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Town of Warner –Planning Board Meeting Minutes February 7, 2011 7:00 PM Warner Town Hall, Main Hall Members Present:
Barbara Annis, Paul Violette, Ed Mical, Rick Davies,
Dan Watts and David Hartman Members Excused:
Peter Wyman Members Absent: None
Members Arriving Late: None Alternates Excused:
Aedan Sherman. Alternates Arriving Late: J.D.
Colcord OPEN MEETING AT 7:00 PM ROLL CALL Barbara Annis opened the meeting at 7:00 PM. The roll call was taken. J.D. Colcord arrived late. 1. MINUTES Approve minutes of January 3, 2011 Approve minutes of January 24, 2011 Work Session David Hartman made a MOTION
to APPROVE January 3, 2011
meeting minutes. Rick Davies seconded the motion all were in favor.
January 3, 2011 meeting minutes were APPROVED.
Rick Davies made a MOTION
to APPROVE January 24, 2011
Work Session minutes. David Hartman seconded the motion and all were in
favor. January 24, 2011 Work Session minutes were APPROVED.
Barbara Annis asked if the Board would mind changing the order of the
agenda since the Site Plan Review discussion would take the most time.
The Board agreed. 2. SUBCOMMITEE REPORTS BOARD OF SELECTMEN David Hartman said it is the end of the Budget cycle getting ready
for Town meeting. The
Budget Committee will be having the final vote on the budget tomorrow
night. The operating budget is up 0.91% at $2,884,000. The Capital
Operating Budget is down 28.93% at $350,000. Overall the budget is down
3.48%. The Land Use budget is down 10.5% at $30,975 the decrease was
mainly due to a decrease in estimated legal costs. David Hartman said
the Budget Committee and the Selectmen are in agreement on the budget. Rick Davies asked how the snow removal budget is doing. David Hartman
said so far the budget for snow removal is good. Barbara Annis stated the wingman on the plow was doing a great job. 3.
Communications and Miscellaneous There were no communications or miscellaneous items. 4. DISCUSSION ON SITE PLAN
REVIEW Barbara Annis said the Board discussed the proposed Site Plan Review
Draft at the January 24, 2011 Work Session, however since a few of the
Board members were unable to attend they decided to discuss it at
tonight’s meeting. Barbara Annis stated that at the last meeting a discussion was held
whether the subcommittee went above and beyond what was necessary to
clarify the Site Plan Regulations. A question raised was whether to keep
the Site Plan Review as is and add a few topics or to use the new draft
version and incorporate a few things from the existing document. David Hartman said he had asked that question at the last meeting and
was still wondering why the majority of the Site Plan Regulation was
being rewritten instead of just tweaking the existing document. Paul Violette asked where it all stemmed from. He said he was under
the impression the main goal was to incorporate an expedited application
for businesses that were going to open in a building that already had a
Site Plan Review and would not create any significant impact on the
area. Rick Davies said he felt the new draft version made a lot of sense
and it included some procedural items the original document did not
contain. Ed Mical said the reason for revamping the Site Plan Review
Regulations was because when an applicant would come in for a conceptual
the Board would not be in compliance with the RSA if they gave any type
of decision whether a Site Plan Review was needed or not.
Ed Mical said the whole idea was to make a streamline application
for minor Change of Use and save the applicant money in the long run. Ed Mical said in the process they looked at several different towns
and incorporated a few things as well as making some changes: Scope of
Review was added, Multi Use buildings was added, new definitions were
added, definitions were moved to the front of the document, examples of
Change of Use were added, as well as incorporating information from the
Subdivision Regulations for consistency. A section on Waiver
requirements was also included. Ed Mical referenced RSA 674:44 section
3e that states:
(e) Include provision for
waiver of any portion of the regulations. The basis for any waiver
granted by the planning board shall be recorded in the minutes of the
board. The planning board may only grant a waiver if the board finds, by
majority vote, that: David Hartman said he felt that part of the draft document could be
incorporated into the existing document. He did not feel that the
examples of Change of Use were necessary. David Hartman felt that the
Change of Use should tie into the Town of Warner Zoning Ordinance Use
Table. Rick Davies said he liked having the examples listed in the document.
Rick Davies stated that in the Zoning Ordinance Use Table a business
that sells food is listed in the same category as a pharmacy. He said
that the Board may want a Site Plan Review in that case. Dan Watts said in his opinion a lot of work went into the draft
proposed Site Plan Review and he would like to continue working on
implementing that version. Paul Violette asked if they could just implement an Expedited
Application into the existing document and continue the re-write to be
voted on at a later time. Rick Davies said he felt the draft proposed Site Plan Review included
new items that should be included now for example: Change of Use
examples, Multi-Building section and Expedited Application. Ed Mical said one part of the existing document that was rearranged
to make it flow better was moving the definitions from the end of the
document to the beginning. The Board decided to look at the Draft Proposed Site Plan Review
Regulations one page at a time and make and changes and hear any
suggestions. Barbara Annis said she felt the definitions should match those in the
Zoning Ordinance. The Board agreed. The Board discussed the proposed document as well as looking at some
suggestions made by Rick Davies. A few changes and additions were done
to the Definitions: adding a definition for structure: refer to Zoning
Ordinance; the definition for building was changed to refer to Zoning
Ordinance; a definition for Multi-Use Building was added; definition for
Qualitative and Quantitative was added; a definition for tenant was
added; a definition for Change of Use was added. The Board made a few minor changes to Section II Applicability as
well as adding a section that talks about minor structural repairs or
updates. There was a brief discussion regarding examples of Change of Use in
Section II B. It was suggested to come up with some examples that
pertain to Warner. The Board discussed Section II C. Multi-Use Buildings. A brief discussion was held regarding who would be responsible for deciding if there is a Change of Use when there is a tenant change in a multi-use building. RSA 674:43 III was read aloud:
The local legislative body
of a municipality may by ordinance or resolution authorize the planning
board to delegate its site review powers and duties in regard to minor
site plans to a committee of technically qualified administrators chosen
by the planning board from the departments of public works, engineering,
community development, planning,
or other similar departments in the municipality.
The local legislative body may further stipulate that the committee
members be residents of the municipality. This special site review
committee may
have final authority to approve or disapprove site plans reviewed
by it, unless the local legislative body deems that final approval shall
rest with the planning board, provided that the decision of the
committee may be appealed to the full planning
board so long as notice of appeal is filed within 20 days of the
committee's decision. All provisions of RSA 676:4 shall apply to actions
of the special site review committee, except that such a committee shall
act to approve
or disapprove within 60 days after submissions of applications,
subject to extension or waiver as provided in RSA 676:4, I(f). If a
municipality authorizes a site
review committee in accordance with this paragraph, the planning board
shall adopt or amend its regulations specifying application,
acceptance and approval procedures and defining what size and kind of
site plans may be reviewed by the site review committee prior to
authorizing the committee. The Board decided to do more research on the subject and come back
with some suggestions. The Board had a general discussion about the different types of
waivers that could be requested as well as different Changes of Use and
if all additions to buildings would require a Site Plan Review or not.
The Board felt that it would all depend on the individual project. The Board had a discussion regarding the proposed Application for
Site Plan Waiver. It was agreed that the application was not a requested
waiver but rather an expedited application. The Board discussed changing
the name of the application to Expedited Application. It was discussed
when an Expedited Application would come into play and what would be the
defining line between an Expedited Application and a Full Site Plan
Review Application. A question was raised if there would need to be a
Public Hearing, if abutters would be notified and how would an Expedited
Application appear on the Agenda. It was suggested that the Land Use
Secretary give the application to those applicants that may not need to
have a Full Site Plan Review if there is no significant impact or
changes and they are in compliance with the Zoning Regulations. The
secretary would then present the applications to the Board at a
scheduled posted meeting for the Board’s review and vote. If the Board
did not find it necessary to have the applicant come in for a Full Site
Plan Review the secretary would send the applicant a letter stating no
Full Site Plan Review is necessary. If the Board has more questions and
would like to have the applicant come before them the applicant would
file the necessary paperwork, abutter notices sent certified mail, fees
would be paid and a public notice would be posted. The main purpose of
the Expedited Application is to save time and money for applicants of a
business/site that has already received a Site Plan Review in the past
that will not be creating a significant changes or impact on the area
that are allowed Uses in the Zoning Ordinance. The Board agreed to continue discussions on the proposed Draft Site
Plan Review at the next meeting on February 14, 2011. 5. PUBLIC COMMENTS No public was present. 6. ADJOURN David Hartman made a MOTION to ADJOURN. Dan Watts seconded the MOTION and all were in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30
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