scaled drawing of the buildings on the lot, but he wouldn’t need an entire survey. Mr. Stanley suggested continuing the meeting to February 9th.

 

IT WAS MOVED (Peter Blakeman) AND SECONDED (Dane Headley) to continue the site plan review to the February 9th meeting so they can consider some revisions to the plan. If needed, it could be continued to March.

 

THE MOTION WAS APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

There were no public attendees to comment.

 

The next step would be the merger. Mr. Stanley said he would fill the form out in part, and Mr. Partridge would need to sign off and return it to the town. Mr. Pogust said that Mr. Partridge should get started on the scaled drawing right away.

 

APPROAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of December 8, 2020

IT WAS MOVED (Dane Headley) AND SECONDED (Glenn Pogust) to approve the December 8, 2020 draft meeting minutes. THE MOTION WAS APPROVED.

 

MASTER PLAN REVIEW

Mr. Pogust said he really liked Chapter 1. He had some small changes to be made and would send those things to Mike Tardiff separately. They were grammatical in nature.

 

Mr. Tardiff said this chapter lies out the organization and broad themes for the entire document. He was looking for clarification that they were on the right path. Mr. Headley asked if the results of the survey could be changed so they don’t have to tilt the document. Mr. Tardiff said this could be done.

 

Mr. Tardiff said that he recognized rising taxes as being an important element in the discussion in the chapters. Mr. Pogust said the reference to statutes can become overwhelming and cautioned that this may cause readers to lose interest. Mr. Tardiff agreed and said they would include this mostly in the third and fourth chapters. He wanted those on the Planning Board to see how they could project their voice throughout the chapters. He has connected with Henry Howell of the Conservation Commission and will talk with Roger Wells (Chair) to help with the Land Use chapter.

 

Mr. Tardiff said that since the 2005 Master Plan, things have changed. They also need to make sure they bring attention to the pandemic and how it has changed things, especially small towns.

 

For February they will have a better update for trails, and they will have some review of chapters three and four.

 

 

IT WAS MOVED (David Angeli) AND SECONDED (David Hill) to adjourn the meeting.

THE MOTION WAS APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY.

 

The meeting adjourned at 7:56pm.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Kristy Heath, Recording Secretary

Town of Sutton