Planning Board Minutes

Minutes of 10/5/2023 (REVISED)

October 11th, 2023

Town of Carroll Planning Board
Meeting Minutes
October 5, 2023
5:00PM

“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 RSA 91-A:2.”

Planning Board Members Present: Chairperson Alex Foti, Vice Chair Austin Alvarez, Rena Vecchio, Ryan Peffer, Tom Godfrey, Don Jones (leaves at 6pm), Jules Marquis (Selectmen’s Representative-arrives at 5:30pm)

Public Present: Syed Nuruzzaman, Attorney Andy Sullivan, Cathy Conway-Horizons Engineering, Evan Karpf, Greg Hogan-Highway Dept, Fire Chief Jeff Duncan, Paula Murphy, John Greer, Jason Moreira

Minutes Taken By: Corinne Ripa

Item 1: The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Foti at 5:01PM
Item 2: Pledge of Allegiance
Item 3: Attendance taken; Quorum met
Item 4: Approval of September 7, 2023 Minutes
Ryan Peffer makes a motion to approve the minutes. Rena Vecchio seconds the motion. Aye from Alex Foti, Autin Alvarez and Tom Godfrey. Don Jones abstains as he was not at the meeting. Minutes approved.
John Greer makes a quick announcement, stating that he is here tonight as a resident of the town and not as a Select Board Rep. This is noted by all.
Item 5: Application: Echo Lake Phase II (Continued from May 4, June 1, July 6, Aug 3 and Sept 7)
Cathy Conway would like to start out with the waiver requests that were submitted via email September 26, 2023. Two waivers were requested, one for the curve radius and one for the road width. The curve radius is up first. Although the towns regulations have the curve radius dependent on the traffic volume, some of the engineering standards have it based upon the speed limit. It has been established with the Police Chief that the speed limit will be 25MPH. With that speed limit, the minimum curve is 150ft which is what the waiver is proposing. The curves range from 150ft-250ft. Kevin Leonard (Northpoint Enginnering-3rd party review) suggests 154 ft. If this was a new design, Horizons would do that. Seeing as the road is already existing, it does present a hardship hence the waiver request. It was also determined that the traffic flow would really be half of what was presented due to the fact that upon entering Phase ll, you must go right or left, so 50% of the traffic will most likely go left and 50% will most likely go right, reducing the traffic flow from 432 ADT (Average Daily Traffic) to 216, which only allows for 125ft curve radius. It is determined as well that by maintaining the existing integrity of what is already built, keeps the disturbance of existing wetlands lower. One of the biggest concerns is public safety, and the Fire Chief is comfortable navigating his equipment with the existing design. (A fire truck Autoturn exhibit with current curve radi and road width based upon the Town of Carroll’s fire equipment has been previously presented.) After some discussion amongst the board, Austin Alvarez moves to accept the waiver, Don Jones seconds the motion. Votes-Alex Foti-aye, Tom Godfrey-aye, Ryan Peffer-aye, Rena Vecchio-opposed. 5 in favor, 1 opposed, the waiver for a curve radius of 150ft is passed.
Waiver two requesting a road width of 20ft as opposed to 24ft is brought to the table. Road width is determined by ADT. Again, the notion that traffic is splitting at the intersection, cutting the ADT in half on each side of the circle. There-fore up until the intersection, the road should be 24ft with 4ft shoulders., but once at the intersection, the road can be tapered down on each side (whether going right or left) gradually to 20 ft with 2ft shoulders. The transition of the taper is currently designed to be approximately 250ft to the narrower portion. Kevin Leonard’s written response to this waiver is that he feels a waiver is not required based on the argument that traffic splits into 2 directions. The board did feel that having Horizons Engineering apply for waiver and having one on file was the correct way to go, which is why Cathy Conway presented it. Again, the Fire Chief is asked his thoughts and he feels comfortable with the ability to maneuver his apparatus safely within the subdivision with the waiver request presented. Ryan Peffer makes a motion to approve the waiver. Rena Vecchio seconds the motion. All members reply with an aye. The waiver passes unanimously.
Status of DES Alteration of Terrain Application. Cathy states they did receive a letter from the Wetlands Bureau and met them out at the sight with two of their representatives. There were some suggestions made by them that made sense and others that didn’t seem plausible. In an email dated 10/04/2023, Cathy lays these out to the board.
One suggestion, was to make the road 2 dead ends instead of a circle so as not to cross a major wet lands crossing. Town regulations state a 1000ft maximum for a dead end. This action would create 2 dead ends over the maximum length (one at approximately 1600ft and one at 1300ft) to avoid crossing over this area. The current crossing has a 24inch culvert. The other suggestion, in order to reduce the square footage of wetland disturbance is to lower the road, install concrete culverts instead of corrugated metal culverts, so we can reduce the cover over them. By lowering the road, the slopes going into these wetland areas start to come in a little bit and cut down on the square footage of disturbance. They are currently re-working that design with that idea as well as utilizing an open bottom squished type of culvert to allow wild life passage. They feel it is the best approach for safety and sensibility as opposed to 2 dead ends. The board agrees that this is the best approach as does the Fire Chief.
There was another question from DES about a berm that is there, being a dam, which was constructed to create a skating pond back in the 60’s. Horizon’s Engineering checked with the Dam Bureau and there is an email that will be submitted with the Wetlands Response to DES stating that the Dam Bureau does not believe this berm falls under the criteria for a dam.
The road is graded with a crown and the run off goes into the slopes and down into the grass. In the wetland area, they asked if the road could be curbed and paved in that area so the road run off could be better directed to the treatment ditches and swales so that it does not run into the wetlands.
The last item for discussion is for the Municipal Water connection and fire hydrants within the subdivision. Cathy Conway has sent a letter and plans in yesterday to the Select Board as it is their job to review and accept/deny any application. There has been previous concerns about a “fire” in this subdivision, as it could negatively impact the water system in other places in the town, going below 20 PSI. A discussion ensues about the idea of a cistern being placed instead of the proposed fire hydrants as to not affect water pressure in town. Greg Hogan (Public Works) states the Dufresne Group (a civil engineering firm who consults on the Town’s water) should be consulted regarding the water issue challenges that are being brought forth. He also states that an impact study on Phase ll must be done, which would answer more questions. There was one required and completed in Phase l and it needs to be done in Phase ll. It is determined that the proposed cistern would not be sufficient for fighting a fire there. The Fire Chief stands by his request for 2 fire hydrants in the development and the Planning Board agrees. Water issues to be addressed/tabled until next meeting after Horizon’s meets with the Select Board.
Cathy Conway would like to have a preconstruction meeting at the site with Kevin Leonard, Greg Hogan, Tom and Kara Rozek, Syed Nuruzzaman and Andrew Sullivan this coming week. TTBD.
Item 6: Resident Consult-Town Signs/Ordinance 506/Future Growth
Paula Murphy introduces herself as an 8yr resident. She’s seen a lot of change in those 8yrs. Recent construction of a sign on Rt 3 has perked her interest in the sign ordinance, the towns future and The Master Plan. She noticed that the last time The MP was approved was in 2015. She feels that it is time for The MP to be reviewed and possibly revised. The Planning Board agrees and states that they have been discussing this need to update for a little while and the challenge is the cost of doing it as well as a professional to assist with the update.
She also expresses concern about Short Term Rentals that have really expanded throughout the town. This is another item that has been on the radar for Planning Board. Paula states she has 15yrs of Municipal work experience in Massachusetts and offers her services to assist in these areas. She asks about a committee of interested residents as a starting point for working on The MP. Alex Foti states that they are including funding for The MP in their budget proposal to the Select Board for 2024. This is the 1st step in any MP revisions, so any committees and second steps will be tabled for discussion after budgets are approved. The Planning Board also states that there are many area’s in town where volunteers are needed; Planning Board needs alternates, Supervisors of the Checklist, Rec Department volunteers, etc…there are many vacancies within the Town of Carroll that could use help from residents.
Item 7: Proposed budget for the planning Board
Last year’s budget is dispersed amongst the board. It seems that there will be not much changed except for adding funds for revising The MP. The Planning Board is actually below budget. They did not use any of the funds from the budget from last year allotted to The MP. It is suggested that the Planning Board asks the Select Board to incumber the leftover funds from The MP in the budget of 2023 and request the remaining amount for the budget.

8. Follow Ups:
a. Rehab Facilities-This item has not been consulted with legal at this point. It is to be continued to next month.

b. Short Term Rental Property-Permitting/Registrations-Alex Foti forgot to bring the revised registrations for final review-that will be tabled to next month. A discussion ensues on different avenues other towns have taken and what the Town of Carroll is trying to model their own ordinance on.


c. Omni Properties update – Austin has brought to the attention of Omni and Chris Ellms that the Sprung Building permit expires in November. Austin will continue to remind Omni that a renewal is needed to remain in compliance. He will request to Chris to come see Corinne next week to get this process started.

d. Other discussions
Warrant Articles-Monday, January 15th is the last day to hold first public hearing-Jules to take this action item to Legal to get finalized. (STR’s, maintenance/repairs not needing a BP, wording on 403.1, 501-definition of a garage and more than one structure on a single property/living area above garage)
Tom Godfrey will not be running for re-election in 2024, so there will be an empty seat on the Planning Board. We will need to get the word out about this vacancy so we can get some interested parties to run. We are also in need of alternates for the Planning Board. If a few members are out, there is no quorum. It is important for any alternate to try and attend all meetings to be kept abreast of what is happening. It would be good to get something posted on the website. Austin Alvarez is also expiring in 2024, but he will be running for re-election.
It was also discussed that everyone was pleased with the new start time of 5pm, so that will be the new official time for Planning Board meetings.

Ryan Peffer makes a motion to adjourn. Rena Vecchio seconds the motion and all are in favor. Meeting is adjourned at 6:55PM.