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03/04/2010 PLBD Meeting

March 19th, 2010

Carroll Planning Board
Meeting Minutes
March 4, 2010


“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 votes its final approval of the minutes. They are being made available at this time to conform to the requirements of New Hampshire RSAS 91-A: 2.”

Members of the Board present: Chairman John Birknes, Bonnie Maroney, Frank Maturo, Charlie Cohn, Donna Foster, Evan Karpf

Member of the Public present: William Rines, Eric Pospesil, Leslie Bergum

Minutes taken by Rena Vecchio, Secretary

Pledge of Allegiance

Meeting called to order at 6:45 PM



At the January 5, 2010 PLBD meeting, the board unanimously passed a motion “to add 15 minutes to the agenda for every meeting to go over Zoning and Planning Regulations.” Charlie Cohn suggested starting the meeting 15 minutes earlier to accommodate the extra time. With that, the meeting started at 6:45 discussing:
1. Newspaper ads- Evan Karpf stated that in the Subdivision Regulations, page 6, the Notice of Application, dealing with notices in the papers and the Public Hearing, Notices, in the Site Plan Review, page 5, had conflicting notice requirements. These requirements sometimes were very restricting to the office trying to get notices out and sometimes held up the meeting process. Evan Karpf made a motion to: correct the Site Plan Regulations, III., Review Procedure, G. Notices, 1., from, “and publicizing the hearing in the Coos County Democrat and the Littleton Courier” to read, “and by publication of newspaper of general circulation in the Town.” Charlie Cohn seconded and the motion passed unanimously.
2. Parking Spaces – Evan Karpf said that there are conflicts between the PLBD requirements and the Zoning Board requirements. Charlie Cohn made the suggestion to table this and have the board review it for the next meeting.
3. Requirement of decision making – In the Subdivision Regulations the board is given 90 days to give formal consideration upon an approved application. The state regulations gives 65 days. Evan Karpf made a motion to: delete “90 days” from the Subdivision Regulations, Section 3.08, second sentence, and replace it with “65 days” to conform with the state regulation, RSA 676-4; I (C)(1). Bonnie Moroney seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.

At 7:00, Chairman Birknes declared there was a quorum and opened the meeting. The first item on the agenda was correspondence:
• The letter from DES was to determine compliance with RSA 482-A, Map 207, Lot 17, Lynn and Mark Wheeler. It was determined the deficiencies have been corrected.
• A letter from DES to Geet and Lois Pesman, Map 418, Lot 020,001 acknowledged their application for a Shoreland Permit.

The minutes of January 19, 2010 were next on the agenda. Bonnie Moroney made a motion to: accept the minutes. Frank Maturo seconded and the motion passed with 4 ayes. Evan Karpf and Donna Foster abstained as they were not at the January 19 th meeting.

Mike Brunetti, of the BW Land Holdings, LLC, was before the board to deliver the 2010 Concept Plan. The first thing he did was handout a map of what was owned by whom and what was going on at the Resort. A copy of the map and ownership will be attached to the copy in the office.

The list of things that were done last year and things proposed for next year:
• Stone Hill – currently 4 more residential units, 2 duplexes were accepted last year and are being marketed now- until there are contracts the infrastructure will be left.
• Dartmouth Brook - Everything is on hold. Between 2011 and 2012 they will put $1 million dollars into starting up the permitting and marketing for DB.
• Hotel – They are not managing the hotel, but the previous company has finished the $48 million capital improvements (spa, meeting space, outdoor pool, etc) He said he knows that there is about a 100 room renovation going on that will be done in approximately the next 30 to 45 days. So there is also another $5 to $10 million being put into hotel by Omni in the next 2 years.
• Mount Pleasant Golf Area – On hold, along with the relocation of wells.
• Presidential View Condominiums – The last 4 remaining condominiums foundations are in, the site plan is done. There may be one under contract.
• Village Common – In a restructuring period with their lender.
• Sports Club – Plan to improve the building. Needs work.

Evan Karpf made a motion to: accept the Concept Plan as presented. Bonnie Moroney seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

The secretary mentioned that Steve Messina was in and asked the board to have admitted into the minutes of January 7, 2010, that his property in Bretton Woods, Above the Notch Inn, was in Res. 2 zone. The board agreed that it was physically, but because the property was not within a concept plan, the property reverted back to Twin Mountain, Res. 1 for zoning purposes.

Eric Pospesil, from Horizons Engineering, was representing William and Sabrina Rines for a Boundary Line Adjustment and a Minor Subdivision, Map 206, Lots 10 & 20. Evan Karpf asked why they were asking for a Minor Subdivision and Eric said because they were doing a 3 lot subdivision. Mr. Karpf stated that Section 2.33 of the Subdivision Regulations said, “not involving any new street or road or the extension of municipal facilities” and he feels that this looks like quite a drive or major road, which would make this a Major Subdivision. Eric said that after reading the regulations over this past week he could see that it may have been a mistake on his part to put down for a Minor Subdivision. He asked the board how that would affect the application and could they proceed tonight with the application. Evan Karpf made a motion to: proceed with the application understanding that it is for a Major Subdivision and that the fee difference will be paid. Bonnie Moroney seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Eric stated that the plan brought in tonight is slightly different then the original that was dropped off at the office. The change is in the location of the road and they pulled it back slightly so that the snowmobile trail will remain entirely on the Rines property.

The access to the land is on an existing right of way and the DOT will be coming down to review the driveway and to see what upgrades will be needed. Bill Rines has an existing driveway permit but this will be a change in use for his permit. Evan Karpf said Bill’s permit #4461 P, is actually an access permit for a gravel pit.

Chairman Birknes asked Eric Pospesil if he was aware that there is litigation pending on the Rines property because of the excavation. The trial is scheduled for the later part of June. Part of the problem is that this area is subject to RSA 155 E and there is no permit for the excavation that was done, no bond posted and no variance to allow what has occurred there. He said that at the end of the meeting the board is going to discuss the proposal sent by Provan & Lorber to see what needs to be done for reclamation in that area and if they can do it, how much in excess has been excavated by a previous permit. Also how wetlands would be affected there. So the Chairman said that kind of links into what you are asking “What are you looking for us to give you or to be done?” Well he said Provan & Lorber would now be asked to look at the property anyway for a major subdivision, at the owner’s expense. Chairman Birknes said he wanted him to be aware that there had been a problem with Provan & Lorber being allowed on the property with the excavation issue. You can fight whether you are responsible for the entire fee or not. Eric said he was aware of that. But there is less than 600’ of new road and it is not a difficult site for this proposal. Eric said he is aware of the issues of reclamation and restoration. John Birknes said we had been told that we would get plan and never did (referring to the excavation issue).
Eric said he was under the impression that what was excavated was perfectly legal. The chairman said no, not according to this board. That Bill’s counsel was going on an old permit that had a limit of 18000 yards to be removed. Then their bond expired or was terminated and excavation resumed big time in the summer time and ended late November.

Eric asked that for the review, what is the board looking for. Are they asking to look at the design of the road? Evan Karpf said that one issue of the road would be that it would have to be within town specs and the fire chief requests a fire hydrant and of course utilities. Eric said that there are only two residential lots so he is not sure that they have to provide utilities. Evan said yes you do, our regs require utilities due to safety issues. Evan Karpf said we have had trouble in the past. He could understand the request or recommendation, but why would they be required to run utilities for a 2 lot subdivision. He said that in the Subdivision Regulations there are 19 requirements and there are 9 items that “may be requested by the Board.” This is only a 2 lot subdivision, 300’ off the main route. The site will have on site wells and off site septic systems. This is not a high density subdivision. Charlie Cohn said but it could be a high density subdivision. But Eric said “at that time, we would have to come back to the board anyway.” Donna Foster said that the problem the board had before was with a larger subdivision that did not put in all the utilities. Eric asked the board what if he did not want electricity in his home, it is not a law that he has to have it. Evan Karpf said it was the duty of the board to protect the welfare of the public. To ensure that there was phone service if necessary for emergencies. Eric said that the board cannot put the burden of what might happen in the rest of the acreage onto this application, where there is not yet a plan, onto the 2 lot subdivision. He feels that it is really unfair. Eric said he would insist that there is no reason in this situation to bring in utilities to this site. It is unreasonable. Evan Karpf said he attended the OEP meetings and the Legal Law Series and this is what they instructed him to do. Maybe the requirement could be built into the sale of the lots so not to cause a hardship on the developer. Eric said he felt the hardship was already there by requiring them to do an unnecessary thing at all.

Chairman Birknes said that right now they were to accept an application and then setting up a Public Hearing. Evan Karpf made a motion to: accept the applications with the corrections stated of the Major Subdivision and the Lot Line Adjustment. Bonnie Moroney seconded and the motions passed unanimously. Evan Karpf asked the secretary to make sure the letter from Fire Chief Jeff Duncan was mentioned in the minutes. You will find a copy of the letter that Evan asked the Chief for, attached to the minutes in the office.

Bonnie Moroney stated that the Planning Board had not held their elections for the chair and officers. Evan Karpf made a motion to: nominate John Birknes for Chairman of the Planning Board. Charlie Cohn seconded. Chairman Birknes asked if there were any other nominations. There being none, a vote was held and passed with four ayes.
John Birknes will be chair for another year.
Bonnie Moroney made a motion to: nominate Donna Foster for Vice Chair. There was no second. Charlie Cohn made a motion to: nominate Evan Karpf for Vice-Chair of the Planning Board. Frank Maturo seconded and the motion passed with 4 ayes and 1 opposed.

Chairman Birknes has been talking to Laura Specta over the Rines Excavation case. She attached a schedule for the pretrial court order for this case on July 8, 2010. The original time of February 15th was set for the plaintiff’s expert witness to go to court. There was no way that Provan & Lorber could get into the excavation pit and look at everything with the snow still all over the ground. The next date was of March 15th and they felt they could make that. Provan & Lorber had sent the proposal for the Agreement for Professional Engineering Services for the inspection of the Rines Gravel pit. The estimated cost is $4,835.00, plus a 2% communication fee, meeting times and expenses. An advanced payment of $1600.00 will be submitted prior to starting the work. A copy of the proposal will be attached.

Evan Karpf made a motion to: sign the contract from Provan & Lorber as engineers for the Town regarding the litigation of the excavation. Frank Maturo seconded. The Chair wanted it to be known that Provan & Lorber would have to go onto the lot of the subdivision and that should be in the minutes that it is a condition for the subdivision. The charge of this should go to Bill Rines. The Planning Board is going to court for expenses on the litigation issue also, but it is not a given that it will happen. The board may bear the costs. A vote was called by the Chair, the motion passed with 4 ayes and 2 abstentions (Bonnie Moroney and Donna Foster).

Evan Karpf made a motion to: adjourn the meeting. Frank Maturo seconded and the motion passed unanimously. The meeting ended at 8:30.

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