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Minutes of 5/7/2020

May 15th, 2020

Carroll Planning Board
Meeting Minutes
May 7, 2020
7:00 PM

“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.”

PLBD Members Present: Chairman Alex Foti, Selectmen’s Representative, Bonnie Moroney, Donna Foster, Mike Finn, Julie Roesbury, Terry Penner

Public Present: Jeremy Oleson, Evan Karpf, Brad Hare, Attorney Margaret Brick

Minutes taken by: Sara Marvin, Secretary

Pledge of Allegiance

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chair Foti asked if there were any edits or comments on the March 5th, 2020 minutes. There were no comments or edits made. Bonnie Moroney made the motion to approve the minutes as written. Donna Foster seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

SITE PLAN APPLICATION
Evan Karpf – 529 Route 3 South-Map/Lot 206-074-010-000. Evan Karpf presented a diagram of the overall plan of the Birchwood Commons property located at 529 Route 3 South. Mr. Karpf came before the Board to request approval to convert three rooms into a two-bedroom apartment. Mr. Karpf gave a brief description of the property. The property exceeds the number of required parking spaces. The septic system exceeds requirements for the entire building. Plumbing and electric have been upgraded. The building is super insulated. When he was originally working on the building a third party was hired to establish a design standard to meet a two-hour fire barrier in the three spaces being rented on the first floor with the apartment above. Looking at the diagram there is a 2-hour fire wall between suites 7 and 8, from the dirt floor to the roof. The other side has a 2-hour fire barrier as well.
Chair Foti said the first step for the Board is to accept the application and asked Mr. Karpf to present it.
Mike Finn asked what the “future apartments” on the “description of the project” was referring to. Evan said the only request he was making on this application was to convert the three rooms to a two-bedroom apartment.
Bonnie Moroney said the description reads rooms 6, 7, and 8 to be converted to a two-bedroom apartment. The diagram reads #11. Mr. Karpf said they were the same rooms. There were numbers on the outside of the building for identification for the fire and police departments. Originally the building had 11 separate rooms. There were apartments made at either end of the building. The physical rooms are exactly the same as what is depicted on the diagram. Bonnie Moroney said the numbering was a little confusing. Mr. Karpf said rooms 1 and 2 are now 1. Room 3 is room 2, room 4 is room 3, room 5 is room 4, room 11 is room 6. The original diagram was done a long time ago. Room numbers 6 and 7 will be eliminated and will become 6. Room 8 is 7, rooms 9 and 10 are room 8. The numbers do need to be changed on the outside of the building to be totally transparent.
There are no changes to the footprint of the building. There is emergency lighting that will stay in place. There are exterior lights and motion sensors supplying light to the parking lot. Mr. Karpf has received a driveway permit from the State.
An abutters list was provided. Abutters were notified and the Public Hearing notice was advertised.
Fire Chief Oleson asked how many means of egress there are to the upper apartment. Mr. Karpf said there were two. One is out back and one is at the top, sliding doors. Chief Oleson will make a site visit to confirm.
Chair Foti asked if there was any concern from the Board about accepting the application as complete. The Board did not have any further questions or concerns. Mike Finn made the motion to accept the application. Bonnie Moroney seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The application was accepted as complete.
Chair Foti said standard Board procedure is to wait until the following meeting to grant approval. He asked the Board, given the circumstances of not having met in April, how they felt about moving forward with approval of Mr. Karpf’s application immediately. Donna Foster confirmed that if approval was given, it would be with the condition of verification from Chief Oleson that the number of egresses from the apartment meets regulations.
Chair Foti asked if there were any other questions or concerns. There were no further questions.
Mike Finn made the motion to approve the application with the condition that the fire chief will verify the number of egresses from the proposed apartment. Bonnie Moroney seconded the motion. The application was approved unanimously.


OTHER

BRAD HARE, ROUTE 115, MAP/LOT 202-023-100-002 CHERRY MOUNTAIN RESORT INC. – MOBILE FOOD SERVICE
Brad Hare, owner of the Cherry Mountain Resort Campground and Attorney Peggy Brick of Samaha, Russell and Hodgdon came before the Board in regard to establishing a mobile food service at the campground. Chair Foti presented the background and reason for them attending. At the March meeting there was discussion in regard to Mr. Hare establishing a food truck service at the campground. There is nothing in the Town of Carroll’s Zoning Ordinances addressing food truck services. This presented a struggle in regard to addressing the request. The Planning Board made the decision, based on the limited information they had, to ask Mr. Hare to submit an application for a variance to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The Board sent a letter to Mr. Hare making that request. In response to that request, Attorney Brick wrote a letter to the Planning Board stating that because there is already an approval for the campground, the food truck service would be an accessory use, it’s in line with what they already do, so there is no need to require any additional permits. The Town’s legal counsel was consulted. He was in agreement with Attorney Brick. Bonnie Moroney said that she had read the letter from Attorney Brick and agreed with the points that had been made. Chair Foti said there was nothing for the Board to approve because the campground is allowed to proceed with the food truck service as an accessory use. No action was required by the Board.

Fire Chief Oleson asked if the Board plans to review food trucks, etc. The Chief felt it would be beneficial to have some measures of managing situations like this. Chair Foti agreed the subject should be added to the agenda. The Board needs to think about having permits, considering topics such as public land versus private land, etc. It seems that most towns regulate food trucks in some way. The Board will discuss whether or not food truck services should be added to the next iteration of the Zoning Ordinances.

ELECTION OF PLANNING BOARD CHAIRMAN AND VICE CHAIRMAN
Mike Finn said he would be willing to fill the seat of vice chairman. Chair Foti said he would be willing to step down if anyone else was interested in filling the seat. If not, with the Board’s support, he is willing to continue in the position of Chairman. Bonnie Moroney made a motion to elect Alex Foti as Chairman. Mike Finn seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously. Bonnie Moroney made a motion to elect Mike Finn as Vice Chairman. Donna Foster seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.

FOLLOW-UP

MASTER PLAN-BONNIE MORONEY
Bonnie Moroney said the reason for including this on the agenda is because there is concern from the Select Board in regard to what is going to happen in June with tax payments and things like that. She felt that even though the Master Plan update was included in the budget, it will need to be put off until 2021, due to concerns about meeting the budget. Also, she said that census information will be available in 2021 and can be included in the update.
Chair Foti said that review would still be advantageous as it is the guide to decisions that the Board makes.

MASTER PLAN REVIEW- “THE FUTURE”
Chair Foti said there was a lengthy section in the Master Plan in regard to things that should be done in the Town. He recognized that some items had been addressed but wasn’t sure what the mechanism is for a systematic review. Mike Finn asked if the Board wanted to postpone review until current conditions regarding operations during the pandemic settle down. Chair Foti said that it doesn’t make a lot of sense to move forward until the census information becomes available. Chair Foti said the document is supposed to be reviewed by the Board. He asked if the ideas and suggestions from the 2015 update had been discussed. It should be a living document. This is what the people of the town said we should be working on. Bonnie said prior to the 2015 update it had been 15 to 20 years since the Master Plan had been updated. Mike Finn said there have been some successes since the 2015 update. The Town Hall and Emergency Services Facilities, for example. There was action taken on quite a few items. Maybe next year is the time to take a look at it. Chair Foti said he was not concerned as much about updating but for example are, we following the guidelines. Fire Chief Oleson indicated there was a survey completed for the 2015 update. He thought a possible direction would be to review and develop a list of action items. Chair Foti suggested identifying what has been done, what more needs to be done. Mike Finn said infrastructure action items should be reviewed. The intent being to attract business to the area. Chair Foti said the Board will table for now.

On a related note, Chair Foti said that the Board had begun discussions in regard to updating the Site Plan Application to make it a little cleaner and to allow the Board knowledge that requirements have been met. For example, approval from the Fire Chief. Applications should have an area where the Chief signs off and the Board can see that. Chair Foti offered to review and clean up the document. Fire Chief Oleson said it would be good to have checks and balances.

RULES OF PROCEDURE
Chair Foti asked if there were any comments and was there anything the Board members felt needed to be addressed this year. There were no comments and no discussion. Bonnie Moroney made the motion to approve the Rules of Procedure as written. Chair Foti seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

ECHO LAKE SUBDIVISION-ESCROW FUND UPDATE
The Board was updated on the status of the Echo Lake Subdivision escrow fund. The Subdivision escrow fund has been funded. Bonnie Moroney updated the Board on the status of the project. Kevin Leonard of Northpoint Engineering was coordinating the observation of test pits on the road bed to gather samples to be taken to a lab for testing.

With no further business, Mike Finn made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Terry Penner seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting ended at 8:00 p.m.