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Minutes of 2/6/2014 DRAFT

February 13th, 2014

TOWN OF CARROLL
PLANNING BOARD

MINUTES
February 6, 2014

These minutes of the Town of Carroll Planning Board have been recorded by its Secretary. Though believed to be accurate and correct they are subject to additions, deletions and corrections by the Planning Board at its next meeting when the Board reviews them. The additions, deletions and /or corrections will be noted in the minutes of the subsequent meeting. These minutes are being made available at this time to conform to the requirements of New Hampshire RSA 91-A:2.

Minutes recorded by Linda J. Dowling, Esq.

Members Present: Chairman, Donna Foster, Vice Chairman, Richard Nelson, Selectman Representative, Bonnie Moroney, and members Kenneth Mills, Dr. Evan Karpf, and Michael Hogan.

Also present were Joan Karpf and David Scalley.

7:00 PM: A quorum being present Chairman Foster called the meeting to order.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Review of Minutes:

January 2, 2014 Joint Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment Meeting

Dr. Karpf offered a motion to approve the Minutes of the Joint Planning Board and ZBA meeting of January 2, 2014 as written. Ms. Moroney seconded the motion. The vote was 5 – 0 -1 (Mr. Hogan abstained) The motion carries.

January 2, 2014

Dr. Karpf noted page 1, 1st paragraph under Minutes Review: “Mr. Bergum” was not present and his name should be deleted.

Page 2 of 7
Planning Board
February 6, 2014

Dr. Karpf offered a motion to approve the minutes of January 2, 2014 as corrected. Ms. Moroney seconded the motion. The vote was 5 – 0 – 1(Mr. Hogan abstained). The motion carries.

January 16, 2014 Public Hearing for Zoning Ordinance Change

Ms. Moroney offered a motion to approve the minutes of January 16, 2014 Zoning Ordinance Change Public Hearing as written. Dr. Karpf seconded the motion. The vote was 4 – 0 – 2. (Mr. Mills and Mr. Hogan abstained). The motion carries.

Correspondence:
Code Enforcement Officer’s Report.

Code Enforcement Officer, Stan Borkowski’s report, dated January 15, 2014, was made available to the Board

Mr. Borkowski’s 2013 summary of activity was received just before the meeting and handed out to Board members. (attachment)

Report of Officers and Committees:
.Master Plan Sub-committee

Mr. Mills gave the Board a handout containing the survey results. (attachment) Mr. Mills said the Sub-committee met just before this Planning Board meeting and discussed the results and where the Sub-committee wants to go from here.. 29% responded to the survey which the Sub-committee and Ms. Bamford of North Country Council, felt was a very good return. Mr. Mills said the results show a conflict between costs and wants.

Site Plan Review Regulations Sub-committee

Chairman Foster handed out pages containing Section 4, Section 5, 6 and 7 and Article IV. Performance Guaranty. Section 4.02 and 4.03, specifically “public meeting”, was discussed and it was agreed that the wording should be looked at carefully and should be revised.



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Planning Board
February 6, 2014

Section 4.05 “receipt” also needs to be clarified. The question was, is this the Notice of Decision. It was the general consensus that Section 4 needs to be re-worded in such a way as it gives the applicant an option of whether or not his first appearance before the Planning Board would be for discussion requiring only a public meeting or if the applicant wanted to go right into a public hearing process.

With any changes to Section 4, Section 5 , Board Action on Completed Application, there may need to be clarification, to Section 6, Public Hearing. It was noted by Chairman Foster that a public hearing was not needed for acceptance of an application. The application could be accepted a public meeting. She also referred to consultations by prospective applicants which do not require a public hearing. These two things can be put on the agenda with a 15 day notice. Public Hearings require a 21 day notice because of the Coos County Democrat’s deadlines for publishing. Abutters’ notices for public hearings must be mailed not later than 10 days before the public hearing.

Chairman Foster said, Article IV. Performance Guaranty, if a very brief paragraph and should be similar to that required in the Sub-division Regulations which is much more detailed.

Dr. Karpf said in Section 5.03 the 90 days the Board must act, should be changed to 60 days so not to conflict State Law.

It was noted that the Application Fee is $50.00 for a Site Plan Review. This money goes to the Town’s General Fund. The Processing Fee which covers publishing the public hearing and abutters’ and applicant’s certified mailings as well as Notice of Decision certified mailing, goes into the Land Use Account to pay for these expenses.

Dr. Karpf said he and Mr. Hogan will get together regarding the update of the Site Plan Review Regulations.

Unfinished business:
Secretary Job Description – 2nd draft

Secretary Linda. Dowling told the Board she had made the requested changes to the job description. She said the only thing left to discuss was the bullets regarding the accounts. Chairman Foster said she had not yet met with the ZBA Chairman regarding this but will do so before the next meeting.

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Planning Board
February 6, 2014

Discussion ensued regarding use of the Excel spread sheet for time tracking of the Secretary. The discussion turned to how the secretary is paid which at this time is hourly, only for the time she works. Mr. Mills suggested paying a salary.

Ms. Moroney gave a history of the position as she understood it. The previous employee worked in the office and her Planning Board and ZBA duties were included in other duties that she performed. The previous employee was a full time employee and her pay came from different line items of the budget. Ms. Moroney said, this is a learning curve for everyone.

Chairman Foster said she had no idea of everything the secretary did. She said the
Excel sheet helped her to see that but she doesn’t need the amount of detail that Ms. Dowling has provided. She just needs to know how the money (time) is used so she can justify it to the Budget Committee.

Dr. Karpf disagreed saying the Excel sheet has no value because one case can “blow” the number off. He said, they have a very detailed job description that shows what the secretary does. He said this secretary has performed exceptional well, everything is done and on time. He said he is against a salary because paying a person just for hours worked is the most economical way to do it.

Mr. Hogan said he thinks it needs a time study done. He said a time study should be done on everyone. Ms. Moroney said she is presently doing one in the Selectmen’s Office.

Chairman Foster clarified what type of detail she needed on the Excel spread sheet. She also said, regarding the job description, the secretary could attend workshops and lectures as permitted by the budget.

The topic was tabled until the March 6th meeting.

Chain of Custody Form for Mylars – to Registry of Deeds

Two forms were presented. The first one the Secretary had produced and the second one was from the Police Department. After some discussion it was the Board’s consensus to merge the two forms.

Page 5 of 7
Planning Board
February 6, 2014

Voluntary Merger Procedure – 2nd draft

This is a result of the recent application for a voluntary merger. It was noted that these applications are not seen often and the recent one caused some research regarding the proper way to handle it.

The Secretary has drafted a Procedure that outlines the process should an application ever come before the Board again. A question regarding whether the Planning Board should charge a fee for processing such an application was raised. The Secretary said there was very limited action she had to take on such an application, no public hearing was required but there were costs to the Board for mailing to the applicant and certified mailing to the Registry of Deeds. It was made known that when someone applied for a Voluntary Merger, they applied to the Town Clerk. The Town Clerk obtains a check made out to the Registry of Deeds for the filing.

Mr. Hogan offered a motion to set $10.00 as the Planning Board’s processing fee of Voluntary Mergers. Ms. Moroney seconded the motion. The vote was 6 – 0. The motion carries

Other Business:
Procedural change re: posting minutes of the web-site

Chairman Foster said that the Administrative Assistant could not put the attachments of minutes on the web-site because they take up too much room. She will have the attachments at Town Hall if anyone wants to come in and get them. Chairman Foster said this would require a change in the Rules of Procedure which would start at the April meeting. Mr. Hogan said, the attachments could be listed on the minutes with the explanation that they are available at Town Hall.

Chairman Foster said, the latest advisory from LGC (NHMA) is there are no “Draft” or “Approved” minutes. The minutes transcribed are the minutes. Any changes will be noted in the next meeting’s minutes when the minutes review takes place.

Mr. Mills said he believes the results of the Mater Plan Survey should be put on the web-site.


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Planning Board
February 6, 2014

Receipt of letter – correspondence

Dr. Karpf said a letter was sent to the Planning Board and Selectmen through the Office. (attachment) He said it is an anonymous letter with strong and inaccurate viewpoints. Mr. Hogan said it is an “out-liar” – meaning just someone’s opinion.

Ms. Karpf said in the letter it implies that the Conservation Commission did something that brought about the demise of the “cottages” project. She said she want to clarify that the Conservation Commission is advisory only. The Commission can expedite a project and that is exactly what they did with the “cottages” project. She said the author of the letter doesn’t know what he/she is talking about and questions why he/she would have the opinion exhibited in the letter. However, Ms. Karpf said this has created a good opportunity to share some Conservation Commission information.

Public Comment:
David Scalley

Mr. Scalley was present as Hunt Properties, LLC. He asked if there was any news regarding his project. Chairman Foster said she is still waiting to hear from the Court. Mr. Scalley asked if he could proceed on his project (before hearing from the Court) Ms. Moroney said she would ask the Administrative Assistant to contact the Town Attorney and ask the question.

Dr. Karpf asked if Town Counsel had given an opinion on the 3rd party review. Chairman Foster was of the opinion that they should just follow the Regulations. She said she will bring information from Provan & Lorber regarding their payment structure.

It was noted that Horizons Engineering was the 3rd party reviewer on the Hunt Property project. Chairman Foster said the Town has not appointed a Town Engineer and there should be a list of engineers that the applicant can pick from as long as they are certified. Dr. Karpf said the Town Engineer works for the Town not the applicant (the Town/Planning Board should be the one to choose).

Mr. Scalley asked if the law suit was regarding something he did. Chairman Foster said, no, it’s about something the Planning Board did.

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Planning Board
February 6, 2014

Mr. Hogan offered a motion to adjourn. Ms. Moroney seconded the motion. The vote was 6 – 0. The motion carries.

8:05 PM: Chairman Foster adjourned the meeting.

Attachments are available at the Selectmen’s Office. They include:
Code Enforcement Officer’s 2013 Summary of Activity
Master Plan Sub-committee Survey Results
Letter to Planning Board & Selectmen (correspondence)

Respectfully submitted
Linda J. Dowling
Secretary
Carroll Planning Board

Town of Carroll, New Hampshire ®2024