April 18, 2018 | Town Admin TOWN OF SUTTON Pillsbury Memorial Town Hall 93 Main Street Sutton Mills, NH Sutton Mills, NH 03221 Zoning Board of Adjustment Draft Minutes of the Regular Meeting Wednesday April 18, 2018 These Minutes Are Not Official Until Approved by the Board at its Next Regular Meeting Board Members Present: Derek Lick, Chair; Ed Canane; Betsy Forsham; Samantha Gordon; Joe Eisenberg, Alternate; and Bill Hallahan, Alternate. Board Members Absent: Doug Sweet (recused). Staff Present: Diane Lander, acting recording secretary. Others Present: Dorothy and Robert Andrew K. Jeffrey, Sutton, NH and Andover, MA Residents; Debbie Lang, Sutton Resident; Shannon Storm, Sutton Resident; and Roger Wells, Sutton Resident. Meetings: Request for a rehearing by Chris Donnelly and Shannon Storm, pursuant to RSA 677:2. Regular Meeting Call to Order Chairperson Lick called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Chairperson Lick explained that, for discussion of the request for a rehearing, both Doug Sweet and Ed Canane were recused. The two alternates, Bill Hallahan and Joe Eisenberg were designated to take the places of Ed Canane and Doug Sweet, respectively. Board Member Ed Canane moved to the public seating area. Chairperson Lick explained that the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) hears two different types of requests. The first is an application for a variance or special exception. This requires a Public Hearing, where members of the public are allowed to present their support for or concern with the application. The Public Hearing is then followed by a Public Meeting, where the Board discusses and votes on the application. Members of the public may attend the Public Meeting but may not speak. The second type of request is to rehear a case involving a variance or special exception, which does not require a Public Hearing but rather only a Public Meeting. As the request before the Board was one for rehearing, the meeting was a Public Meeting. Approval of Minutes of Regular Meetings of June 21, 2017 and November 15, 2017 Chairperson Lick postponed the discussion of the minutes until the end of the meeting. Meetings: Request for a rehearing by Chris Donnelly and Shannon Storm, pursuant to RSA 677:2. Chairperson Lick provided an overview. The request is to rehear the Board’s November 15, 2017 decision granting a variance for the applicant, Debbie Lang. The question presented by the request for rehearing is whether all abutters received appropriate notice according to the ZBA required procedures. If the Board now votes to accept the request for a rehearing and the applicant decides to resubmit the request for a variance, the request will be re-noticed and the process will start over. If the Board, however, now votes to deny the request for a rehearing, the November 15, 2017 decision will stand. The original variance was requested because construction of a proposed garage of a certain footprint could not be located on the site at issue without encroaching either on the wetland setback or the roadway setback. The applicant sought a variance from the wetland setback. During consideration, a variance was granted by a vote of 3 to 2, but the Board placed a condition on approval that the garage be relocated so that it encroached only on the road setback and not the wetland setback. Chris Donnelly’s and Shannon Storm’s request for a rehearing is based on 2 primary concerns. The first is that they received notice of the November 15, 2017 ZBA meeting late and, had they received notice before the meeting, they would have attended the meeting and expressed their concerns about the application. The notice was sent out certified mail on November 6th, which is within the statutory time frame. It arrived at the post office on November 13th and, as it was sent certified mail, had to be signed for. The notice was picked up on November 16th. A counter point is that every abutter has 30 days after a hearing to raise concerns and ask for reconsideration, but Mr. Donnelly and Ms. Storm did not do so. The second concern is that the notice was not sufficiently clear. For example, Mr. Donnelly and Mr. Storm note that the notice identifies the applicant, who lives down the street, and not the owner of the abutting property on which the proposed garage was to be built and the parcel number referenced at the top of the notice is that for the property owned by Mr. Donnelly and Ms. Storm and not that for the property on which the variance was requested. A counter point is that the abutters could have checked on the tax map lot # and/or called the Town Office and asked for clarification of why they received the notice and an explanation of the variance request. Before the meeting, Chairperson Lick had asked advice from Town Counsel. Under New Hampshire law, if the legal notice was not proper, the Board’s decision is void. Town Counsel said no statutes were violated but suggested being extra cautious and granting the rehearing. Town Counsel also provided suggestions for revising future notices. Chairperson Lick recognized rehearing the request for a variance will negatively impact the applicant and said the Town should waive the application fees if the rehearing request is granted. The Board then discussed at length the request for the rehearing. After discussion among all Board members and each member having addressed the points and counterpoints raised as to the notice, a motion was made, as follows: Motion: Board Member Joe Eisenberg moved to grant the request for the rehearing. Board member Bill Hallahan seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. The Public Hearing for the rehearing of the variance application was set for May 30, 2018. If the applicant decides to resubmit the request for a variance, the meeting will be re-noticed and supporting documents will again be sent to the board members. The applicant will be given the option of requesting a variance to the wetland setback, to the road setback, or to either the wetland or the road setback. The applicant will be asked to stake out the building site on the property. Old Business No Old Business was brought before the Board. New Business Board Member Ed Canane resumed his position as a member of the board and Alternate Board Member Bill Hallahan stepped down. The Board discussed holding an administrative meeting to discuss ZBA meeting processes and procedures, ZBA board member pre-review of applications procedures, and the content and timing of notices, mailing, postings, etc. All ZBA board members and the Land Use Coordinator are encouraged to attend this meeting. The Board set June 20, 2018 for this meeting, given there is no application or appeal needing to be heard at that time. Approval of Minutes of Regular Meetings of June 21, 2017and November 15, 2017 After some discussion about content and timing of the minutes, Chairperson Lick postponed the discussion of the minutes until the May 30, 2018 meeting. He also will ask Town Counsel how to account for the meetings being 5 and 10 months ago and that board membership has since changed. The minutes will be resent to all board members for their review. Further, board members are now asked to review draft minutes and send comments or changes to the Land Use Coordinator soon after the draft minutes are emailed to them or posted on the town web page. Adjournment Due to the lateness of the hour, Alternate Board Member Bill Hallahan left the meeting before the meeting was formally adjourned. Motion: There being no further business, Chairperson Lick moved to adjourn the meeting. Board Member Ed Canane seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:36 p.m. The next scheduled meetings will be held on May 30, 2018 (Public Hearing for the rehearing of the variance request: Deborah Lang, 87 Lovett Road, South Sutton) and June 20, 2018 (administrative meeting). Respectfully submitted, Diane M. Lander Acting Recording Secretary